"Suspiria" has been acclaimed as director Dario Argento's masterpiece. And it certainly is. The plot is fairly simple. American ballet student Susy Banyon (Jessica Harper) travels to Germany to attend an exclusive ballet school. Once there, she discovers that there is more going on within than just dance instruction. Although the school's directress, Madame Blanc (Joan Bennett) welcomes her warmly, she is unsettled by her aide, Nazified teacher Miss Tanner (Alida Valli), as well as several mysterious student disappearances. When her new friend Sara (Stefania Casini) is the latest to vanish, Susy begins her own investigation of the academy. Filmed in bright, lurid Technicolor, and accompanied by a thundering soundtrack by Goblin, Suspiria is a nightmare-come-to-life. The performances of Harper, Bennett and especially Valli (like Bennett, a major star of the Golden Age) are solid, as is the unrelentingly creepy atmosphere. Also on display are two especially gruesome murders which happen near the beginning of the film. Argento later said that he modeled the look of the film directly on Walt Disney's "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" and, indeed the similarities are apparent. "Suspiria" may not always make perfect sense plot wise, but it's a thrilling roller-coaster ride through what may very well be Hell. "Suspiria" ranks as one of the best Italian-made horror films of all time.
Review of Suspiria
