Suspiria (4K Restoration)

Part of Dundead Film Festival 2025 - see the full programme and book a Festival Pass. 

Probably the most (in)famous of all Italian horror films, Suspiria is a gilded tour de force of horror filmmaking, a singular and brilliant supernatural spectacle that remains a high watermark for the entire horror genre. Director Dario Argento (who co-writes alongside Daria Nicolodi, based on the works of Thomas De Quincy) is perhaps the most celebrated of the Italian horror auteurs, and Suspiria is his masterpiece.

This is not a film of subtleties. Drenched in saturated colour, the film’s aesthetics are the driving force here. The film follows a young American woman who enrols at a prestigious dance academy in Europe, but plot takes a back seat to a lurid cascade of bloody, horrific set pieces, soundtracked to an iconic score by prog band Goblin – a ground-breaking and trend-setting musical score which in many ways defined the entire Italian horror scene. Jessica Harper gives a memorable performance as main character Suzy Bannion who finds herself at the centre of a psychedelic nightmare, her face rendered immortal in a state of perpetual fear and shock. 

Suspiria has inspired many imitators, including a remake in 2018, but none have quite managed to capture the beauty, horror and just flat-out strangeness of the 1977 original. Essential viewing.