So let me start by saying the first time I watched this movie I was not impressed, and even said things like “I hated that.” I know, hot take, and now I take it back. It is a great film, after reading about it, seeing the remake, and watching videos and what not, I decided I really did enjoy it. I also watched the second remake, and god I’m not even going to get into how disappointed I was in that. The screening was directed by Dario Argento who used technicolor in the film, enhancing primary colors and their meaning. Yassa and Averi spoke about the readings and then summarized the reasoning behind the expressionist color theories behind the film. The two readings focusing on Suspiria and the director explained a whole lot, and rationalized my confusion post first viewing.

I was curious about the deal with the different languages and dubbing, it was so spastic I thought it was buffering at first. Thus described well in the reading specifically about the director of the film, Dario Argento, “as an Italian film with an American lead actress and a German setting, Suspiria combines the internationalism of the early gialli with the national specificity of Le Cinque Giornate in a way that … allows the film to reflect on the history of fascism that Germany and Italy share.” Argento was politically, art historically, and mystery fiction driven. He was a mastermind when it comes to cinematography when it comes to Italian horror films. These readings went into depth it seemed just about just every other still, and the lore and compulsion behind it.

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I was confused about the movie at first. I couldn’t put together the plot, I was bothered by the dubbing, and the only thing I was struck by was the visual and auditorial aesthetics.

“They are malefic, negative, and destructive; their knowledge of the art of the occult gives them tremendous powers. They can change the course of events and people’s lives, but only to do harm. … Their goal is to accumulate great personal wealth, but that can only be achieved by injury to others. They can cause suffering, sickness, and even the death of those who, for whatever reason, offend them. … [Helena Marcos was] a powerful witch with a tremendous talent for doing evil, a real mistress of magic. … A woman becomes queen if her magic is a hundred times more powerful than the rest of the coven, which is like a circle. Its strength rests with its leader, its head. A coven deprived of its leader is like a headless cobra, harmless. Skepticism is the natural reaction of people nowadays, but magic is ever present … magic is everywhere, and all over the world, it’s a recognized fact, always.”

The above excerpt from the reading allowed me to appreciate the plot line, the underlying story I was unable to grasp, is now clear. The film as a whole, in my opinion, mildly riveting, but visually and auditory gee wiz was it fantastic. This film and the directors logistics will affect my video art making for sure. I will also be litsening to the soundtrack in my spare time from now on, what a mood.