Suspiria (4k Restored) [Blu-ray]

Never seen the film before on TV or DVD or Blu, so straight in with the 4K and what a superb film. Really enjoyed it, though certainly not a conventional film by any stretch. The colours and the sounds of the film were superb. Some of the acting was fine, some a little wooden but overall, enjoyed every minute of the film and one I will watch again.It has been restored and overall, what a great job as it was cleaned and repaired and finger prints removed (from the film, not the 4K disk) etc - other than for the occasional minor scratch that seemed to pop up a few times, and I surprised that they didn't notice it considering the effort spent all over the rest of the film.The extras were great, loved the discussion of the film as well as the restoration of the film, which was a highlight for me (probably could have a whole disk discussing that and that would make me happy talking about the finger masks, cuts, missing frames etc)Really glad I got this, hopefully how all 4K should be but I suspect, after seeing many YT videos about them, they are not.

This is one of my favourite horror movies (I have fond memories of sneaking in to see it as a 15 yr old when it was certified as X) and have owned it on many formats, from VHS through to the last Anchor Bay 2 disc version. I won't bore with a plot synopsis as those looking to buy will surely know it. This blu ray version does contain a jaw dropping print of the movie that is very sharp and detailed with a depth of colour that literally shines. One is able to see so much more than was visible in previous versions/formats. Inside the coven/dance acadamy, you see for the first time that the walls are not just painted blue, but papered with vivid peacock blue velvet with embossing. There are however two niggles - hence the deduction of 1 mark for the disc. First in a few scenes, the colour pallette goes a bit AWOL especially in the scenes outside the acadamy that houses the witches' coven. The exterior of the building has always been painted a deep red (Dario purists please note pun!) but on the blu ray the building takes on a pink hue. This occurrs a few times but is forgiven by the rest of the picture which is so very good. However it could be that this is an accurate mastering of the original colour and it was previous versions that were wrong as dvd manufacturers changed the colour to red thinking this was what was needed. the rest of the colours are so vivid and accurate, I feel sure this is the case. Especially as the coven/acadamy is painted a deep red colour in the scene when Jessica Harper arrives for the first time...AT NIGHT (so no bright sunlight to diffuse the colour)> Second, the DTS 5.1 soundtrack which though it makes good use of the surrounds and is loud and pulsing, does not come close to the awsome sound featured on Anchor Bay's 2 disc DVD. That had a DTS 6.1 and Dolby Digital EX soundtrack which literally threw the viewer into a whirlwind of sound as the music and effects bounced from one speaker to another. However if you are lucky to have an amp that has 7.1 or 9.2 surround it is possible to boost the surround effect to make it more engulfing. Apart from that, this is a good buy and for those who like Argento's movies, this is now the definitive and best version of the movie available ......for now till a 4K version comes out in the next 5 years and we all scrabble to re-buy our large collections!ADDITIONAL NOTE OCTOBER 2016 - Just watched this again for the first time on our 78" 4K HDR Tv and I'm happy to say a lot of the inherant colour issues seem to have rectified themselves - probably because the 4K TV has such an extended colour spectrum so is more easily able to produce a more realistic picture - also the blacks appeared to be more dense (but without crush) so I am ammeding score to 5 stars!

Suspiria is one of the undisputed classics of horror cinema, and certainly one of the very best horror movies ever to come out of Europe. Argento will probably always be a divisive figure. For all of his talents as a stylist, all of his movies (as much as I love them) are let down by tired pacing, ludicrous plots, hackneyed dialogue and pathetic characterisations. In short, if you're looking for cerebral, rather than purely visceral, look elsewhere.The main reason Suspiria was and still is able to stand out from the rest of Argento’s oeuvre is that, for the first time, his focus was on the supernatural, rather than on some implausible and clumsily conceived murder mystery. The dialogue is still hammy and the characters – especially the woeful lead, Jessica Harper, who has about as much charisma as my grandmother’s socks – are all pretty slender (pun intended), but the plot actually moves along well and the supernatural undercurrent gives Argento completely free reign to indulge his visualistic flair like never before (or since). Subtle it is not, but it sure is effective. The colour palette is gorgeous and the production design (note the height of the door handles) is eerily effective in setting the demented fairy-tale-gone-wrong tone. The death set pieces are among the best Argento devised (I cannot look at razor wire without wincing), their strength, as with all Argento deaths, being the fact that they’re so connectible to the type of pain we can all imagine and we all dread. And, of course, there’s the now-classic Goblin score which, however bombastically it is sometimes deployed, takes the tension up ten-fold.So what of the Nouveaux Pictures / Cine Excess blu ray itself? Most of the reviews I have read have been extremely positive about both the picture and audio quality. The PQ is stunning. This is a movie which begs to be seen in uncompressed hi-def, and this disc delivers. Sadly, the audio is a huge let down. Firstly, the mix is all over the place. Parts of the dialogue are barely audible, and had me thumbing the volume-up button on my remote, only to have my hair blown off my head moments later when the music and/or screaming kicked back in at ferocious volume. Yes, I get it, I know this is the whole idea. As we're all aware, Argento is not known for his delicacy. I am also aware that the benefit of uncompressed blu ray audio makes it possible to heighten this effect but, in my humble opinion, they have over-egged the omelette a little on this disc. At one stage I was genuinely afraid that my neighbours might have thought I was actually murdering my wife. The overbearing mix aside, I was also very disappointed with the quality of the remastered sound, especially the music itself which, to this audiophile’s ears, sounds horribly muddy, over-compressed and tinny (there is very little bottom end).The special features are a little flaccid, but the retrospective documentary (created by Cine Excess for this disc) adds a little insight for those new to the movie.Minor gripes aside, this blu ray is the definitive version of Suspiria out there, and it seriously belongs in every collection, Argento fan or not. We can only hope that the long-circulated rumours of a remake remain unfounded.

