Day 029 || Suspiria

Suspiria, 1977

Dir. Dario Argento

"Bad luck isn't brought by broken mirrors, but broken minds."

Suspiria is Dario Argento's seventies cult classic, and master work according to several genre enthusiasts. Being a horror fan myself, I really wanted to go back and get acquainted with some of the older films in the genre for this Film a Day Project. I didn't know exactly what to expect, but kept high expectations...which was clearly a mistake.

Suspiria is about a young American girl traveling to a foreign ballet school to study with the best, supposedly. Upon arrival, Suzy (Jessica Harper), witnesses a young girl panicking and running from the school, only to find out later that she was murdered that very night. And as Suzy spends more time at this school, it slowly starts to show that things aren't quite adding up and something's not exactly right.

To say this is Argento's masterpiece is definitely hyperbolic, or maybe everyone had such low standards for the genre when originally viewing this film that it stood out...either way, viewing it now, it's clear that Suspiria didn't age well. The film is beautiful, and it's shot in such a way that it conveys a technicolor nightmare. The color palette is constantly shifting, again, alluding to the dream-like or more apt nightmarish quality to the film.

Too bad none of that carried over into the acting or story. Sure, it's visceral and gorgeous, but from ten minutes in, you're going to know exactly what's going on. The surprise twist as to why the school is killing people off is laughable, and isn't anywhere near scary or horrific. Again, I use laughable.

Suspiria is a wonderfully shot and visually stunning film, especially for it's time, and has an atmosphere and jarring soundtrack that actually fits. It's sad that those are the only redeeming qualities, as this film suffers from a ludicrously inane script, ham-fisted acting (if it can even be called that), and a pacing that borders on tedious. I've heard several people say this is film that gets better and demands multiple viewings...but seeing as I barely tolerated one, I don't see my future self revisiting this one anytime soon. Am I glad I saw it? For the most part. There was a scene or two that stood out, but by the end of it I just felt exhausted, and not in a good way.

1 out of 5