Argento's skilful use of unsettling, intense colour and stunning set designs adequately obscure the film's numerous structural flaws.
Suspiria (1977)
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work ![]()
Reviews Counted:29
Fresh:27
Rotten:2
Average Rating:8/10
Consensus: The blood pours freely in Argento's classic Suspiria, a giallo horror as grandiose and glossy as it is gory.
Runtime: 1 hr 38 mins
Genre: Foreign Films
Synopsis: Dario Argento's masterpiece of horror, with its assault of garish colors, booming soundtrack and horrifically dreamlike set pieces, is the cinematic equivalent of an exceptionally scary fun house.... Dario Argento's masterpiece of horror, with its assault of garish colors, booming soundtrack and horrifically dreamlike set pieces, is the cinematic equivalent of an exceptionally scary fun house. It tells the story of Susan (Harper) a young, impressionable American who travels abroad in order to study at a prestigious European ballet academy. From the first day, however, she begins to realize that frightening things are afoot at the hallowed institution. Enduring a rain of maggots, poisoned food and other unpleasant occurrences, she discovers that the school is a secret convening place for an ages-old witches' coven. Cut to various lengths due to violent content, the film's original full running time is 100 minutes. [More]
Starring: Jessica Harper, Flavio Bucci, Stefania Casini, Joan Bennett
Starring: Jessica Harper, Flavio Bucci, Stefania Casini, Joan Bennett, Miguel Bosé, Udo Kier, Alida Valli
Director: Dario Argento
Director: Dario Argento
Screenwriter: Dario Argento, Daria Nicolodi
Composer: Goblin
Get This Movie
Reviews for Suspiria
Throughout this nerve-wracking journey, Argento's sly gift is to strike when you least expect it.
As an appetizer to the thoroughly bizarre world of Italian horror, Suspiria is the perfect antipasto.
A get-under-your-skin makes no sense classic with some of the scariest images ever put on film.
Argento works so hard for his effects -- throwing around shock cuts, colored lights, and peculiar camera angles -- that it would be impolite not to be a little frightened.
There are horror films that scare and there are horror films that quake the senses; Suspiria still rattles twenty-five years after its original release.
The final revelations aren't especially difficult to discern and ultimately are a tad unrewarding but Argento never takes his foot off the atmospheric pedal, and the anxiety in the viewer lingers until the credits begin to roll.
Brings together all the things Argento should be famous for: ultra-stylized visuals awash in eerie blue and febrile blood-red, juxtaposed against intense passages of all-out gore.
It's always fascinating to watch; the thrills and spills are so classy and fast that the movie becomes in effect what horror movies seemed like when you were too young to get in to see them.
Mr. Argento's methods make potentially stomach-turning material more interesting than it ought to be.
Dario Argento's best-known film is a Cinemascope, pinwheel lollipop-colored spin through a haunted German dance academy.
Everything is baroque and overdone, including the obviously fake gore, but that gives the film a distinctive style that makes it exciting.
Latest News for Suspiria
August 07, 2008:
Natalie Portman Starring in Suspiria Remake? ![]()
Her reps are still denying it, but according to the folks at Bloody-Disgusting, Natalie Portman is "100% confirmed" as the star of an upcoming, David Gordon Green-directed... More...
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 44% 44% | Night at the Museum: B… |
| 32% 32% | Terminator Salvation |
| 36% 36% | Angels & Demons |
| 95% 95% | Star Trek |
| 25% 25% | Four Christmases |
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 88% 88% | Inglourious Basterds |
| 78% 78% | The Hangover |
| 49% 49% | Taking Woodstock |
| 26% 26% | The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard |
| 47% 47% | The Girl From Monaco |
RT On Current TV
DIRECTV 358 | Comcast 107 | DISH Network 196 | More...
What’s Hot On RT
Other News
CloseSponsored Links
Around The Network
- Suspiria at Rotten Tomatoes
Fresh Links
Featured

Techland lists the best Sci-Fi films of this decade.

Moviefone takes a look back at the biggest stinkers of the past 10 years.

The Me and Orson Welles star answers reader questions on TIME.com.

Hollywood.com's C. Robert Cargill offers his thoughts on what the best decade for film was.

In the AV Club's "Scenic Routes," Mike D'Angelo reminisces about the Tim Burton film.
Promos

Get the latest Tomatometer updates on upcoming movies!



Top Critic


