Suspiria review

 Number 851 on the top 1000 films of all time is the Italian 1977 horror film Suspiria.

Suzy Bannion (Jessica Harper) is an American student who enrols in a prestigious ballet school in Germany. However, when staff and students alike start dying, she realises that the school is at the front of a supernatural conspiracy.

As was common for Italian films at the time, all sound was added in post-production. This meant that all the actors were dubbed. To say this was distracting would be a massive understatement. It very much broke the immersive nature of the film. And this also interfered with the sound mixing. At times, the dialogue was too quiet and, at others, the sound effects were too loud. The film opens in a massive storm, noisy enough to drown out the character's speech.

Perhaps I've been spoiled by modern-CGI, but the special effects looked dated. When the deaths do occur, the bodies look more like waxwork models. But technical aspects aside, this was a scary film. The setting of a ballet school was a refreshing change to the haunted houses which is usually par for the course. Suzy progressively gains more agency and becomes more likeable. Granted, while her friend Stephanie is being murdered, Suzy is drugged up and of little use. But she gains enough bravery/stupidity to go into the restricted area of the school and confront the head witch.

I also enjoyed the supernatural element. Slasher movies were popular in the seventies - Suspiria is sandwiched between the Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Halloween. Witches made a nice change to your deranged serial killer. And the film had some genuine scares. Instead of solely using jumpscares, David Argento created a tense and unsettling atmosphere from the word go. The original score performed by Italian progressive rock band Goblin sent the fear factor through the roof.

All in all, I did enjoy, if that's the right word, this 70's horror film. Weird dubbing aside, it had me on the edge of my seat. Will I be watching the 2018 remake? Maybe with my eyes closed.