Suspiria 1977 Dub

[Thomas Merino]

Suspiria is a 1977 Italian supernatural horror film directed by Dario Argento, who co-wrote the screenplay with Daria Nicolodi, partially based on Thomas De Quincey's 1845 essay Suspiria de Profundis. The film stars Jessica Harper as an American ballet student who transfers to a prestigious dance academy but realizes, after a series of murders, that the academy is a front for a coven of witches. It also features Stefania Casini, Flavio Bucci, Miguel Bos, Alida Valli, Udo Kier, and Joan Bennett, in her final film role.

Suspiria was nominated for two Saturn Awards: Best Supporting Actress for Bennett in 1978, and Best DVD Classic Film Release, in 2002. It is recognised as one of the most influential films in the horror genre and has received acclaim from critics in retrospective reviews. It served as the inspiration for a 2018 film of the same title, directed by Luca Guadagnino.

Suzy Bannion, a young American ballet student, arrives in Freiburg, Baden-Wrttemberg, Germany during a torrential downpour to study at the co-ed Tanz Akademie, a prestigious German dance school. She sees another student, Pat Hingle, flee the school in terror. Suzy is refused entry to the school and forced to stay in town overnight. Pat takes refuge at a friend's apartment and tells her that something sinister happened at the school. Pat is ambushed by a shadowy figure who stabs her repeatedly and drags her to the roof of the apartment building before hanging her with a noose by throwing her through the building's skylight. Pat's friend is also killed after being impaled by a falling giant shard of glass while trying to alert other tenants to the murder.

Suzy returns to the school the next morning, where she meets Miss Tanner, the head instructor, and Madame Blanc, the deputy headmistress. Tanner introduces Suzy to Pavlos, one of the school's servants. She also meets classmates Sara and Olga, her new roommate. Suzy experiences an unsettling encounter with one of the school's matrons and Blanc's nephew, Albert, before passing out during a dance class. When she regains consciousness, Suzy learns that Olga has thrown her out of her apartment, forcing her to live at the school with Sara in the room next door.

While the students are preparing for supper one night, maggots rain down from the ceilings of their rooms due to a shipment of spoiled food in the attic, forcing them to sleep in one of the dance studios. During the night, a woman enters the room but is obscured by a curtain hung around the room's perimeter. Sara, frightened by her hoarse and labored breathing, recognizes her as the school's headmistress, who is supposedly out of town. The next day, the school's blind pianist, Daniel, is abruptly fired by Miss Tanner when his German Shepherd bites Albert. Daniel is stalked by an unseen force while walking through a plaza that night; his dog turns on him and viciously rips out his throat.

Sara tells Suzy that she was the one on the intercom who refused her entry the night Pat was murdered. She reveals that Pat was behaving strangely before her death and promises to show Suzy the notes that she left behind. Sara finds that Pat's notes are missing and is forced to flee when an unseen assailant enters the room. They pursue her through the school before cornering her in the attic. She escapes through a small window before falling into a pit of razor wire, entangling her and allowing her pursuer to kill her by slashing her throat.

Suzy investigates Sara's disappearance the next morning. Tanner tells her that Sara has fled the school. Suspicious, Suzy contacts Sara's friend and former psychiatrist, Frank Mandel. He reveals that the school was established by Greek migre Helena Markos in 1895, who was allegedly a witch. Suzy also consults with Professor Milius, a professor of the occult. He reveals that a coven of witches perishes without their leader, from whom they draw power.

When Suzy returns to the school, she finds that everyone has left to attend the Bolshoi Ballet. After being attacked by a bat and recalling a conversation with Sara about footsteps, she follows the sound of them carefully, leading her to Madame Blanc's office. Remembering that Pat uttered the words secret and iris the night that she was killed, Suzy discovers a hidden door that opens by turning a blue iris on a mural in Blanc's office. Suzy enters the corridor and finds the academy's instructors, led by Madame Blanc, plotting her demise in the form of a human sacrifice. Albert alerts Pavlos to Suzy's presence. Suzy hides in an alcove, where she finds Sara's disfigured corpse.

Pursued by Pavlos, Suzy retreats to Helena Markos's bedroom. Suzy finds Markos sleeping, recognizing her as the headmistress by her labored breathing. She accidentally wakes her by breaking a decorative peacock with crystal plumage. Markos renders herself invisible and taunts Suzy before reanimating Sara's mutilated corpse to murder her. When flashes of lightning inadvertently reveal Markos's silhouette, Suzy impales her through the neck with one of the peacock's broken glass quills. Markos's death causes Sara's corpse to vanish.

