Your thoughts on Suspiria, a great giallo film....
Surrealist
218 Posts
I'm just wondering if anyone else who saw this film by Dario Argento considers it to be one of the best of the Italian giallo subgenre or horror in general? Also, which titles by Lucio Fulci do you recommend? So far, in terms of giallo films, I've seen Suspiria and Ecologia del Delitto/Twitch of the Death Nerve. Also, I know some producers have sampled the Goblin soundtrack for Suspiria, but I can't remember artist/title details at the moment...My favorite scene in Suspiria is when Suzy leaves the airport and is riding in the taxi while the rain is pouring down because it was really suspenseful...it set the whole mood of the film even with no action...another scene I liked was when she woke up to the fact someone was trying to poison her...crazy film!
Comments
Profondo rosso, and The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, are still my favorites Argentos. The best Fulci is L'aldila.
I don't really consider Giallo to really be Horror, more slasher/suspense movies.
- spidey
but for atmosphere my fav ever is "zombie flesh eaters" by a long way. amazing soundtrack.
Which reminds me I can't wait to watch Mother of Tears (he should've gotten Giallos flame to do the soundtrack), but I'll probably avoid the one he does with Vincent Gallo.
- spidey
Yeah this is pretty much spot on for me. I always watch his films with the highest expectations but find that they don't really mesh into a satisfying movie experience - despite some great set pieces (The needles scene in Opera has to rank up there with the best) they kinda leave me a bit, for want of a better word, bored.
Fantastic soundtrack though.
As for Fulci, it's hard to say as pretty much all the films of his I've seen have been grainy copies with atrocious dubbing. However, The Beyond, The House by the Cemetery and City Of The Living Dead all had their moments.
Suspiria is a bore of a movie. It's supposed to be set in Freiburg on the edge of the Black Forest. I grew up in that area -the Black Forest that is and not Freiburg which is a boring town full of students and old people. There are a lot of scenic drives around that area that would make for some spooky atmosphere at night. Argento fucks it up, I have no idea where he has shot this flick but it sure enough was far south of the Black Forest...
There are a few moments in Opera but as a movie it doesn't work. He's just a talentless hack who every once in a while has a good idea. Profondo Rosso probably being the only exception since it does have a halfway engaging story and real atmosphere.
Lucio Fulci in comparison is a genius and as mentioned before L'Aldila is one amazing piece of art.
It's gory as hell and it's trashy but it's totally unique and has an amazing surreal atmosphere.
My favorite Italian Exploitation sub-genre are all those police flicks from the 1970s. Preferably with Maurizio Merli. Some of those are just plain sick, sadistic, gory and insanely entertaining.
I used to have OG VHS rental tapes of all these movies... I used to go digging in video stores back in Germany almost every weekend all through the late 1980s. Sometimes I regret having sold the entire collection at some point but it was too much of a pain in the ass to move this stuff along all the time.
Whoever his location manager(s) is/are - s/he/they deserve every penny on their paychecks!
My favourite thing in Suspiria is Olga's incredible hair-do which you only see in partial glory in this photo.
Keep in mind that he was also one of the writers of Once Upon A Time In The West, which is one of the few perfect films ever made.
I haven't seen too many of Fulci's films, but Manhattan Baby and New York Ripper were utter garbage.
aka Unsane - the first thing I ever saw by him and got me hooked.
He did an appearance at Suspect (RIP) a few years ago and I showed up with all my Unsane records and asked if he would sign them - lol - which he did. He was very nice, "oh yes, I have heard of this band".
Same here. VHS digging is fun. There's this site called http://www.thedriveinconnection.com/ that specializes in that kind of stuff
Yes.
Great ending! Way to figure out the murderer!
I still remember the first time I saw it. The intro scene with the child song is so hair raiser! Definitly my favourite by Argento.