Suspiria (1977)
Suspiria is an Italian horror film from 1977 directed by Dario Argento. Starring Jessica Harper, Stefania Casini, Flavio Bucci, Miguel Bosé, Alida Valli, Udo Kier, and Joan Bennett, in her final film role.
Plot
Suzy Bannion travels to Germany to perfect her ballet skills. 
She arrives at the Tanz dance academy with a taxi in heavy rain.
But then she can’t and must come back the next day. She sees another woman running away from the school. Suzy returns the next morning and this time is let in. She learns that the young woman she saw fleeing the previous evening, Pat Hingle, has been found dead.
Suzy starts her education at the ballet school But strange things soon begin to happen.
It rains down maggots, a blind man is killed.
The Suzy discovers that the ballet school was once a witches’ coven – and there still are active witches.
Notable scenes
The opening scene with the pouring rain and Suzy entering the Taxi is famous.
The first killing is gruesome and has Argento’s trademark atmosphere.
Making of Suspiria
Director Dario Argento’s original idea was that the ballet school would accommodate young girls no older than 12 years. However, the studio and producer Salvatore Argento (his father) denied his request because a film this violent involving children would almost certainly be banned. Dario raised the age limit of the girls to 20 years but did not rewrite the script, hence the naiveté of the characters and the occasionally childlike dialogue. He also put all the doorknobs at about the same height as the actress’ heads so they would have to raise their arms in order to open the doors, just like children.
Director Dario Argento composed the creepy music with the band Goblin and played it at full blast on set to unnerve the actors and elicit a truly scared performance.
For the wide shots of the “maggots” falling from the ceiling, the crew would drop grains of rice down from above.
The exterior of the houseis based on the Haus zum Walfisch (Whale House), a late-Gothic building in the old town of Freiburg, Germany.
Udo Kier’s appearance was rushed so he did not have time to learn his lines. Since the movie was filmed without sound and was later dubbed, a crew person lying on the ground was telling him his lines.
While shooting the scene where Suzy and Sara swim in the pool, director Dario Argento instructed the actresses to stir the pool waters as little as possible to give the scene a more tranquil look.
Daria Nicolodi l, Argento’s wife appears in the film twice: in the film’s opening sequence that shows Suzy walking through the airport, and as the voice of Helena Markos.
This film was the first part (with Inferno (1980) and Mother of Tears (2007)) of a trilogy of movies about the “Three Mothers.”
Jessica Harper said that the actors spoke different languages during shooting, mostly Italian and German, and communicating was difficult at times.
Our view on Suspiria
Suspiria is clearly Argento’s best work. The use of light and color is famous and gives a lot of atmosphere. The mood of the whole movie is creepy constantly.The musical score by Goblin adds to the creepiness and atmosphere. Suspiria is a classic and belongs to the Exploitflix hall of fame.
Trailer
Where to buy
DVD/VHS/Betamax/VCC
Watch on Vimeo
Details
Genre: occult
Released in: 1977
Era: seventies
Actors: Jessica Harper, Udo Kier
Director: Dario Argento
Poster artist: unknown-artist
Country: Italy
Music: Goblin
