OT...Suspiria

last weekend i found a four dollar copy of suspiria at the flea-market.
i had never seen it but heard alot about it.suposedly the ill-fated 2004 version of d.s. was stylistically inspired by it.plus it featured joan bennett so i took it.

the person i bought it from warned me not to watch it alone because it was so scary.now i didn't find it all that scary but loved the style and mood of it.the super-saturated color palette and musical score gave it a very distinctive feeling.and the sets and locations were eerily beautiful.

joan bennett didn't have as much presence in it as thought she would.she was almost a cameo.but i did think she had aged alot since d.s. and the movie was filmed only a few years after d.s. left the air.they revived liz's beehive hairdo for the film which was a nice touch.
according to the bennetts,an acting family the reviews for joan were not kind(one critic likened her to a "wax-work princess margaret" and another "a programmed grand-mother doll").

what do you guys think of the film?

There are a lot of people out there who think it is among the greatest hororr films of all time.  Frankly, the score and stylisation got on my nerves, and the extreme violence directed against hapless women characters did not please me at all.

I do enjoy Joan Bennett's scene as Coven Matriarch.  Jean-Claude does a mean version of those lines.

G.

I like Suspiria in spite of itself, but its not a film I love.  I think its strength was in its casting and most performances (many people are obviously dubbed), the pacing, mood, cinematography, music and atmosphere. I think the story telegraphs the mystery so quickly you can't even use a stop watch. I tend to agree and wife does even moreso that this and other Italian horror films can have a very ugly undercurrent of violence against women. The violence is stylised, and in this films its generally women against women, which is about the step above the average Jess Franco potboiler of outright misogyny. I attended a panel on "Women Look at Horror Films" at FANEX a few years back and all of the ladies who had seen the film were uncomfortable with it on some level or another. Actually, my wife has never made it through the whole thing, especially as she took ballet, the central setting of the piece.
    Agreed that you don't go to this to see very much Joan Bennett screen time, although I admit she and Alida Valli ( of the classic "Third Man", who's very creepy here) add a veneer of class to the bloodflow.

Michael

I have never been able to sit through a complete viewing of Dario Argento's film Suspira or for that matter any of his films. I just find them to boring. I never understood why horror fans think his film are worthy of such accolades. I like a different type of horror film. One that is dark and errie both in mood and color. His films are too colorful. I also don't like in your face graphic violence, not that I can't sit through it, I just feel that a certain amount of off camera violence can leave more of an emotional impact on the viewer.

Jeff

I do enjoy Joan Bennett's scene as Coven Matriarch.  Jean-Claude does a mean version of those lines.

Gothele, you're sweet!  I didn't know that you heard my version.  I'm guessing this was at the Fest, but I don't remember.

Personally, I love SUSPIRIA.  To me, it's pure cinema -- a total sensory experience.  I'd love to see it in a theater on a large screen with a first-rate sound system.  The violence doesn't bother me because the film is so highly stylized, the violence is committed by a force rather than an individual, and it isn't sexual violence.  For me, the most disturbing bit of violence is the dog attack, which is committed against a man.

last weekend i found a four dollar copy of suspiria at the flea-market.
i had never seen it but heard alot about it.suposedly the ill-fated 2004 version of d.s. was stylistically inspired by it.plus it featured joan bennett so i took it.

the person i bought it from warned me not to watch it alone because it was so scary.now i didn't find it all that scary but loved the style and mood of it.the super-saturated color palette and musical score gave it a very distinctive feeling.and the sets and locations were eerily beautiful.

joan bennett didn't have as much presence in it as thought she would.she was almost a cameo.but i did think she had aged alot since d.s. and the movie was filmed only a few years after d.s. left the air.they revived liz's beehive hairdo for the film which was a nice touch.
according to the bennetts,an acting family the reviews for joan were not kind(one critic likened her to a "wax-work princess margaret" and another "a programmed grand-mother doll").

I was interested to see this post because I just finished watching Argento's "Profondo Rosso" ("Deep Red"), which is sometimes said to be his masterpiece (although the same has been said of "Suspiria," I believe).

I've now seen three of Argento's films, and "Deep Red" is definitely far scarier than "Suspiria," in a nail-biting suspense way, whereas as "Suspira" is probably more intriguing than frightening.  Joan Bennett did seem like she was just reciting lines, like she hadn't spent much time preparing for the role, though she was still fun to watch.  "Suspiria" definitely isn't the high point of her acting.  I've also seen "Scarlet Street" in the past year, and she gave a top-notch performance in that film, probably 50 years earlier.  Bennett's performance wasn't the only subpar performance in "Suspiria," in my opinion (remember the outdoor scene where the actor is obviously reading cue cards?).  Performances are far better in both "Inferno" and "Deep Red," with those in the latter being especially outstanding, in my view ... there's really not a weak link, from Daria Nicolodi and David Hemmings down to the smallest parts (which prove to be more significant in the film than one first realizes).

