Tag Line : The Only Thing More Terrifying Than The Last 5 Minutes Of This Film Are The First 90

Another Argento murder/mystery, this time one that works in elements of supernatural evil, stars Jessica Harper as a young American dance student named 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, she sees one of the students running out of the building and into the pouring rain in a state of distress. Then when Suzy tries to gain access to the building, the women on the door intercom refuses to let her in.

She manages to get in the following morning, where she meets one of the instructors Miss Tanner (played by Allidi Valli), a portly woman with all the charm and charisma (and indeed dress sense) of an SS officer. It is then she finds that the girl she saw last night was brutally murdered shortly after returning to her college dorm. Jessica tries to put this disturbing news behind her and settle in at the school, but unfortunately when students start disappearing at an alarming rate she realises their is much more going on than meets the eye.

Investigating the strange noises she's been hearing in the night leads her to discover that something a lot more sinister than a simple killer on the loose is afoot at the school, and that there is much more than meets the eye with the schools directress.

Whilst the film does have something of a surreal feel to it, made by the garish scene colours, elaborate set designs, weird music (courtesy of Argento regulars the "Goblins") and a plot that flys off at tangents all over the place, this is still a highly enjoyable horror flick, although one that I would really recommend to Eurohorror fans.

Overall Marks : 6/10.

Other Information.

• 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 (still to be completed) trilogy of films about a sinister coven known as "The Three Mothers", Suspiria dealt with the first of these three, Mater Suspiriorum (the mother of sighs) and was closely followed by "Inferno" which dealt with Mater Tenebrarum (the mother of darkness).

• The UK cinema version suffered 2 cuts totalling 15s. This removed a 2s close up of Sara's (Stefania Casini) throat being cut in the room of wires and trimmed 13 seconds from the scene showing the blind man getting his throat torn out by his guide dog (mainly the close ups). The pre-VRA video by Thorn EMI was initially uncut, but they replaced it with the BBFC cinema version when the "video nasties" furore started (Although the video was never directly targeted by the nasty campaigners). The post VRA release by Entertainment in Video suffered an additional 34s of BBFC cuts, which removed a few shots of a knife plunging into the chest and then showing the beating heart. The blind man getting his throat torn out by his own guide dog was almost completely missing in that release (These additional cuts are not listed in official BBFC documentation though)

• Suprisingly, the 1998 release by Nouveaux Pictures managed to pass through uncut (obviously managed to catch the BBFC on a good day).

• There are two versions of the opening titles. In one, the movie's title card is presented in a stylish printed font. In the other version possibly the previous unrated American print (not the Anchor Bay version), the letters of the word "Suspiria" are made of weird pink flesh-like organs that pulsate and seem to breathe, sort of a cross between hearts and lungs. These pink formations actually appear on the American one-sheet movie poster and in the US theatrical trailer.

• Horror B-movie star Udo Kier has had a very long running career in the film industry, having appeared in over 130 films and TV movies in his 40 year career. He appeared in the leading roles of both of Andy Warhol's arty shockers "Flesh for Frankenstein" (which got listed on the UK Governments "Video Nasty" list of 84) and "Blood for Dracula", along with Expose (aka House on Straw Hill. Another Video Nasty title). His other diverse credits include "The Story of O", "My Own Private Idaho", "Ace Ventura-Pet Detective", "Barb Wire", "Breaking the Waves", "Blade", "Shadow of the Vampire" and "End of Days".

• Much of the movie was shot on outdated film stock in an attempt to save money. However this resulted in the set colours turning out overdly bright in the finished print.

Cast & Crew.

Cover Gallery.

Buy the UK DVD.

Buy the UK DVD.

Buy the US DVD (1) (3-disc spec ed).

Buy the US DVD (2) (standard ed)

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