DARIO ARGENTO'S SUSPIRIA - DARIO ARGENTO'S SUSPIRIA (1 DVD)

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.

This review is for the Suspiria Blu-ray by Nouveaux Pictures. Suspiria (1976) was made by Italian horror director Dario Argento. I had no idea who Argento was before I saw Suspiria. This is a very powerful film experience, especially in the department of looks and sound. I is also very original, I haven't seen another movie like this. The plot is simple enough: an American Girl, Susie Banyon (played by a young Jessica Harper), arrives to Germany to join a dance academy. The academy is run by witches. The story feels closer to fairy-tales, like Grimm brothers, than usual gore/horror. The strength of Suspiria is how it looks and sounds: the colors (vivid red, blue and green) are fantastic and create a very fairytale-like effect (similar in style to Argentos sequel: Inferno). Very important is also the soundtrack by Goblin, incredibly well fitted into the movie and creating a scary atmosphere. The settings are also fantastic: the house with it's huge doors and extreme wallpaper designs, the lightning effects etc. All in all, Suspiria looks incredible and should really be seen on a large screen. I watched the Blu-ray on a projector (100") and it looks excellent. There are some flaws here and there in the picture, some unfocused moments etc, but this doesn't seem to be a fault in the transfer but rather problems with the film itself. But the major part looks incredibly sharp and with rich colors. (I have the DVD-version as well, and it looks almost as good as the Blu-ray). There is a commentary track with Argento/horror film experts Alan Jones and Kim Newman. This is excellent and the two gentlemen have a really good time. They drop so many interesting observations about every aspect of the film: the looks, the music, the actors, the director, references to other movies (there are two or three references to Psycho) etc. Very informative and well worth listening to again. This is a horror movie, and if your'e very sensitive to blood you should of course be aware of that. But: the effects, blood and violence is not very realistic (the blood ususally looks like bright red paint, and probably is!). As the commentators say: Suspiria is not about fright and gore as much as about style! Actually, I think the "18"-label is a little exaggerated. Highly recommended to anyone interested in cinema!

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!

In 1977, Dario Argento decided to broaden his horizons, and delve into the supernatural of witchcraft. He decided to do the greatest trilogy in film history (two great movies (Susperia and Inferno), and the final not so great (yes, you guest it The Mother of Tears)) calling it ‘The Three Mothers Trilogy’ blending Horror and Suspense plus Art Deco along the way. When American Actress Jessica Harper’s protagonist character ‘Susan Bannion’ see a beautiful big red gothic house that represents her dance academy then her spellbinding adventure really has just begun. Both Jessica Harper, along with Stefania Casini, Barbara Magnolfi, Alida Valli, and a cameo appearance by German actor Udo Keir all shine in this fantastic 1977 cult classic, but all acting credits should go to American actress Joan Bennett as this was her final movie before retiring. And what a movie go out on. And with the 1970s Italian Prog Rockers Goblin performing was a magical music score was a stoke of genius blending a blend of gothic electronica and subliminal messaging in the opening credits to start this first part of this great trilogy, along with the second part of the trilogy the wonderful, dark, mysterious and spellbinding 1980 sequel ‘Inferno’ crafted in a gothic atmosphere. As I mentioned in my review of Dario Argento’s Inferno (1980), I said that it’s a pity that Dario Argento waited so long for the last of the trilogy, in my opinion ‘Mother Of Tears’ should have done it either in 1986 or 1987, and set it in a posh Italian Board School (with British styled formal posh school uniforms for the actors who are playing the students) with cameo appearances by Jessica Harper and Leigh McCloskey as their main characters from Susperia and Inferno, with a blend of existing and new actors and actresses from Italy, France, Germany, Britain, Canada and America. The third movie should have the same dark style of the first two movies with the same dark and evil surprise at the end when they discover who is the Third Mother, and have either Goblin or Keith Emerson do the music score. I think my version would have been a lot better than the woeful 2007 ‘Mother Of Tears’. But Dario wanted to get back to Italian Giallo Movies, which lead him to create his 1980s Movie Masterpieces ‘Tenebrae’ (1982), ‘Phenomena’ (1985) and his last masterpiece in my opinion was ‘Opera’ (1987). Please get this in either DVD or Blu Ray Format as it’s a million time better than the lousy, boring and dull 2018 remake which is an insult to Dario Argento’s 1977 supernatural masterpiece.

