All-time great horror film

Straying from straight giallo into the realm of the supernatural, Dario Argento took what was already an obvious penchant for stylistic bravura and enhanced both sights and sounds with Suspiria (1977). Invaluable audio-visual complements from Goblin and cinematographer Luciano Tovoli enhance an unceasing and enchanting sense of danger. From the time young Suzy Bannion (Jessica Harper) arrives in Germany, there to attend a prestigious dance school, Argento and company craft a kaleidoscope of terror that only intensifies as the film goes on. Aside from the tormenting pangs of being the new face on campus, putting up with disparaging comments and rude behavior from the other students, Suzy quickly discovers the far more wicked motives behind closed doors. Explicit butchery is relatively minimal in Suspiria (save for an astounding opening murder and death by shattered glass proxy); more than anything, the film succeeds as a dazzling and spellbinding descent into a menacing house of horrors. Though it is the first in what became Argento’s Three Mothers trilogy—Inferno followed in 1980 and the unjustly maligned Mother of Tears was released in 2007—Suspiria stands alone as a masterpiece from a great horror filmmaker in his prime. http://www.cutprintfilm.com/features/50-best-horror-movies-ever-made/