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Suspiria (1977)

Director:
Dario Argento
COUNTRY
Italy
GENRE
Horror
NORWEGIAN TITLE
Suspiria
RUNNING TIME
98 minutes
Producer:
Claudio Argento
Salvatore Argento
Screenwriter:
Dario Argento
Daria Nicolodi


Cast includes:

CHARACTER ACTOR/ACTRESS RATING
Suzy Bannion Jessica Harper
Sarah Stefania Casini
Daniel Flavio Bucci
Mark Miguel Bosč
Miss Tanner Alida Valli
Madame Blanc Joan Bennett ½
Dr. Frank Mandel Udo Kier

 

Review

Although Dario Argento was a master of compositions, lighting and colour contrasts, even his most renowned films appear dated and ineffective today, including his perhaps most hailed, Suspiria from 1977. With its heavy imagery and bold thematics (witchcraft and the occult), Argento wanted to aim high and hit hard, but the film is so stylized and constructed, with its meticulous compositions and fairytalish build-up, that it seems almost parodic. And so when the child-like protagonist ultimately finds herself up against the larger-than-life antagonist, the film has distanced itself so far from our reality that there's little left in terms of recognition. We don't feel we're watching a horror movie as much as a gaudy, macabre painting. The bad acting and one-dimensional characters don't help much either. This is token horror at (almost) its worst. The musical score, although a bit too repetitive, is easily the film's most redeeming quality.

Copyright © 4.11.2013 Fredrik Gunerius Fevang

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