"This is a film that begs to be seen on the big screen"
SUSPIRIA is maybe one of the most haunting and well made supernatural thrillers ever madeI first saw this film in it's uncut form in pan&scan VHS and I liked it, but felt it had many problems. Then I saw a trimmed, R-rated print on the big screen and all those thoughts faded away. This film is truly a masterwork of horror.
Jessica Harper enrolls in a German school of ballet where on the night of her arrival she sees a woman storm off from the school in the rain and later that night the woman is brutally murdered. That is only the first of many, many strange things happening at the school.
No one does horror like Dario Argento and this is his most famous film. It's the first in his uncompleted trilogy dubbed "The Three Mothers" with the second being the even better INFERNO. Made right after PROFONDO ROSSO (aka DEEP RED) SUSPIRIA remains his most well known and critically praised film. It has a haunting atmosphere, brillant music, and Argento's trademark amazing camerawork.
On the small screen this film isn't nearly as effective. The perfect way to watch it at home would with a letterboxed copy recorded in stereo, which are very hard to come by (Image put out a laserdisc years ago that is now out of print and Magnum entertainment did a letterboxed tape that is also very rare and OOP). It's currently avaliable letterboxed on tape with an imperfect transfer and a mono soundtrack, but at least it's uncut. It's certaintly better than nothing, but it just doesn't do this film justice.If you ever get the chance to see this film on the big screen, do what you must to get there. It's a great experience.
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