" psycho meets the exorcist with no holds barred " .
a blurb like that sounds like desperate publicity for some low budget , third rate rip - off .
but no , this tacky plug comes from the poster for suspiria , perhaps italian horror director dario argento 's most consistently successful film .
what impresses most in re - watching this surrealistic , supernatural thriller is that argento 's directorial flair and stylish visuals are matched by a near - fully coherent narrative .
screenplays have always been his achilles heel ; confusing subplots , gaping holes , totally illogical incidents and reactions .
no question : argento has always been a better director than a writer .
fortunately , he gets the plotting pretty well right with suspiria , taking his cue from a book by thomas de quincey called " suspiria de profundis " .
the film 's storyline suffers from no major lapses in logic , provided one can accept the premise of a ballet school being a front for a coven of witches .
jessica harper plays an american who travels to germany to further her studies in dance .
arriving at the school late at night in driving rain , she sees a girl leave and run into the storm in a clearly distressed state .
what happens next - and i do n't make the comparison lightly - is a murder sequence that for intensity , shock value and sheer directorial flair ranks alongside alfred hitchcock 's infamous shower scene in psycho .
it 's quite possibly a homage to hitchcock , but with its baroque sets , graphic gore and brilliantly chaotic musical accompaniment by the gothic rock group goblin , this stunning sequence remains very much argento 's own .
though nothing else quite equals the intensity of suspiria 's opening 15 minutes , the film continues to be never anything less than engrossing as harper begins her own investigations and slowly comes to realise this is no ordinary ballet school .
we meet an assortment of slightly sinister characters , most notably the head ballet teacher played by alida valli in another one of those delicious sour - old - matriarch - from - hell roles she does so well .
several more violent murders ensue , including a startling scene in a deserted square where a blind man is . . .
well , i would n't want to spoil things now , would i ?
and the film 's climax , staged amid secret corridors and hidden rooms , has a gothic ghoulishness
that 's most impressive .
the english language versions of most argento movies usually suffer trimming , and not just for the violence - deep red and phenomena , for example , have been appallingly hacked about .
fortunately , the cuts to suspiria ( about 7 minutes in this version ) have not adversely affected the film .
the dubbing of the italian actors into english is quite competently done , too , excepting one appalling and unintentionally hilarious effort with a conversation between harper and a professor about the history of witchcraft in the region .
and the soundtrack ?
it is interesting to imagine what power the film would have lost if it had been scored by someone else .
as it stands , the use of goblin 's music in suspiria is outstanding .
apparently , argento played the soundtrack on location while filming so the actors could hear the music as they acted out their parts .
a stereo video player adds greatly to the viewer 's overall experience .
even better , see suspiria in a cinema , where you 'll get the added bonus of widescreen .
and the colours !
deep reds , eerie blues , a superb use of shadow and contrast .
the cinematography of luciano tovoli , whose more recent credits include reversal of fortune and single white female , is uniformly superb .
a nod also must go to production designer giuseppe bassan for his wonderful baroque interiors .
these kinds of settings are crucial to the atmosphere of argento 's more surreal excursions , the other most notable example being inferno ( 1980 ) on which bassan also worked .
suspiria is the film that broke dario argento into the major league of european directors , and it is fully deserving of its cult status .
the gore is at times a little excessive and overstated - that 's always been one of argento 's shortcomings - but overall
this is a fascinating , compelling example of italian horror .
Output: P