Suspiria

After making some of the finest gialli in the genre, Dario Argento (known as the Italian Hitchcock) decided to take a break from the brand of films with which he made his name to try something altogether different. Teaming up with writer Daria Nicolodi, a story and screenplay was written about a young American girl who goes to Germany to perfect her ballet only to find that the school is run by witches.
 
There aren't many films that begin with a climax and continue from there, but this is what Argento does with Suspiria. When Suzy Bannion lands in the pouring rain and only just manages to get a taxi with the world's least talkative cab driver, she arrives at the school and rings the bell only to find that the voice on the other end of the intercom system tells her to go away. If this wasn't disconcerting enough, the conversation was preceded by a girl, Pat, fleeing from the building shouting something practically indistinguishable in the direction of the school doors.
 

 
Cutting to an apartment where Pat is staying with a friend for the night, she is drying off in the bathroom when the windows fly open and, once securely closed, Pat thinks she sees something outside, only for a hand to burst through one window and press her face against the other. What follows is typical Argento elegant violence as Pat is repeatedly stabbed to death and hanged with electrical cord when she falls through the stained glass ceiling, a large piece of metal impales her friend and a sheet of glass cuts her head in half. All of this is in the first fifteen minutes and if that doesn't get your attention, nothing will!
 
With Suzy settled into another dancer's apartment, she notices the various cliques inside the school but when she faints during her first lesson she is quickly moved to the school in a room next to Sara, the only girl who Suzy has got to know, and is placed on a strange diet of bland food and red wine.

As events unfold Sara confides in Suzy that she believes that the school is run by witches, with the mysterious directress, instructress Ms. Tanner (Alida Valli), and the vice directress Madame Blanc (Joan Bennett). As is occasionally the case in an Argento film, the narrative plays second fiddle to the aesthetics but Suspiria is perhaps the most exaggerated example as the plot (what there is of one) is extremely difficult to make out and it is best to sit back and marvel at this most gifted of directors at work.
 
This is the second version of Suspiria that I have bought and consider both the film and the set to be superb.

The Disc

 
Extra Features
The first disc contains the film with a THX optimizer, several galleries, a TV spot and radio spots, a Daemonia music video and talent bios. 
 
The second disc has a 52 minute documentary with contributions from Dario Argento, Daria Nicolodi, the members of Goblin, Jessica Harper and Udo Kier. The filmmakers talk about the process of developing the concept, aspects of the screenplay, shooting and the music whereas the actors reveal what filming was like and how it was working with Argento. This is a comprehensive and revealing piece that gives as much information as a commentary would without having to struggle with Argento's accent for 100 minutes!
 
The set contains a third disc, the CD soundtrack, which is a terrific listen as Goblin's music plays such a major role in the film and is worth sticking in your CD player if you are reading a book or just want to relax and remember the best scenes from Suspiria.
 

 
The Picture
You can say what you like about Suspiria but there is no denying that it is one of the most stylish shot and beautifully lit films of the decade. The production design and set decoration are sublime with some terrific sets and wonderfully orchestrated and executed set pieces - the death scenes are some of the best that Argento (and anyone else, for that matter) has ever done. Argento shot the film on Technicolor film from the 1950s to secure the bright and lurid colours that make the film so distinctive.
 
The final scene is an interesting mix of slightly dodgy optical effects with impressive prosthetics to create something quite memorable and powerful.
 
The Sound
The English option of choice is a beautifully balanced and reassuringly loud DTS-ES soundtrack with clear dialogue (as it should be, being dubbed in post-production) and an amazingly complicated and insane soundtrack by Goblin which means more in repeated viewings. It just has the edge over the Dolby Digital EX track and both are better than the Stereo Surround track which doesn't have the 'oomph' of the multi-channel soundtracks. There are other language options - French and Italian Dolby Digital Stereo Surround.
 

 
Final Thoughts
I love Dario Argento's work in the giallo genre and continue to pick up his DVDs - I nearly have them all - but consider that he rarely has an off day, so to speak and have as much time for his 'mothers' trilogy as for his gialli. Though this was intended to leave those films behind and give him a break and new challenge, there is plenty of evidence of a giallo in Suspiria with the stylish cinematography, a mystery killer and sexual undertones.
 
The casting is inspired with Jessica Harper giving a reasonably competent mix of vulnerability and determination and Italian film legend Alida Valli proving why she is regarded in such high esteem by fans of Italian movies with a suitably powerful performance.
 

 
This is the best release of Suspiria and one can only hope that a high definition release isn't too far away to add to the AV quality of this already immensely impressive release of what many regard to be Argento's tour de force. Any Blu-ray release will have to go some to better this DVD set which has just about set the benchmark for horror films.
 
N.B. This set was limited to 60,000 copies, all of which are now gone, but there is a 2-Disc Special Edition set available which is identical to this apart from the CD Soundtrack.