Dario Argento is a hard director to get into for me. There's a lot of good about his films, classic scenes that will forever be synonymous with the horror genre. But in the middle of all that, in my eyes, is some pretty ropey stuff. Suspiria is no exception to the rule.
Suzy Bannion (Jessica Harper) travels from America to join a European ballet school, but as soon as she arrives, things are not as they seem. Another student flees the school the moment Suzy turns up, and all sorts of strange events are occurring, and Suzy takes it upon herself to get to the bottom of them.
Suspiria has some great moments going for it. The scene pictured above is from an amazing set piece at the start of the film, brilliantly shot and highly effective. And quite a lot of the film is. But, on the other hand, a lot is absolutely dreadful. It's that 70s European horror vibe to it all, and that is something I've never managed to get on with. And (not the films fault) they are just horrifically dated.
That's not saying that the set pieces are the only good thing about the film at all. The score, that Argento did with Goblin is bizarre and terrifying in places, really unnerving stuff and fits the film perfectly. And it is shot beautifully, the use of colours (red, especially) is just fantastic.
But I just can't call it a horror classic, a cult classic for sure. But when you have poor dialogue and bad acting in an otherwise great film, you can't just ignore it. The ending also lets the side down, it just seems so abrupt and as if Argento had run out of ideas.
But people out there call it the scariest film of all time. And sure it's a film with some great moments. But it's also a film with the worst looking dog prop in cinema history, and a scene where a girl is caught up in a giant slinky.
***
Some outstanding moments, dragged down by bad acting, bad script and some utter nonsense. There's a lot to enjoy in Suspiria if you can get through the latter. Ideal for some, not so much for others
No comments:
Post a Comment