Starting With "Susperia"
Media / 6/23/2008 5:08:33 PM
Coming soon (if not already) to a theatre near you is Dario Argento's long awaited (30 years of a-waiting) final movie of his witchy trilogy, "Mother of Tears". Shown at the Toronto International Film Festival last September (2007), it is now making limited theatre engagements around North America. For the next two weeks, in preparation for Chicago's Music Box Theatre showing in July (and our killer-works article about it), guest writer Michael Penkas brings us back to speed on the first two films, starting with "Susperia"...
Susan
(Jessica Harper) is the new American student at an exclusive German school of dance. In
addition to making friends with her classmates and making enemies with the
teaching staff, she investigates the murder of one of the students (who died on
the same night that Susan arrived). What she uncovers is a century-old
conspiracy involving witchcraft.
The plot is somewhat threadbare and doesn't work as a traditional mystery since
it's fairly obvious early on who is behind the murder. What elevates this 1977 film
to its classic status is the beautiful work of director Dario Argento, who
composes each scene like a surrealist masterpiece, full of bright colors and
strange details. Argento is never one to sacrifice beauty for logic, however, so
some of the more beautifully composed scenes don't always make sense. Each murder is
shot like a music video and otherwise bland expositional scenes are rendered
captivating by the surrounding scenery. The whole film comes off looking like a
dream; but don't worry ... there's no such cop-out ending.
Just as important as the camerawork is the soundtrack, provided by The Goblins.
It's rare that a soundtrack has been so perfectly suited to enhancing a
nightmarish atmosphere and it's hard to imagine this film acquiring its cult
status without the unsettling score. At several points in the film, the word
"witch" can even be overheard being harshly whispered through synthesizers.
While Suspiria stands very well on its own merits, it is later revealed to be
the first part in a trilogy of films known as The Three Mothers.
Inferno (1980) and finally Mother of Tears
(2007) round out the infamous collection.
Michael Penkas
Jill's p.s. Check back next week for Michael's take on Inferno. He's totally pumped to see Mother of Tears. Let us know what you think about Argento's trilogy: comments@killer-works.com Have you seen Mother...yet? I hear the gore level is great. (Always my first concern!)
p.p.s. Have you read Tina Jens' lovely wee piece of gory fiction on our Flash Fiction page yet? Only posted here until July (Under our Killer-Extras). Get thee to entertain yourself - Zombies await you! (Tina keeps saying she hates zombie horror...but she keeps writing great ones. Me thinks she doth protest too much...)
