Suspiria (1977)

Directed by Dario Argento. Starring Jessica Harper, Stefania Casini, Alida Valli, Joan Bennett, Miguel Bosé, Barbara Magnolfi, Flavio Bucci, Giuseppe Transocchi, Eva Axén, Udo Kier, Rudolf Schündler, Lela Svasta. [R]

Scary, supremely stylish horror film blends fairy tales with the occult in telling the unsettling story of a young American dancer (Harper) who arrives in Germany to study at a prestigious dance school that’s secretly run by a coven of witches. Dialogue and dubbing are of low quality (as one expects even from the best that giallo has to offer), but Argento’s dark imagination, Luciano Tovoli’s stunning camerawork, and the grandiloquent spookiness of the musical score (by Italian prog-rock band Goblin) create a galvanizing atmosphere rich with extravagant color, unearthly shrieks, free-flowing gore, and bizarre supernatural visions; like a nightmare come to life on celluloid, it has stilted moments and it’s not always logical, but it strikes deep at the primeval level and refuses to go away. Argento’s mastery of elaborate set pieces—including the startling appearance of more razor wire than it takes to fence a supermax prison—is arguably nowhere better exemplified across his long career. Joan Bennett plays the school’s headmistress in her final film role. The first entry in Argento’s supernatural horror trilogy dubbed “The Three Mothers” (followed by Inferno and The Mother of Tears). Remade in 2018.

86/100