Lurking in the Shadows of Suspiria

Last month I went to see a very special screening of Dario Argento’s nightmarish, witch-infested classic, Suspiria, in Belfast’s Waterfront Hall. The screening, courtesy of those cool cats at the Belfast Film Festival, was accompanied by a live score performed by none other than original Goblin member and long time Argento collaborator, Claudio Simonetti, and his band, the Simonetti Horror project.

Argento’s classic tells the terrifying tale of an American ballet student who enrols at an exclusive dance academy in Germany, only to discover - after several vicious murders and assorted weirdness - much to her horror, that behind the scenes lurks a witches' coven. Often hailed as Argento’s masterpiece, Suspiria is an overwhelming onslaught of vision, sound and colour. The director mercilessly bombards the audience with scenes of graphic violence, fantastical lighting, overwrought production design and an immensely atmospheric soundtrack courtesy of Italo prog-rockers Goblin.

I have seen Suspiria countless times before, but found this viewing in particular, with its live soundtrack, to be incredibly intense. Interestingly, I also noticed something I had never seen before (isn’t it magical when that happens?) despite having seen Suspiria many times. Perhaps the copy screened at this event had been re-mastered or had been transferred from a different print, or, maybe it was just seeing Suspiria on a big screen; whatever the reason, I was afforded a glimpse of something I’d never seen before. During the scene when Sara - after desperately trying to awaken a heavily drugged and sleeping Suzy - is stalked through the lividly lit hallways and labyrinthine attic spaces of the school, and attacked by a shadowy figure brandishing a cut-throat razor. During previous viewings, her attacker is always too enshrouded in shadows to see clearly, but this time, there he was. And damn it all if the sight of him didn’t send icy chills down my spine. When I came home, I popped my own copy of the film into my computer and found the stalking scene. Pausing it, replaying it and fiddling around with the brightness and contrast revealed that sure enough, there is a dark figure standing stock still behind Sara in the hallway - it has the same cat-like eyes we glimpsed earlier in the film as poor Pat peers through the bathroom window, moments before being attacked, and sees something with cat’s eyes peering right back at her...

The same stills with the brightness and contrast altered slightly to reveal just what attacks Sara...

Is this just me? Has anyone else noticed this before? The way the figure just stands behind her, watching, waiting, is incredibly effective and adds to the supernatural aspects of the tale. Similarly creepy, only-ever-glimpsed figures stalk through Argento’s Three Mothers films. In Inferno, another unfortunate named Sara is stalked through the basement of the library by a sinister hooded figure, and when Giselle is attacked in the museum in Mother of Tears, her killers are only briefly seen; hideously grotesque and most definitely not human. While Suspiria is as far from subtle as can be, catching sight of this witch's minion, standing, waiting, plotting bloodiness behind Sara as she tiptoes down the hallway, was a creepy delight and has only reinvigorated my love for Suspiria. Its presence is a subtle one, (so subtle I had never noticed it before!) but made all the more powerful because of its stealthy unveiling.