Es muy bueno este remake de suspiria lo único que no trae subtítulos en español pero no deja de ser un muy excelente título lo recomiendo 👌😎

Merci milles fois ....produit parfait comme indiqué par le vendeur...cour délais de livraison et produit en parfaite condition...10/10

Edizione Blu-Ray della Cult Films ben fatta, completa .Ottimo il restauro in 4k che viene spiegato dettagliatamente . Gli extra sono interessanti e numerosi, comprendono uno speciale sul restauro per i 40 anni del film della durata di oltre 50 minuti , in inglese senza sottotitoli. Intervista a Dario Argento di circa 27 minuti in italiano , con sottotitoli . Sono presenti due speciali sul film ma solo in inglese. Per tutta la durata del film si può ascoltare il commento solo, però, in inglese e non sottotitolato. Precede il film una brevissima introduzione di pochi secondi di Dario Argento. Meravigliosi i colori , video definito e lingua italiana presente con sottotitoli in inglese REMOVIBILI . Peccato che lo speciale sul restauro sia solo in inglese, come il commento per tutto il film, due extra interessanti ! Comunque edizione completa che consiglio vivamente.

This review is for the Blu-ray edition of 'Suspiria' released by Synapse films in March, 2018.If you are a fan of this movie then this is a must have. The picture is as good as it gets.In my opinion this is a 5 star release.WHAT DOES SUSPIRIA MEAN? I had no idea what this meant so I did a little digging.The actual definition means something like 'sighs'.The latin phrase "Suspiria de profundis" mean "sighs from the depths"."Suspiria de profundis" is also the title of a piece of literature by a well known English essayist, Thomas De Quincey.'Suspirara' in latin means breathing. 'Suspiria' therefore would mean something along the lines of 'taking a deep breath'.They talk about this briefly in one of the feauturettes as having something to do with the witches but I'm still not sure if the word has something to do with witchcraft.BLU-RAY: This is a new 4K restoration of the original uncut Italian 35mm camera negative done by Synapse films. It is a beauty. The colors are very bright and the picture has virtually no flaws. It is as clear as the day they filmed it. There are subtitles available and the movie is also dubbed in English.EXTRA's: The extra's are top notch. You get:-Two audio commentareis by Derek Botelho, David Del Valle and Troy Howarth.-Featurette - 'Suzy in Germany' - This goes through the locations used in the film both then and today.-Featurette - 'A sigh from the Depths: 40 years of SUSPIRIA - a bunch of historians reflect on the movie 40 years later.-Featurette-'Do You Know Anything About Witches'- This is an very informative 30 minute visual essay that goes a long way toward explaining some of my questions. It answers some of the things I say in the section down below called A FEW THINGS I'M STILL UNSURE ABOUT.PRODUCTION: This movie was made in 1977 and was released under a shell company of 20th Century Fox.-Even though the movie is set in Germany, it was largely filmed in Rome, Italy.-Dario Argento got his inspiration for this movie from 'Suspiria de Profundis' by Thomas De Quincey which was written in 1845.-This is the first movie in Argento's 'Three Mothers' Trilogy. The other two movies are 'Inferno' and 'Mother of Tears'.-Suzy Banyon's character was supposed to be based on 'Snow White'.-Each actor/actress spoke their own language and the movie was then dubbed into Italian and English.-The story itself was initially supposed to be a fairy tale but ended up sort of a hybrid fairy tale.-The school was supposed to be populated with young girls but production codes at the time would have never allowed for it. Argento didn't completely give in. He had the door handles raised to make the girls appear smaller. Also he made the point of having high ceilings.PLOT/SUMMARY: An American ballet student, Suzy Bannion (Jessica Harper), flies to Germany to attend a prestigious ballet school. Suzy arrives at the school late in the evening. As she gets to the front entrance, she see an angry girl leaving and can make out two words she days, 'secret' and 'iris'. When she tries to get in, the person speaking on the intercom tells her to go away, which she does. She goes to the school in the morning and meets a tough instructor, Miss Tanner, and the headmistress, Madame Blanc. She is told that she must get a rental apartment briefly and she goes to stay with one of the other students named Olga.During one of Suzy's first classes, she gets sick and starts bleeding. The doctor keeps her at the school and orders her to be given a glass of wine every day. Suzy is given a room next to Sara. Sara reveals that she was the girl on the intercom the first night. Suzy and Sara become friends. A few disappearances occur at the school and Sara becomes suspicious. She confides with Suzy. They figure out that the school supervisors are not leaving at night but