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Suspiria
Directed by	Dario Argento
Produced by	Claudio Argento
Written by	Dario Argento Daria Nicolodi
Starring	Jessica Harper Stefania Casini Joan Bennett Alida Valli Udo Kier Miguel Bose Barbara Magnolfi
Music by	Goblin
Cinematography	Luciano Tovoli
Editing by	Franco Fraticelli
Release date(s)	February 1, 1977
Running time	98 min.
Country	Italy
Language	English German
Followed by	Inferno
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

Suspiria is a 1977 Italian horror film directed by Dario Argento, and co-written by Argento and actress Daria Nicolodi, with whom Argento was romantically involved at the time. (Their daughter is actress Asia Argento). Nicolodi claims the plot was inspired by an experience of her grandmother's. The setting was originally to be a children's school, but was later changed to a dance school for older teens. Entertainment Weekly rated the film #18 in its top 25 scariest movies of all time and said it had "the most vicious murder scene ever filmed." Suspiria is considered Argento's finest film and a classic of the horror genre, a seminal entry in the "slasher film" canon.

This movie was number 24 on the cable channel Bravo's list of the "100 Scariest Movie Moments".

Suspiria is the first film in a trilogy Argento refers to as "The Three Mothers," about evil forces attempting to break through to the earth and wreak merciless havoc. Argento's next film, Inferno (1980), was the second in the trilogy. The third film, if completed, will be 2007's The Third Mother.

Contents 1 The story 2 Production 3 Soundtrack 4 Response 5 Legacy 6 Animation Remake 7 External links

The story involves a young American ballet student, Susy Banyon (Jessica Harper), who arrives in Germany to attend a prestigious dance academy. On the night of her arrival, there is a torrential downpour, and she is unable to gain admittance to the school. But she witnesses one student, a young blonde girl, flee the building in a panic.

The fleeing student is horribly murdered, and Susy begins having suspicions that all is not as it seems at the school. She begins experiencing inexplicable dizzy spells, and other deaths occur, such as that of the school's blind pianist, who is savaged by his own guide dog the night after he is fired from his job.

Susy ultimately discovers the school is a front for a coven of witches who practice a diabolical black magic. The headmistress of the school turns out to be a legendary black witch over a century old, who has kept herself alive through satanic rituals. Susy uncovers the school's secret chamber where the rituals take place, and manages to kill the ancient witch.

The title Suspiria and the general concept of the "Three Mothers" came from Thomas De Quincey's sequel to his Confessions of an English Opium Eater, Suspiria De Profundis. There is a section in Suspiria De Profundis entitled "Levana and Our Ladies of Sorrow". The piece asserts that just as there are three Fates and three Graces, there are three Sorrows: "Mater Lachrymarum, Our Lady of Tears," "Mater Suspiriorum, Our Lady of Sighs," and "Mater Tenebrarum, Our Lady of Darkness."

Suspiria is noteworthy for several stylistic flourishes that have become Argento trademarks. The film was shot with anamorphic lenses. The production design and cinematography emphasize vivid primary colors, particularly red, creating a deliberately unrealistic, nightmarish setting. This look was emphasized by the use of imbibition Technicolor prints. The imbibition process, used for The Wizard of Oz and Gone with the Wind, is much more vivid in its color rendition than emulsion-based release prints, therefore enhancing the nightmarish quality of the film.

Main article: Suspiria (soundtrack)

The Italian rock band Goblin composed most of the film's musical score. Goblin also composed music for several other films by Dario Argento. The score for Suspiria is considered a unique masterpiece regarded as a cult hit ahead of its time. It was even used in Yuen Woo-ping's Hong Kong kungfu film Dance of the Drunk Mantis (1979).

Goblin frontman Claudio Simonetti went onto to form a heavy metal band, Daemonia, and the 2001 Anchor Bay DVD release contains a video of the band playing a reworking of the Suspiria theme song. This DVD edition also contains the entire original soundtrack as a bonus CD, long out of print in North America.

No aspect of Suspiria was as influential as Argento's flamboyant approach to shooting the many killings occurring in the story. Argento already had a reputation for brutal violence in his films, such as his preceding feature, Deep Red, and he would later in his career draw much criticism for it, including charges of misogyny which he staunchly denies. In Suspiria, victims are murdered in extremely elaborate ways; e.g., the first student to die initially has her face shoved through a window, then she is stabbed in the heart repeatedly (in close up), then she is tied up, and her body dropped through the glass skylight of a building, only to be stopped in mid-fall by a rope around her neck. A large shard of glass from the skylight claims the second victim, also a young woman.

Suspiria propelled Argento to the front ranks of horror directors throughout the world. Though many of his later films were admired by his fans, Suspiria is generally regarded as his masterpiece.

The film's original theatrical release was heavily edited, most notably the first (and most infamous) murder sequence. The stabbing and hanging portion of the murder was cut back to the point of being almost purged entirely from the film.

In the early 1990s, the film was released uncensored on VHS and in its original widescreen format (a rarity at the time for a horror film). After an intense bidding war, the film was released on DVD in the United States in 2001 by Anchor Bay Entertainment. Anchor Bay's release was criticized for several reasons. The DVD was not compatible with the Sony Playstation 2 DVD drive and many questioned Anchor Bay's decision to release both a single disc version of the film and an expensive three-disc set version of the film, which featured an exclusive documentary on the film as one of the discs in the three-disc version.

A remake was expected for a 2005 release according to the Internet Movie Database. This status remained as such into 2006, but the entry was eventually removed. Around the same time, writer Steven Katz stated[1] that the remake "probably will not happen." Some fans believe that Argento was responsible, as he was openly against the remake, claiming to have seen a script that was sent out, and saying "it will be shit, but that won't be my fault."

Suspiria seems to have had an effect on the music world. Two bands, Susperia, a Norwegian black metal band, and Suspiria, a gothic rock band, have named themselves after the film. Multiple albums have also been named after the film, including Suspiria by Darkwell, Suspiria by Miranda Sex Garden, and Suspiria de Profundis by Die Form.

This movie has recently been sampled in a few Underground Rap songs, namely Cage Kennylz' Weatherpeople and Atmosphere's Bird Sings Why the Caged I Know.

In June 2006 Japanese studio GONZO reportedly announced the production of an anime remake of Suspiria (サスペリア) is in development, but it has not been announced yet a release date for TV broadcast. The anime adaptation will be directed by Yoshimasa Hiraike (Solty Rei).

MOON PHASE Site in Japanese

• Suspiria at the Internet Movie Database
• Suspiria @ HooplaNet

Cinema of Italy
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