Film Review: Suspiria

Dario Argento's 1977 Horror Suspiria uses extreme lighting and overpowering sound throughout the film, to amplify the inescapable terror that is too intense to ignore. Argento takes no notice of any limits, making this fantastic piece of art a one of a kind. At times he forces the audience to feel nervously anxious as the music roars through the speakers repetitively, ultimately building up the fearful tension for a long moment before something tragic actually happens in the film. Suspiria is a film that doesn't have to rely on an exciting or well structured story plot, instead the incredible and dramatically emphasized lighting and sound are what makes it so spectacular and easily appreciated.

Figure. 1. Suspiria poster.

Suzy (Jessica Harper) is a young ballet dancer who joins an academy in Germany, soon uncovering the truth that the school holds something more twisted and supernatural beneath it. There are animalistic murders in the film, that focus on the intense brutality and uncensorship of the gore explicitly. A graphic murder scene is shown early on when a woman who previously flees from the dance academy, spots a monsterous entity outside of a window moments before it unleashes the inhumane rage on her. The way that the poor women in this film are tormented and played with is horrible, as Argento makes them suffer excruciatingly over a whole scene instead of letting them have a quick and painless death. "It's possibly the clearest expression of the director's embedded hatred of women, or at least his desire to see them tortured and mutilated. He remains unrepentant about it. 'A woman in peril is emotionally affecting,' he told Empire back in 1997. 'A man simply isn't.'" (Smith, 2015) Although making it seem likely that he enjoyed creating a hellish experience for these victims, if he really had a clear and strong hatred for women then Suzy could have met a far worse fate in Suspiria than she did. Besides, it is a blind man who gets his throat torn into viciously by his own guide dog, after a long suspenseful build up of the deafening and torturing music. The blood in this film is luminous red, so extreme that it doesn't even look real anymore, but definitely expresses its presence more and in a way gives the blood another platform of importance. Increasing the intensity and brightness of the red draws more focus towards it, as if to say the gore and blood are meant to be focused on and noticed, and the look of it is supposed to be exaggerated, just like the sound and lighting.

The vivid red isn't only seen in the blood, the film is full of red lighting and Argento doesn't use it lightly or discreetly. "For a horror film, there are surprisingly few shadows on display in this film and few scenes where darkness represents the enemy. Instead, bright blues and deep reds and sickly yellows invade the frame, creeping in from around corners, shining through curtains, and bouncing off walls from light sources that simply cannot exist." (Hall, 2016) The extreme colours of lighting isn't used in moderation, in fact it is used very early on in the film when Suzy takes a step out of the airport doors, and from then on the film is full of this vibrant lighting. Whether this blue and red clashing of colours represents something, such as cool and hot temperature, or good and evil, or it is literally just used to create intensely spooky visuals, it owns the film all the way through and sets the mood of an unknown and dangerous territory. The blue and red lighting is also very similar to the look of police/ambulance sirens, which may suggest the crimes and casualties that are secretly going on at this academy. The strength of the coloured lights can actually make the character's figures in the film look slightly different, with alterations in their shape and structure which in itself is quite inhumane. Obviously Argento wasn't trying to be discreet in this film with its lighting, which is why he is owed respect for this film. He fearlessly put over the top lighting into the film, even when no lights are actually on in the scene and realistically it would be barely visible. The fact he's done this shows everyone that he doesn't really care and he's not obeying any rules or limitations, one of the great things about Suspiria is that it visually reflects Argento's passion in the cinematography and takes the audience to his world, instead of a world that they already know and trust. 

Figure. 2. Suspiria movie still.

Despite Suspiria's carelessness for being subtle in the cinematography, the sound is another element that makes this film wildly stand out. The creepy sounding track by Goblin haunts the movie incredibly throughout the duration of it, using the same repetitive track again and again. Not only does it set a scary mood with how it sounds, but the fact it goes on for so long adds to the discomfort because as soon as it plays you're declined to expect something murderous and horrible at any moment. The track will play for a while, building up the tension and welding it into the viewer's brain that the inevitable is coming. Not only this, but the volume of it is extremely over the top once again. This makes it impossible to avoid because the deafening music is all you can hear, and that's all you need to hear. The endless music building up is torturous, and is used to make the audience just want to be finally put out of their misery and face what is coming, while at the same time makes them wish they could make themselves oblivious to it, which is impossible with such a monstrous volume. "Goblin's role was vital: it's hard to imagine the film's visuals without their swarthy music." (Elan, 2009) What could go more well with intense visuals than intense sound and volume? The audience will struggle to stay in their comfort zone, because the film breaks the limits and invades their brains with the pounding sound and ghostly lighting. One thing that Argento did amazingly was not letting expectations and realistic stereotypes be a part of Suspiria, he owned his world and made it specifically his own, which is why this film is like no other you will see.

Illustration List

Figure. 1. RottenTomatoes, Suspiria movie poster. https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1020662_suspiria? (Accessed 11/12/17)

Figure. 2. O'Connor T, Suspiria movie still. https://www.goombastomp.com/fantasia-2017-20-anticipated-films-pt-x/ (Accessed 11/12/17)

Bibliography

Elan P. (2009) https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/music/2009/jul/18/goblin-suspiria-supersonic (Accessed 10/12/17)

Hall J. (2016) http://www.slashfilm.com/suspiria-review/2/ (11/12/17)

Smith A. (2015) http://www.empireonline.com/movies/suspiria/review/