[REVIEW] Suspiria
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SUSPIRIA
1977, Italy. Running Time = 101 Minutes. Directed by Dario
Argento. Screenplay by Dario Argento and Daria Nicolodo. Director
of Photography = Luciano Tovoli. Music by Goblins and Dario
Argento. Special Effects by Germano Natali. Starring Jessica
Harper, Stefania Casini, Alida Valli, Udo Kier, Joan Bennett, Eva
Axen, Miguel Bose.
The roots of Italian horror films grow from the fertile soil of the
fantastique. Hundreds of years of morbid folklore and fairy tales
provided European film makers with a seemingly endless wellspring
of material to adapt. The focus was on mood, on imagery and
atmosphere, often at the expense of any semblance of coherent
narrative. Scenes of horror and fantasy were strung together,
perhaps with a loosely constructed plot to tie them tenuously to one
another, but the procession of events was not as important as the
impression of the images.
One of the prime examples of this style of film making is Lucio Fulci's
supernatural zombie opus, The Beyond. In an interview about the
film, Fulci claimed that he was striving to create a nightmare. Not a
nightmarish film, or a nightmare on Elm Street, but a film that
actually played out like a horrifying dream. As anyone who dreams
knows, they rarely make much sense in retrospect. It is the lingering
image, the atmosphere of a nightmare, that gives it it's power.
During the 1970s in America, horror films took a noticeable turn
away from the fantastic elements of the past and began to handle
themselves in a far more clinical, scientific fashion. Films like The
Exorcist and The Omen certainly drew from fantastic elements
(demonic possession, Biblical apocalypse), but approached the
subjects in an almost police procedural fashion. Even low-budget
classics like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre had the feel of
documentary film making. It was a highly successful, often powerful
change in cinematic style, sacrificing phantasmagoria for brutal
realism.
For the first half of the decade, acclaimed Italian horror/thriller
director Dario Argento seemed quite comfortable and adept in this
style. With films like Deep Red and Four Flies on Grey Velvet,
Argento showcased his ability to firmly plant the bizarre in a very
realistic setting. Although the cinematography of his films lent them a
surreal tone, they were very much in tune with the realistic model of
their contemporaries.
In 1977, that all changed.
Perhaps fed up with realism, perhaps just feeling adventurous, Dario
Argento abandoned the stalkers and serial killers of his previous films and
threw himself full-force into the most ambitious, bizarre film of his
career. Suspiria revives the feeling of the fantastique, indulges itself
fully in surrealism. And for the most part, it is a highly successful film
that conjures up the truly eerie, other-worldly landscape of a nightmare.
The plot is, to say the least, disjointed, and as observed previously,
merely a tool that provides a tangible structure for Argento's
color-soaked film. A young American (Jessica Harper) arrives at a
German dance academy that soon becomes the sight of a couple
grisly accidents. In true horror film fashion, the entire police force is
out of town or something, leaving our intrepid heroine to do all the
investigating herself. What she uncovers is a chilling secret society
of witches dwelling within the very walls of the school.
Again, the plot is just there to provide brief moments of rest as
Argento catapults us through his strange world. The entire film is
dripping with over-saturated colors, Glowing red, blue, yellow, and
green spills out of every scene. Even the most mundane moments,
such as a taxi ride from the airport, are fueled with an eerie power
thanks to Argento's stylish use and abuse of atmosphere. The
special effects are brutal and well-executed (no pun intended), if not
a bit senseless at times. Why, for example, would a dance academy
have a room filled with countless, tangled coils of barbed wire
fencing? Well, obviously, so someone can stumble into it.
But then, Suspiria isn't here to make sense. It's here to absorb us,
freak us out, and blow our minds. And it's pretty dang successful.
There are some genuinely scary moments. Argento is very nearly
Hitchcock's equal when it comes to creating tension and suspense.
And he uses everything at his disposal. Lights, music, camera
angles. They all play an integral part in the scene. Nothing is
incidental. So while the narrative of the film may be wild and illogical,
it's construction is painfully meticulous and perfectly planned.
Goblin's score, which I'm required by international law to refer to as
"pounding," is brilliant, perfectly suited for augmenting the film. In an
era where the soundtrack plays very little, if any, role in a film other
than selling a CD full of today's hottest new bands, it's always great
to look back at a film where the soundtrack actually means
something, where it's an important part of the film.
And underlying it all is an interesting bit of trivia. During the
script-writing phase, both Argento and co-writer Daria Nicolodi did
quite a bit of research on European folklore and legends. In Dorna,
Switzerland they uncovered a strange academy called the Rudolph
Steiner Community, set up in an immense house, where they study,
rhythm, dance, and the occult. It was the obvious inspiration for
Suspiria.
In the end, many things are left unresolved. As with Hitchcock's The
Birds, few things are ever fully explained, and the viewer is left
wondering. Argento throws everything at the viewer, making Suspiria
a total immersion of the senses into his phantasmagorical world. It is,
in my opinion, successful at everything it attempts to do. Two
sequels were planned, since all good stories must be a trilogy. To
date, only one, Inferno, has actually been made. Most of Argento's
films since then have returned to the more clinical feel of his earlier
giallo films, making Suspiria all the more striking and memorable. It is
like looking at am artist's series of realistic still-life paintings and
portraits, then suddenly coming across a single, terrifying surrealist
painting, then returning to realism. It's not an experience you'll soon
forget.
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