Suspiria (1976) Dario Argento’s Cabal of Lesbian Witches A+

DIRECTOR: Dario Argento

BOTTOM LINE: Italian director Dario Argento’s supernatural horror sensation!  The film stars Jessica Harper as an American ballet student who transfers to a prestigious dance academy but realizes, after a series of murders, that the academy is a front for a coven of lesbian witches who are presided over by legendary actresses Alida Valli and Joan Bennett in her final role. Both actresses were, in a sense, banished from Hollywood – Valli when she didn’t turn out to be Ingrid Bergman despite her obvious talent and Bennett after her husband of the time, Walter Wanger, shot her agent Jennings Lang, who he incorrectly supposed was her lover, in the groin. Wanger went to jail for a few months but made a successful career comeback by producing “I Want to Live.” Lang survived and successfully segued into producing. However, as is often the case, there was no sympathy for the woman involved, and Bennett’s Hollywood career was over. Valli was also involved in a scandal after she returned to Italy in the early fifties when her lover at the time was found dead on an Italian Beach. Both actresses are dressed by Argento and his costume designer Piero Cicoletti in beautifully tailored jackets and suits, and it is interesting to note that after this movie, Valli went on to play another lesbian character in Bertolucci’s failed collaboration with Jill Clayburgh “Luna” and it’s opera milieu.

As for Harper, she is superb; her opening scene, in which she is stuck in a massive downpour of rain during her journey from the airport to the school, is one of THE great openings in a horror movie. When she arrives at the school, she notices something is not quite right – another student is leaving the building in a panic -but why? Where Bertolucci failed, Argento’s style can only be described as operatic, with stunning use of editing (Franco Fraticelli), cinematography (Luciano Tovoli), production design (Giuseppe Bassan), sound effects, costume design and music (written by himself and four other composers collectively known as Goblin). A masterpiece!

The location of the movie seems to be an unidentified German city.

The screenplay was written by Argento and his partner at the time, Daria Nicolodi. It is based on Suspiria de Profundis by Thomas De Quincey, which was written under the influence of/withdrawal from opium.

Many of the actors (including Udo Keir) were dubbed into English.

Remade, rather badly, by Luca Guadadnino in 2018.

SUSPIRIA CAN BE STREAMED AS A SERIES OF 16 SEVEN-MINUTE VIDEOS, WHICH HAVE BEEN DOWNLOADED BY LIAM MOORE ON YOUTUBE