Suspiria Reviews

Notoriously sadistic moments

I was hoping for so much from this film after being scared witless by dir. Argento. Suspiria has great colour, shocking random violence and a genuinely unsettling atmosphere; but half its edge is due to the awful editing and dubbing, hilarious repetitive soundtrack and some totally random incidents apparently included to simply heighten this disorientation. Think of this work as a disturbing montage and its notable; but as a movie with a story it is a childish fairytale and will leave you laughing at its appalling plot holes, even if you enjoy it's notoriously sadistic moments.

The Witching Hour

Many years ago when 'The Scala' in Kings Cross was a cinema and not a club I went to see a late night viewing of several Argento films. At this time I was aware of Argento's talents having seen 'The Bird with the Crystal Plumage' and 'Profondo Rosso'. I did not know anything about Suspiria and was quite taken aback expecting something along the lines of the afore mentioned movies. What I got was a beautifully vivid descent into hell. Suspiria is exciting, dark and thought provoking. Watch it.

It is about a young girl Suzy Bannion (Jessica Harper) who gets a place at a famous ballet school. On her arrival she is greeted by some wierd and wonderful characters and a school full of scared students. It doesn't take long for Argento to play all his cards and let you into the fact that the girls are going to be bumped off in a series of well thought out and odd ways. We are also subjected to 'Goblins' most bizarre and scary score. The music loops, building some great atmosphere and suspense. This film will not date I asure you even with the dodgy seventies haircuts.

Watch in the dark, in a thunderstorm, in a tutu, in the bathroom (just in case!!!).

Still cuts it

I remember seeing this at the Cinema when it first came out, and being scared witless. I watched it again 18 years on, and whilst it doesn't have the same impact, it is a stylish horror film, and makes a good watch with the lights out cuddling up on the sofa.

Terrible

Waste of time... no suspense.. no horror.... nothing at all... sat all the way thro waiting for something to happen

Visually stunning horror

This 1976 horror is one of the most beautifully shot films I have ever seen. Every scene looks incredible. There is also some nice gore. The story is not quite as good as the visuals but it is such a pleasure seeing the actual film that you can forgive the fact the story is a little basic. There is also one of the most memorable murders to grace the horror genre at the beginning of this film, it's right up there with the shower scene in psycho!

Holy Moly

just had a dube and watched this film and my heart is racing. very dark with constantly dangerous music played in background with demonic chanting. WoW this film really shows u that even back in the day its not the special effects that are important (even tho they r quite good in this film), but its the situation u put the characters in. If its as scray as hell a situation with no1 around to help stuck in a scary big ballet school with red and green lights every where and scary chanting and stuf going on, u make ur audience pooh. this is film builds massive tension to the point where ur absolutely starin at the screne, then finally when the film ends ur like jesus i think im having a heart attack. this is how u make a scry film wez craven, this puts ur films to shame. GOOD FILM!

[Highly rated reviewer]

what pooh

Oh my god where do i begin. This was pure crap!! I sat through about 45 mins and finally had to turn it off. The acting was - well bad would be an understatement - the Dubbing was aweful and it gets worse from there - do your selves a favour - dont rent this movie

[Highly rated reviewer]

Extremely Poor.

This extremely weak, low-budget, Italian 'horror' film has so many faults as to make it laughable.

The quality of the dubbing is atrocious, and is a constant and irritating distraction. It is also a good measure of the extremely careless way in which this film was made. The acting is bizarre, the script is very poor, the soundtrack and the visuals are loud, jangling, lurid and garish. This all does nothing to make the very silly, ridiculous plot of 'a witches' coven in a ballet school' seem to be anything other than puerile hokum. There are also some extremely violent sequences, which, due to the inferior overall quality of the film, come over as being simply gratuitous.

This film isn't worth the celluloid which it is printed on.

If there were any justice, then the director would have been banned from ever making another film ! Oh, and did I mention the dubbing...it really is ATROCIOUS.

Argento's masterpiece

Style, style and more style. Plot? Forget it. By the end you will either be completely exhausted or convinced that Argento is some kind of mad genius. The basic story is just a set up for a series of bravura set pieces (the opening murder is a particular highlight) Acting? Forget it. Although Jessica Harper equips herself well enough she is only really a supporting player to the real star here, Argento's super-stylised direction. Superb

A special mention for the menacing soundtrack by Goblin. One of the best ever, it crashes and howls and definitely adds an extra flavour to the already atmospheric goings on

great

check out the scenes the bbfc edited on youtube