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.

i was a little unkind in my original review. I remember seeing Suspiria on it's release in the cinema - the whirligig of visuals, the repetitive use of the colour red and the pounding Exorcist/Carpenter-inspired music from Goblins made for a pretty scary experiences when I was18. The story is pretty straightforward -young Suzy Bannon, an American ballet student (Jessica Harper: Pennies from Heaven), comes to a German dance academy run by the redoubtable Madame Blanc (Hollywood veteran Joan Bennett) and her second-in-command, the grim-faced Miss Tanner (Alida Valli). She soon comes to suspect that all is not as it should be - one student mysteriously flees the academy as Suzy arrives in the midst of a violent thunderstorm, only to be murdered later that night, a blind piano player from the school dies soon afterwards and one of her new friends goes missing shortly thereafter. And then there's the mysterious Directrice, who comes and goes and has a horrid raspy rattle while she snores in her sleep. Suzy soon discovers that the town used to be home to a famous witch in the 19th century who founded what eventually became the dance academy, and suspects that a witches coven is still active on the premises. Time for Suzy to go creeping along dimly lit corridors and hunt them down! Having viewed a bit more from Dario Argento of late, its clear he loves setting up imaginative individual scenes, even at the expense of a cohesive whole. And the intense Goblins soundtrack seems to be often used to make up for the banality of seeing a character tiptoeing down a corridor. We can only guess at the relevance of the mysterious young nephew of Madame Blanc - is he a warlock-in-waiting, watched over by the splendidly flint-faced Romanian cook, or is this just a nod to The Omen? Most probably the latter, given the Hitchcockian attributes of Bird with the Crystal Plumage, for example. Half-way through the film, Warhol favourite Udo Kier (Flesh for Frankenstein) pops up - a little heavy-handidly - as little more than a plot device to explain why psychiatrists are interested in witchcraft and to allow a little more history of the dance academy to be given to the audience. And the plot device of some stored hampers of food in the attic going bad (haven't these people heard of fridges or cellars?) and getting infested with maggots (a) gives an opportunity for us to squirm at the students' hysteria as maggots drop into their hair, and (b) produces the excuse for everybody to have to sleep downstairs in the rehearsal room that night, including the mysterious rattley-throated Directorice, allowing a bit of clunky exposition of the plot. Stylistically though, the film remains a visual treat, with the Art Nouveau style of the ballet school reminding me of the Vincent Price's Dr Phibes movies. The deaths at the beginning of the movie remain two of the more gory ones in the horror canon, so much so that they (the scenes, not just the actresses) were hacked to ribbons in early VHS and DVD releases. Certain set pieces like the pit of wire in the attic are inspired, if one doesn't question why people have wire pits in their attic rooms in the first place! Suspiria showcases what 70s Italian horror WAS good at - memorable and ingeneous ways to kill people off - though falling short in the ability to develop a sustained air of dread compared to, say, John Carpenter classics such as Halloween and The Fog. Most of the frights here come from the Goblins' prog-rock soundtrack suddenly erupting from the speakers at high volume and shocking us out of our seats. William Castle would have been proud.

Being an avid horror fan I had been waiting to watch Suspiria for some time. I bought the Blu Ray for a great price and eagerly awaited its delivery. I had heard many different stories about the film and many glowing reviews. People were shocked that I had not seen this gem of a film. A classic I had been told. It finally came and I was not disappointed. I was thoroughly enthralled by the story and the astounding visuals. For some reason I just could not look away and I was strangely unsettled at moments in the film that I would not have expected. There was fantastic direction and a great script but what really just blew me away was the colour and the visuals. I was captivated by them. The picture was fantastic, for a film as old as this, it looked great. It could have been shot yesterday and my HDTV was loving every minute of it. Coming from a first time viewer I would tell everyone to watch Suspiria, especially on Blu Ray. I am very glad I saw this for the first time with the fantastic quality on the Blu Ray rather than a DVD. Fans of the film will no doubt appreciate the Blu Ray and new comers like myself will love the film and the Blu Ray 8/10

I was glad to have found this title on blu-ray. Dario Argento knows how to film 'colors'. This is the transfer we have waiting for! Have had copies on VHS, Laserdisc, and a few DVDs...this film has never looked this 'brilliant'! The colors have a life of their own on blu-ray. I admit, it is a little contrasty and a little bright...but hey, it's better than what we have had in the past. Ordered this with Argento's INFERNO Dario Argento's Inferno [Blu-ray ] from Arrow Entertainment on blu-ray, but I ran into a problem. Suspiria is region B whereas my players here in the States only play region A. Ordered an excellent region free blu ray/dvd player for a little over 100 dollars...and glad I did, or I would not have experienced SUSPIRIA on blu-ray. Since then I have ordered several region B blu rays. Back to SUSPIRIA blu ray, besides the great video, the DTS-HD audio is awesome! The special features are nothing to write home about...it's mainly people who had nothing to do with the film talking about the film (there is a little Argento in the interviewing). Just would have liked to see Arrow Entertainment release this film because they did an awesome job with Argento's INFERNO with a disc full of special features! Looking forward to more Argento from Arrow in the future. Dario Argento is a master at his craft (next to Mario Bava) and it shows with films like SUSPIRIA, INFERNO, DEEP RED, to name a few. If you have this on DVD...this is worth the upgrade! BRAVO!!!