I am very discomfitted by the in-your-face deaths in Argento's movies, but his films are original, unique, and are an experience unlike any other.  I actually like "Inferno" better, in which the dream/nightmare logic is more readily apparent.

"Deep Red" takes an old-fashioned type of murder mystery storyline and gives it a complete makeover visually and in its overall treatment.  I really like the stylization of his films, and "Deep Red" is even more stylized than "Suspira."  For example, he is creating artificial or hyperrealistic sets, where the people in the background are frozen like mannequins.  I think he may be taking a cue from Hitchcock but going with it to an extreme that would never be acceptable in a Hollywood studio film.

Although the music in the films is similarly unique, like Gothick says, that aspect can get on my nerves.  But then Argento would say that every aspect of his films is designed to get under the viewer's skin.

I thought this was an ok movie. Certainly not the best picture made but it was good and I love Joan Bennett so I of course relished every moment she was in this movie.

By all of my own rules, I shouldn't like Suspiria. The story isn't coherent. The script and most of the performances are substandard. If you sit down to watch the film and expect to walk away understanding everyting at the end, that won't happen either. Not to mention some rather laughable conceits...sleep apnea anyone?

But. I love this movie. I've got the Anchor Bay DVD and the colors are just amazing. It's such a visual masterpiece that I can forgive all of its flaws. It doesn't scare me in the way that other horror films have, but I love this movie. As for Joan Bennett, this is supposedly the film she did so she could get a free vacation to Rome; I think that says a lot. But I don't care 

I am glad others are troubled by the extreme violent deaths depicted in Argento's films.  I was reading some online customer reviews of his movies that chilled my blood even more, and that was comment after comment about how disappointed viewers would be with "Deep Red" because there were so few gruesome deaths in it, and other comments by people who relish in the depictions of deaths to a degree that to me sounds borderline psychotic.

The only way I've been able to stomach such scenes is the fact that they are so stylized; in other words, they are "acted out" in a choreographed, staged, and artificial way.  They are cinematic more than realistic (I hope).  Argento claims in interviews on the DVDs that the deaths are meant to be like nightmares and so he exaggerates them.

Any thoughts?  Does this make the violence more acceptable?

What about comparisons of the "violence" in "Dark Shadows" - the TV show vs. the movies?

I prefer the more stagey, obviously "fake" deaths of the TV show to the violence and blood of the movie versions.

The most violent scene I can think of in the TV series is Barnabas beating Willie with his cane - yet nothing was really shown, as I remember, was it?

I am glad others are troubled by the extreme violent deaths depicted in Argento's films.

I've never actually seen any of his films, but I did watch the documentary about him and his work.  What I found particularly disturbing was the fact that he used his ex-wife and daughters as victims of murder and rape in his films.  I think there's something loathesome about that choice.

The most violent scene I can think of in the TV series is Barnabas beating Willie with his cane - yet nothing was really shown, as I remember, was it?

I think the "violence" factor in the scene you're talking about is all audial.  The sound of Willie screaming is what makes it violent.

i'm going to have to re-watch this film.i can only recall three deaths and the violence was so stylized it disturbed me much less than in more "realistic" films like the texas chainsaw massacre when i actually found it almost nauseating and difficult to watch.

and there is no question that on a daytime show that aired when d.s. did that there would never be that level of violence.there still wouldn't be today.

I think the "violence" factor in the scene you're talking about is all audial.  The sound of Willie screaming is what makes it violent.

That and the violence in Frid's voice, as I recall.  That was realistic.

mscbryk, if you can find a copy of "Deep Red" somewhere, I would personally recommend that over re-watching "Suspiria."  "Inferno" in second place.  "Suspiria" in third.

Very subjective, I know, but I find these better movies overall!  Just remember that the logic (especially in "Inferno") is dream logic, not realistic logic.  "Deep Red" handles the theme of obsession very well, possibly on a par with "Vertigo."

I saw the film once on TV, probably back in the '80's, and I don't recall much of it, which meant that it must not have made that much of an impact on me.

I do remember the climactic scene, when all the bad devil people were getting their cummupance, most of them shrieking and jumping around, while Joan sat in a chair, holding her throat while bouncing her head from side to side.  Her emoting during that scene was certainly not her best of her thespian career - she reminded me of Carol Burnett at that moment doing her wonderfully campy impersonation of Norma Desmond.

Gerard

    Agreed that you don't go to this to see very much Joan Bennett screen time, although I admit she and Alida Valli ( of the classic "Third Man", who's very creepy here) add a veneer of class to the bloodflow.

Joan Bennett's part was small but I thought it worked very well.  Speaking of Alida Valli I remember thinking when I saw the movie, what a difference to her earlier films. I've seen The Third Man and she is very lovely but I'm thinking of a film with her and Rossano Brazzi(?) that takes place in Rome shortly after World War II.