Throughout this course, we have watched several cult horror films such as Carnival of Souls, and Valeries’s Week of Wonders. However, Suspiria sets itself apart from even these cult classics in one, simple way—style. I remember going over German Expressionism in History of Film, especially our conversations about Nosferatu. German Expressionism was (or is) all about telling a story through surreal visuals. Use of mirrors, shadows, mise en scence, and tilted camera angles are all techniques associated with German Expressionism. Suspiria combines these perfected techniques with a bizarre plot and chilling sound track to give us the first of Dario Argento’s jalo films.

Suspiria was influenced by the visual tropes of German Expressionism, such as Robert Wiene’s The Cabinet of Dr Caliga and Friedrich W. Murnau’s Nosferatu. Our reading of “Expressionist Use of Colour Palette and Set Design in Dario Argento’s Suspiria (1977)” states:

              “…one peculiarity of these films is that some of the visual qualities of cinematography and mise-en-scène, such as the manipulation of the film stock, the stark contrasts of light and shadow, and the totally artificial and stylized sets, interact graphically to create an overall composition with the characters’ states of the body and the soul.”

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              The style of German Expressionism used camera angles and distorted shots to visually ‘place’ viewers into the state of mind of the characters on screen. My favorite example of this technique in Suspiria is when Suzy’s friend, Sara, is killed. Once Sara fails to wake Suzy from her drugged sleep, the room turns an eerie mix of black and green. Then the score kicks in, queuing the views in that something ‘witchy’ is about to happen. This scene also show cases the Argento’s use of yellow-red-blue color mixtures. From the red corridors of the schools dorm rooms to the bright blue and yellow walls of the secret hallway, the film uses of these collars to indicate supernatural events. One thing that fascinated me while watch Suspiria was how the scenes ‘shined’ in the dark. Apparently, with was a Technicolor technique. To quote again from “Expressionist Use of Colour Palette and Set Design in Dario Argento’s Suspiria (1977)”:

              “…for the surrounding background, Tovoli (Cinematographer) managed to bounce the light onto a mirror with the result of sharpening the images more than if they were directly illuminated. The negative print of the film was subsequently given to Technicolor who split the colour negative into three separate black and white negatives, one for red, one for blue, and one for green. Technicolor printed one colour on top of the others to give the film a shimmering look. The final result emphasizes a deliberately unrealistic setting that is much more vivid in colour definition than emulsion-based release print.”

              What I personally found most interesting about Suspiria, besides the visuals, was the plot. Co-written by Daria Nicoldi, Suspiria was inspired by the stories Nicoldi’s grandmother. While studying piano at the age of fifteen, Nicoldi’s grandmother discover that the school she was enrolled in had a strong fascination with black magic and the occult. Imagine growing up with that bed time story. Another thing that I found fascinating about Suspiria was the voice over, or lack there of. Was the film originally shot in Italian, or English? Because I could not tell. There where times when the ‘dubbed’ matched up with the actor’s lips perfectly, but other times were I was sure the movie was being dubbed over. There were definitely times when I had to look away while watching this movie. The first murder of Pat, with the close up of stabbing the heart, made a bit queasy if I’m being honest. And yet, that music! I need more Goblins music in my life. Every time that score came on, paired with the surreal shot cinematography, I felt like I was moving from the real world to the dark and magical. Which, was what Argento was going for. I don’t like horror. Ever. But I would watch Suspiria all over again just to experience that awesome score again.