BFI Recommends: Suspiria
Accept no substitutes for Dario Argento’s original, blood-soaked classic of Italian horror. The latest of our daily recommendations is Suspiria, chosen by Nadia Attia.
Far superior to the 2018 Suspiria is this original from cult director Dario Argento (see also Deep Red, Tenebrae), who helped bring the Italian thriller-horror genre giallo to wider international audiences. This Suspiria is Argento to the core: a supernatural narrative that sucks you in (he co-wrote the screenplay); bloody horror with his trademark visual flair; music from his go-to prog rock band Goblin. All of these elements combine to create a heady concoction of flamboyance and menace – no wonder this film crept under the skin of directors such as Luca Guadagnino, Nicolas Winding Refn and Gaspar Noé, and has been emulated in pop culture many times over.
It’s the story of a dancer (Jessica Harper), newly enrolled in a ballet school at the edge of the Black Forest, who unwittingly becomes a target for Mater Suspiriorum (the Mother of Sighs), and stumbles across strange, ritualistic happenings within the school’s walls. Everything you see on screen, captured by cinematographer Luciano Tovoli, is put there to unhinge, including the oversized sets designed to make the dancers look smaller. Argento is screwing with your mind, and I guarantee that you’ll love every neon, blood-soaked second of it.
Nadia Attia
Editor and Copywriter
@nadia_land_