Suspiria

Alternate titles : None.

Tagline : "The Only Thing More Terrifying Than The Last 5 Minutes Of This Film Are The First 90".

Another Argento murder/mystery, this time also working supernatural elements into the plot. Jessica Harper stars as young American dance student Suzy Banyon, who enlists at an exclusive European dance school in Germany, only to do battle with a vicious murderer and an unholy evil influence.

The problems start when she first arrives at the academy late one night. As she goes to call at the front door, one of the students suddenly runs out of the building and into the pouring rain in a state of distress.

After finally gaining entrance, Suzy soon realises something is amiss. Strange noises can be heard at night, students start to go missing at an alarming rate, then she discovers that the girl she saw run past her when she first arrived has been killed.

But there's something a lot more sinister going on than a simple killer on the loose, which may have something to do with the school being founded by a witches coven many years ago.

Visually stunning, and exceptionally surreal, featuring a whole slew of brutally graphic murders and an appearance by a rather young looking Udo Kier (albeit dubbed with an American accent). This is a highly enjoyable horror flick, which Eurohorror fans should thoroughly enjoy!

Overall Marks : 6/10.

Terrifying Trivia

• Alternate tag line, "Once You've Seen It, You Will Never Again Feel Safe In The Dark".
• Suspiria was the first of what was to be a trilogy of films about a sinister coven known as "The Three Mothers". "Suspiria" (1977) dealt with the first of these, Mater Suspiriorum (the mother of sighs). "Inferno" (1980) dealt with Mater Tenebrarum (the mother of darkness). The third film "Mothers of Tears", eventually came out in 2007, some thirty years after the original, and dealt with the third mother Mater Lachrymarum.
• According to Jessica Harper, the woman playing Helena Markos, who isn't listed in the credits, was a 90-year-old former prostitute who director Dario Argento found on the streets of Rome.
• Jessica Harper was cast as the lead after Argento saw her in the Brian De Palma film "Phantom of the Paradise" (1974).
• To get the rich colours, the film was processed using a Technicolor three-strip machine. This process had been rarely used since the 1950s and this was one of the last films to be printed this way, using one of the last surviving three-strip machines. Technicolour Rome dismantled this equipment after the film had been completed.
• Udo Kier, who plays professor Mandel, is a prominent horror movie actor. His notable genre credits include Andy Warhol's arty shockers "Flesh for Frankenstein" and "Blood for Dracula", along with "Mark of the Devil", "Blade", and "Iron Sky".
• The US version, released through 20th Century Fox, was cut by 8 minutes by the US Ratings board. Removing the more graphic excesses, before they would give it an R rating. Despite this, it was still their 8th highest grossing film that year.
• The originial UK cinema release was cut by 15s by the BBFC, which shortened a couple of throat slashings. The cut and uncut versions of the film were released on video in the early 80s, but were both withdrawn following the introduction of the Video Recordings Act in 1984. Later VHS releases suffered an additional 34s of cuts, removing a stabbing and shortening the dog attack even further. The film was passed uncut in 1998 and all DVD releases have been of the uncut version.

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