Suspiria (1977) Review

"Bad luck isn't brought by broken mirror, but by broken minds."

-Dr. Frank Mandel

Suzy Bannion (Jessica Harper) is an American ballet student who arrives in Germany to study at the famed Tanz Dance Academy.  As soon as she arrives, Suzy notices some odd things happening around the academy: maggots falling from the ceiling, normally peaceful animals suddenly turning violent, and people disappearing and winding up dead.  Suzy has to discover what is happening at the Tanz Dance Academy before she is the next to disappear.

What Works:

Suspiria is simply a technical masterpiece and to call it anything less would be a grave injustice.  It has some of the best use of color I have ever seen in a film.  The drastic changes in lighting and the harshness of the color add a lot to the film and give it a very memorable look.

The cinematography is also wonderful.  The various locations in the film all have very distinct and surreal looks to them and some of the shots used in various death scenes are haunting and will stay with you long after the film ends.

Speaking of the death scenes, I need to talk about the ones that end the opening sequence.  If you haven't seen this movie, stop reading now now and go watch it for yourself.  I don't want to spoil anything.

The double deaths that end the opening sequence of this movie are insane and terrifying to the same level as the opening kills of Scream.  Pat's (Eva Axén) death as she falls through the skylight and hangs is fantastic and horrible at the same time.  Plus we get the gruesome death of her friend from falling debris.  As someone who loves brutal and memorable deaths in my horror films, Suspiria certainly delivers.

Finally, I need to mention the music, which is done by the band Goblin.  It's some of the best music I have ever heard in a film and adds a lot to the atmosphere of Suspiria.  I simply can't give it enough praise.

What Sucks:

Sometimes the dialogue is hard to understand due to some of the characters' thick accents.  Most of the characters were dubbed over by different actors, which is typically done to make characters easier to understand, but it didn't work in a few scenes here.

The 3rd act isn't quite as good as the rest of the film.  The set-up was so fantastic the resolution couldn't possibly be satisfying enough.  It starts out with a scene of too much exposition being dumped on us before Suzy goes to her final confrontation.  The revelation of what is going on isn't as exciting as all the possibilities that were running through my mind as I watched the film.  I'm also not really sure what the motivations of the witches running the school were.  The movie never tells us why they were running a Dance Academy or why they were suddenly so interested in killing.  There were definitely a few plot-holes.

Verdict:

Suspiria is a technical marvel with amazing color, lighting, cinematography, music, and some awesomely-gruesome death scenes.  The 3rd act isn't as good as it could have been and some of the dialogue is tough to understand, but this is a horror movie that should be more well known and it's a crying shame more people haven't seen it.  This is one film that has definitely got it going on.

 8/10: Really Good