Cherished Cinema

Suspiria (Dario Argento, 1977)

Hello all.

A few weeks ago, I requested that a few close friends give me a short list of “must-sees” (in terms of horror) and Suspiria was the only film that was showed up on all of the lists. I have some exposure to Argento, having seen Inferno and Deep Red in a classroom setting. This film was nothing short of brilliant. If you haven’t seen the film, then I urge you to give it a chance prior to reading this post but if you have, then please continue reading.

The most obvious and one of the most astonishing features of the film is its score. A little bit shocking at first and even becomes overbearing at times. Sure it keeps your attention, but more importantly, it calls attention to the fact that it is a horror film. So in ways, the score is self-reflexive. Even if you don’t look at it this way it is still extremely creepy and fitting for the film. Sound is important in other ways as well; at times dialogue is drowned out by background noises.

I would also like to emphasize the brilliant structure of the film’s plot. The film is bookended with gruesome murders/deaths. Within the first ten minutes, we witness a brutal and shocking murder of a beautiful woman. Now that Argento has the audience’s attention and heart-rate up, he calms everything down for a good twenty-five minutes or so. Even after this point, when people begin to disappear and there are more murders, they are far less graphic and I would say even less exciting. That is, until the end of the film, in which the audience gets yet another brutal murder sequence.

For readers of this site, what film of Argento’s should I check out next? The three I have seen have been absolutely fantastic and would like to keep working through his filmography. Thank you for reading!