While there are movies in the annals of horror history that have been successful due to shock value, cashing in on popular trends (the slasher film craze in the '80s and the "self-aware horror" trend in the late-'90s spring to mind), or the 3D gimmick, some movies are just so gut-wrenchingly scary that they actually become a disquieting, agonizing but beautiful chore to watch - like this one right here. Simply put, Dario Argento's "Suspiria" is one of the scariest movies ever made.Argento is a true rarity; while I am a huge admirer of John Carpenter's and Wes Craven's careers, both luminariers admit that the horror genre was not their preferred career choice. It just kind of happened that way. Both directors chose the genre because it gave them the opportunity to find a wide audience, and both directors have since tried to expand their horizons and shoot "legitimate" films. Craven's sole non-horror effort - 1999's "Music of the Heart" - is legitimately a little shell-shocking to watch when you consider it's helmed by the same guy who did "Deadly Friend."
But Argento? The guy IS horror; he is a horror director by choice, by trade, and as such, in my humble opinion, there is no one better. In Italy, there is an entire subgenre of horror film that virtually owes its existence to Argento called the "giallo" thriller. I describe giallo cinema as a kind of gory murder mystery; there is investigation, detective work and more than a few red herrings, but the giallo films that Argento began his career with were MUCH more graphically violent than anything audiences in any country had seen before. Horror films before Argento's arrival were content to leave the worst of the worst up to our imagination; Dario shoved it all right in our faces.
"Suspiria" was quite the departure for him when the film was released in 1977. He had just filmed five giallo films back-to-back, and "Suspiria" was to be the first film in a supernatural "Three Mothers" trilogy (which was just concluded TWO YEARS AGO, by the way. So take that, "Star Wars" fans who thought that three years was a long time to wait). Taking a cue from his own filmmaker idol Mario Bava, Argento pulled out all the stops on "Suspiria," creating a film that, when viewed today in the middle of the night and in a darkened room, still has the power to creep you the fuck out.
Its story is a strange one; while there is a narrative, it is a loosely assembled one. Suzy Banyon (Jessica Harper, who turned down a role in Woody Allen's "Annie Hall" to be in this movie) has just been accepted into the most prestigious ballet school in Germany. The mood is tense even before her arrival, as a rain storm gathers on her way to the school. Accompanied by the disorienting, creepy music of Goblin, a band that did many scores for Argento's films, Suzy sees a student running through the rain, attempting to escape the school.
And all this within the first ten minutes, followed immediately by the most vicious murder in the history of film? This is some movie.
While Dario had made some tense films before "Suspiria" ("The Bird with the Crystal Plumage" and "Deep Red" are two giallo thrillers that stand today as classics), virtually everything he does with this particular movie is meant to scare you, and this movie succeeds at that in abundance. First is the overall LOOK of the school; Dario paints the dance academy in reds, oranges, yellows and other colors that stand out, shout "danger," and leave the viewer in a state of fear, ready to see what lurks around each corner. As mentioned before, the musical score heightens the tension; it becomes a character in the film, with the beautiful piano music of the dance rehearsals serving as a jarring collision with the eerie bells and keyboards of Goblin.
As the film goes on, the viewer almost grows a little impatient with the web that the film weaves. Just what, exactly, is the villain in this film supposed to be? For much of "Suspiria," all we see representing evil is a pair of hands and a knife. We most assuredly don't believe that a human is the culprit; after all, in the opening brutal murder sequence, the killer bursts through a second story window...without a ladder. Indeed, for a movie with a fairly simple plot on paper - girl goes to ballet school where mayhem and murder ensues - the film's story is jarred, almost stilted...and that's just what Argento intended. Everything about "Suspiria" is meant to be a virtual nightmare put to film. It is not necessarily a story that uncoils in a logical A-Z manner. What it is, however, is a collection of truly frightening images and scenes that have the power to cost you some sleep.
And the ending sequence is absolutely terrifying. I haven't mentioned it before, but one problem that I have with a lot of movies (and not just horror movies) is endings that don't leave a strong impression, making it all the easier to forget about what you have just seen. "Suspiria" has a strong ending, because it combines so many of our most basic fears. Suzy has pieced together the mystery of the school, another one of her friends has died, and she is finally going to find the answer to the question that has hung over the film's entire second half - just where DO the instructors go at night? It combines our fears of the unknown, seeing something you're not supposed to see...and a killer that may be unkillable. I wasn't surprised to find out that Daria Nicolodi, who scripted the closing scenes, based them off of a real-life nightmare she had shortly before writing the film.
Amazingly, "Suspiria" hasn't been remade yet, although it has been talked about over the years. My favorite rumor, ironically, involved a Japanese anime company buying the rights to the film a few years ago only to let the rights go a few months later. If this film were to be remade, I think I would actually PREFER the anime route as opposed to a straight-up live-action redux, mainly because I can see the Japanese getting the one thing that makes this movie unique. This movie's story is not supposed to make sense in traditional terms; it is a living nightmare put on film. Nonetheless, I could see an American film once again attempting to explain away the back story to the point that all of the fun magically disappears.
"Suspiria" creates the most oppressively suspenseful atmosphere of any horror film I have seen. The kill scenes are few and far between, but when they arrive, Dario makes them count. No one can top Argento when it comes to wild, crazy, over-the-top murder set pieces (see "Tenebre" and "Opera," two of his '80s films, for further proof), and this movie boasts perhaps the best one of all time. This is a genuinely well-written, well-acted and well-directed film with twists, turns, and the power to keep you up at night.
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