Suzy flees as the school starts to implode. Madame Blanc, Miss Tanner, Pavlos and the rest of the coven perish without the power of Markos to sustain them. Suzy escapes into the rainy night as the school is consumed by fire.

American actress Jessica Harper was cast in the lead role of American ballet dancer Suzy Bannion,[10] after attending an audition via the William Morris Agency.[6] Argento chose Harper based on her performance in Brian De Palma's Phantom of the Paradise (1974).[6] Upon being cast in the film, Harper watched Argento's Four Flies on Grey Velvet (1971) to better understand the director's style.[6] Harper turned down a role in Woody Allen's Annie Hall (1977) in order to appear in the film.[11]

Argento requested Italian actress Stefania Casini for the supporting role of Sara, a request which she obliged, having been an admirer of his films.[6] Daria Nicolodi had originally planned on playing the role of Sara, but was unable to due to an injury, and Casini was brought in at the last minute.[6] German actor Udo Kier was cast in the minor supporting role of Frank Mandel.[6]

The majority of Suspiria was shot at De Paoli studios in Rome, where key exterior sets (including the faade of the academy) were constructed.[12] Actress Harper described the film shoot as "very, very focused", as Argento "knew exactly what he was looking for".[6] The faade of the academy was replicated on a soundstage from the real-life Whale House in Freiburg.[6] Additional photography took place in Munich, including Daniel's death scene in the Knigsplatz square, as well as the opening scene of the film, which was shot on location at the Munich Airport.[6] The scene in which Suzy meets with Dr. Mandel was filmed outside the BMW Headquarters building in Munich.[6]

Suspiria is noteworthy for several stylistic flourishes that have become Argento trademarks, particularly the use of set-piece structures that allow the camera to linger on pronounced visual elements.[13] Cinematographer Luciano Tovoli was hired by Argento to shoot the film, based on color film tests he had completed, which Argento felt matched his vision, in part inspired by Snow White (1937).[6] The film was shot using anamorphic lenses. The production design and cinematography emphasize vivid primary colors, particularly red, creating a deliberately unrealistic, nightmarish setting, emphasized by the use of imbibition Technicolor prints. Commenting on the film's lush colors, Argento said:

The imbibition process, used for The Wizard of Oz (1939) and Gone with the Wind (1939), is much more vivid in its color rendition than emulsion-based release prints, therefore enhancing the nightmarish qualities of the film Argento intended to evoke.[6] It was one of the final feature films to be processed in Technicolor, using the last remaining machine in Rome.[15]

The Italian progressive rock band Goblin composed most of the film's score in collaboration with Argento himself.[6] Goblin had scored Argento's earlier film Deep Red as well as several films following Suspiria. In the film's opening credits, they are referred to as "The Goblins".[6] Like Ennio Morricone's compositions for Sergio Leone, Goblin's score for Suspiria was created before the film was shot.[6] It has been reused in multiple Hong Kong films, including Yuen Woo-ping's martial arts film Dance of the Drunk Mantis (1979) and Tsui Hark's horror-comedy We're Going to Eat You (1980).

The main title theme was named as one of the best songs released between 1977 and 1979 in the book The Pitchfork 500: Our Guide to the Greatest Songs from Punk to the Present, compiled by music website Pitchfork. It has been sampled on the Raekwon and Ghostface Killah song "Legal Coke",[16] from the R. A. G. U. mix tape, by RJD2 for the song "Weather People" by Cage[17] and by Army of the Pharaohs in their song "Swords Drawn".

Janet Maslin of The New York Times wrote a mixed review, saying the film had "slender charms, though they will most assuredly be lost on viewers who are squeamish."[23] The Los Angeles Times's Kevin Thomas wrote that the film was "consistently suspenseful and diverting" despite being "marred by stilted, poorly dubbed English dialogue".[24] John Stark of The San Francisco Examiner was critical, writing: "Suspiria is mostly gore, with little plot or intrigue."[25] Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune expressed similar sentiments, criticizing Harper's role to being "reduced to cowering in corners" and "costumed to look much younger than her years"; while praising Argento's "visually stylish" direction, he felt that Suspiria was inferior to his directorial debut The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1970) and "plays like a weak imitation of The Exorcist (1973)".[21]

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