Suspiria

Suspiria is a 1977 film by Dario Argento. It follows the story of an American ballet student named Suzy who attends a German dance school. She later discovers that the school is ran by witches.
We kick things off with Suzy arriving in Germany and catching a taxi at the airport. Right off the bat we see some really great lighting and colour. Suzy sits in the back seat, with the rain outside and a use of red and purple lighting, we get a fantastic look with the rain bouncing off the back window.
She arrives at the school but isn't allowed in. She does get to meet another student named Pat. Pat isn't in the best mood and runs out the door while shouting and screaming. I have to say that the acting here was a bit bad. She looked like she was running in a Penelope Pitstop cartoon.

Pat goes to a friends house and is attacked while in the bathroom. A hand crashes through the window after a good build up (it did succeed in making me jump) and pulls Pats face against the glass. Pat isn't having a good day but to make it worse, she then gets stabbed, has a noose wrapped round her and hanged after crashing through a large stained-glass ceiling. Her friend tries to help and she gets killed by the falling glass. The whole scene was well shot and again the lighting and colour looks brilliant, the stained-glass ceiling especially so. The blood too is a powerful shade of red.

Now they are out of the way, Suzy goes back to the school the next day and is allowed in this time. She meets teachers and students and strikes upon a conversation about the dead student from the night before. She overhears a conversation about Pat's murder and sticks her nose in about how she saw a student running away last night.
Suzy meets some other girls in the locker room. This scene is so full of sexual tension that if anymore was stuffed in to it, it would explode all over the room and leave a big sticky mess like an overly horny 14 year old boy watching this film. Infact, shorty after, Suzy meets a boy and there is supposed to be sexual tension between them but it's nowhere near as strong as with the other girls. You would have been mistaken for thinking you were watching some 70's soft porn if you hadn't been otherwise informed.

The next day Suzy meets the cook and an odd looking child. Nothing is said, just stares exchanged. Suzy then later collapses during a lesson, she wakes up in a dorm bed and is injected against her will. The doctor also tells her to drink a glass of wine a day for her blood. I want this guy as my GP.

As the girls all prepare for dinner, maggots drop from the ceiling. Maggots in hair and mouths. Maggots everywhere. The maggots look very realistic and the scene does have a very slimy and creepy feel to it. Everybody has to sleep in the practice hall while the maggots are cleaned up. We get some great lighting here. The staff sleep in another section from the students, cut off by what looks like hospital changing curtains. Shadows of the teachers are cast upon the curtains in a very stylistic, creeping manner.

I've come this far and i've mentioned the lights and colours a few times but i haven't talked about the music. The music is outstanding. The film would be a 6 or 7 out of 10, but the music takes it to a 9 or 10. It's beautifully spooky and hypnotic. It pushes you into a world of uncertainty and harsh tranquility. It may be the best soundtrack to any horror movie.

Daniel, the blind pianist is ordered to leave by Miss Tanner. His guide dog attacked the odd boy and Tanner is not pleased. On his way home we see some more fantastic light work as moving shadows cross the city walls around him. His dog turns on him and rips his throat out, leaving a stream of blood behind.

As the film comes to its climax, Suzy finds the witches hideout and finds them planning to kill her. Distraught, she finds her way in to another room and mistakenly awakens the head witch.
Sarah, the friend from earlier, what happened to her i hear you cry! Well she's dead. She fell in to a room of razor wire and had her throat slit. Do not fear, she is back, as undead Sarah. Before Sarah gets a chance to Kill Suzy, Suzy kills the head witch. This starts a chain reaction and the building begins to collapse. Suzy runs and escapes the school, leaving the witches to perish.

That is Suspiria. It's striking, eerie, suspenseful and bold. It leaves you with an indescribable aftertaste because you aren't sure how what seems like a slow build up managed to beat you so mercilessly. The music is perfect and the colour and lighting are like nothing else. A few moments of bad acting knock a point off, but besides that, it's a masterpiece.