Suspiria [Blu-ray]

This is a beautiful 4K restoration. It comes with a 'making of' documentary that goes into how they restored it and I wish more films were given this treatment.

This is one of my favourite horror movies (I have fond memories of sneaking in to see it as a 15 yr old when it was certified as X) and have owned it on many formats, from VHS through to the last Anchor Bay 2 disc version. I won't bore with a plot synopsis as those looking to buy will surely know it. This blu ray version does contain a jaw dropping print of the movie that is very sharp and detailed with a depth of colour that literally shines. One is able to see so much more than was visible in previous versions/formats. Inside the coven/dance acadamy, you see for the first time that the walls are not just painted blue, but papered with vivid peacock blue velvet with embossing. There are however two niggles - hence the deduction of 1 mark for the disc. First in a few scenes, the colour pallette goes a bit AWOL especially in the scenes outside the acadamy that houses the witches' coven. The exterior of the building has always been painted a deep red (Dario purists please note pun!) but on the blu ray the building takes on a pink hue. This occurrs a few times but is forgiven by the rest of the picture which is so very good. However it could be that this is an accurate mastering of the original colour and it was previous versions that were wrong as dvd manufacturers changed the colour to red thinking this was what was needed. the rest of the colours are so vivid and accurate, I feel sure this is the case. Especially as the coven/acadamy is painted a deep red colour in the scene when Jessica Harper arrives for the first time...AT NIGHT (so no bright sunlight to diffuse the colour)> Second, the DTS 5.1 soundtrack which though it makes good use of the surrounds and is loud and pulsing, does not come close to the awsome sound featured on Anchor Bay's 2 disc DVD. That had a DTS 6.1 and Dolby Digital EX soundtrack which literally threw the viewer into a whirlwind of sound as the music and effects bounced from one speaker to another. However if you are lucky to have an amp that has 7.1 or 9.2 surround it is possible to boost the surround effect to make it more engulfing. Apart from that, this is a good buy and for those who like Argento's movies, this is now the definitive and best version of the movie available ......for now till a 4K version comes out in the next 5 years and we all scrabble to re-buy our large collections!ADDITIONAL NOTE OCTOBER 2016 - Just watched this again for the first time on our 78" 4K HDR Tv and I'm happy to say a lot of the inherant colour issues seem to have rectified themselves - probably because the 4K TV has such an extended colour spectrum so is more easily able to produce a more realistic picture - also the blacks appeared to be more dense (but without crush) so I am ammeding score to 5 stars!

Suspiria is one of the undisputed classics of horror cinema, and certainly one of the very best horror movies ever to come out of Europe. Argento will probably always be a divisive figure. For all of his talents as a stylist, all of his movies (as much as I love them) are let down by tired pacing, ludicrous plots, hackneyed dialogue and pathetic characterisations. In short, if you're looking for cerebral, rather than purely visceral, look elsewhere.The main reason Suspiria was and still is able to stand out from the rest of Argento’s oeuvre is that, for the first time, his focus was on the supernatural, rather than on some implausible and clumsily conceived murder mystery. The dialogue is still hammy and the characters – especially the woeful lead, Jessica Harper, who has about as much charisma as my grandmother’s socks – are all pretty slender (pun intended), but the plot actually moves along well and the supernatural undercurrent gives Argento completely free reign to indulge his visualistic flair like never before (or since). Subtle it is not, but it sure is effective. The colour palette is gorgeous and the production design (note the height of the door handles) is eerily effective in setting the demented fairy-tale-gone-wrong tone. The death set pieces are among the best Argento devised (I cannot look at razor wire without wincing), their strength, as with all Argento deaths, being the fact that they’re so connectible to the type of pain we can all imagine and we all dread. And, of course, there’s the now-classic Goblin score which, however bombastically it is sometimes deployed, takes the tension up ten-fold.So what of the Nouveaux Pictures / Cine Excess blu ray itself? Most of the reviews I have read have been extremely positive about both the picture and audio quality. The PQ is stunning. This is a movie which begs to be seen in uncompressed hi-def, and this disc delivers. Sadly, the audio is a huge let down. Firstly, the mix is all over the place. Parts of the dialogue are barely audible, and had me thumbing the volume-up button on my remote, only to have my hair blown off my head moments later when the music and/or screaming kicked back in at ferocious volume. Yes, I get it, I know this is the whole idea. As we're all aware, Argento is not known for his delicacy. I am also aware that the benefit of uncompressed blu ray audio makes it possible to heighten this effect but, in my humble opinion, they have over-egged the omelette a little on this disc. At one stage I was genuinely afraid that my neighbours might have thought I was actually murdering my wife. The overbearing mix aside, I was also very disappointed with the quality of the remastered sound, especially the music itself which, to this audiophile’s ears, sounds horribly muddy, over-compressed and tinny (there is very little bottom end).The special features are a little flaccid, but the retrospective documentary (created by Cine Excess for this disc) adds a little insight for those new to the movie.Minor gripes aside, this blu ray is the definitive version of Suspiria out there, and it seriously belongs in every collection, Argento fan or not. We can only hope that the long-circulated rumours of a remake remain unfounded.

Never seen the film before on TV or DVD or Blu, so straight in with the 4K and what a superb film. Really enjoyed it, though certainly not a conventional film by any stretch. The colours and the sounds of the film were superb. Some of the acting was fine, some a little wooden but overall, enjoyed every minute of the film and one I will watch again.It has been restored and overall, what a great job as it was cleaned and repaired and finger prints removed (from the film, not the 4K disk) etc - other than for the occasional minor scratch that seemed to pop up a few times, and I surprised that they didn't notice it considering the effort spent all over the rest of the film.The extras were great, loved the discussion of the film as well as the restoration of the film, which was a highlight for me (probably could have a whole disk discussing that and that would make me happy talking about the finger masks, cuts, missing frames etc)Really glad I got this, hopefully how all 4K should be but I suspect, after seeing many YT videos about them, they are not.