Just what I expected

As Good As It Gets

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Writer/director Dario Argento's modern day horror masterpiece still holds up as a brilliant and disturbing piece of filmmaking. With a strong emphasis on visuals, musics, and atmosphere, the film tells the hallucinatory tale of Suzy Bannion (Jessica Harper), an American ballerina who joins a prestigious European ballet school, but begins to suspect the school is harboring some sort of secret following a series of mysterious events, not the least of which is a series of bloody horrific deaths. "Suspiria" is probably one of the scariest films ever produced and certainly has the most frightening horror film score of all-time, which was composed by Argento and the prog rock band Goblin. Prior to this film, Argento has mostly made Giallo thrillers (ultra-violent Hitchcockian type of thrillers) and had not done much in the way of supernatural horror, but he does an amazing job with the genre. What makes this film so scary is not so much the story, which is certainly serviceable, but it's Argento's direction, the wild production design, the stylish photography, and the over-the-top frightening music that make the film so memorable. There is no way anyone can watch this film and not have it burned into your memory as something wholly unique. I will concede that this film will not be everyone's cup of tea and that there will be many who will watch this film and find it off-putting and/or ridiculous and even an endurance test, but I find this film to be an amazingly unique surreal nightmare and an example of "pure cinema."

This is a great Dario Argento motion picture, which tracked down of the one of the last Technicolor machines, to give the freaky color effects, and an eerie atmosphere, combined with an absolutely horrifying soundtrack music score. This is full of suspenseful frightening, and shocking scenes, with the eerie death music. The soundtrack itself, can even give you bad nightmares, and the actual film, makes it an altogether, unforgettable amazing and horrifying experience! I suggest this for all horror film lovers. This is a must see, famous and classic horror film, that inspired many more! P.S. Say boo to the new coming worthless remake!

Another viewing of this marvellous, thrilling and beautiful film, this time a 4K restoration print at The Barbican, London and in the presence of the man himself - Dario Argento. A wonderful occasion with a packed audience of devoted fans who gave the man a welcome that seemed to catch him by surprise. It looks great, of course, and there were sections that I did not remember seeing or seeing so clearly. The maggots in the attic for instance and the shadows behind the temporary bed screens. The Goblins soundtrack was well to the fore and it was clear that in one or two instances it was the music itself that was creating the horror, with little actually happening visually. Dario spoke afterwards and was surprisingly perky, making little jokes and trying to provide more insight into the origins of the film. I had not heard before that Disney's, Snow White with its strong primary colours was a major influence and although I did know the story of his buying up the last stocks of the particular Technicolor film he wished to use, it was good to hear that this did not restrict the number of takes (lest he run out) because he did not use lots of takes. For me the most interesting revelation was that he had originally intended the girls be between the ages of eleven and fourteen, but that the backers wouldn't hear of it. It would have been even more effective with younger girls and does explain why some of the dialogue seems childlike.

What makes this weird horror film of a ballet academy with murders going on non stop is the extremely artistic composition of the images using colour like an expressionist painter to make more a work of art than a regular film. The story is absurd: the ballet academy is run by two lady dinosaurs (Alida Valli and Joan Bennett) like two awesome commissars driving hard the dancing students evidently to their violent deaths, while the leading girl (Jessica Harper) gets increasingly worried as her friends disappear. Of course, the ballet academy seems to be run by witchcraft somehow, and some psychiatrists get involved. Then there is bad weather occasionally with lots of thunder and lightnings, there are problems with the telephone, she gets nightmares, and so on.There is no credibility at all to anything in this film, and yet it is fascinating and well made and worth the terrible experience if for nothing else at least for its sustained impressing colour expressionism.