are walking to unknown parts of the school. One night while Suzy is passing out from being drugged, Sara goes in search of the hidden place that the supervisors go to. Sara is killed. Suzy is told that Sara packed her bags and abruptly left the school. Suzy, suspecting that something is wrong, calls and meets a friend of Sara's, Frank Mandel. Mandel is a psychiatrist who used to treat Sara. He introduces Suzy to another psychiatrist, Professor Milius. From these people, Suzy learns that the school was founded by an alleged witch, Helena Markos. She also learns about covens. She is told that Markos died in a fire at the school many years ago.Armed with the knowledge about the school's history, Sara's notes and her now complete recollection of what the girl leaving the school said on the first night, Suzy goes poking around the school to find out what is really going on.COMMENTS: I just watched this movie the night before this review and haven't spent a whole lot of time researching this movie but here is what my thoughts are.-I liked how this movie kept me guessing about some things right to the final scene. I tend to get bored in horror movies once the mysterious killer is revealed, as the rest of the movie is usually just a game of cat and mouse and the director usually attempts to come up with some creative way to end it. I could guess some of what was going to happen but I was never really sure to what extant all the people were involved. I wasn't really sure if Helena Markos was still alive or if she just passed down her knowledge.-I think this was a good movie. I do not think it was a great movie. There are all kinds of ways to rank movies. I look for an engaging plot. If you don't have that then you don't have a great movie. I think this movie has a good plot but by no means is it great. Atmosphere is a big thing to me also. This movie has it to some extent, just not quite what I'm looking for.-The musical score is unusual. It seems to combine elements of different horror movies. Sometimes it reminds me of 'The Exorcist' other times it reminds me of 'The Omen' and others. Whatever it is, it is quite effective. Without it, I believe many of the scenes would have been considerably less 'creepy'.-There are a lot of things that I didn't understand the meaning of. This is not to say that these are complicated things and that the plot lost me. I'm saying I just didn't understand why these scenes were in the movie. Here is a list of those things right below:A FEW THINGS (NOT COMPLAINTS) I'M STILL UNSURE ABOUT: These are some things that I don't quite 'get'. Either I missed or forgot about parts of the dialogue or the meaning just went over my head.-I didn't quite understand how the girl could be running through the black forest and be so close to the center of the city. That opening scene was a bit disconcerting. Was she running because she was scared or because she was in the rain on a stormy night? She didn't seem to be running for her life as nobody was chasing her so I'm not sure.-What was the point of the maggots falling from the ceiling? I didn't catch the meaning of this. Was this just a way to setup the next scene, which I also don't quite understand? That scene was...-The scene in the gymnasium. Why did the directoress come to the gymnasium to sleep? and once the girls figured out who was behind the curtain sleeping, why didn't they look? Or perhaps they did look but the movie doesn't show you?-I completely missed out on the reason for making the dog violent and killing the blind pianist. They obviously wanted to get rid of the pianist. Why? I understand why they killed off the others. The other people that died had learned the secret of the witches. But the pianist was blind and they gave no indication that he knew anything, at least as far as I can see. Why make the dog violent?... why fire the pianist and why kill the pianist?-What was Olga's role? She becomes Suzy's roommate and then right after that Suzy goes back to the school and we never see her again. I'm not exactly sure what the point of this storyline was. Why make her leave for such a brief time just to come right back to the school? Was this just to show her stubborness when she decided she didn't want to board at the school?-What was the reason for the bat? It enters and Suzy dispatches it rather easily. Was the bat influenced by witchcraft? If so, what was it's purpose? It obviously wasn't all that dangerous. It couldn't have been sent by the witches to attack Suzy because you see the order given to eliminate her well after that scene. It couldn't have been sent to spy on her or be somebody's 'eyes'. It was too obvious for that.-Was there a purpose for the setting being a ballet school? That seems like a very odd place for a coven of witches to be doing business. Could it be as simple as it's as good a cover as any?-I'm still not sure why they were drugging Suzy. Why have her stay at the school at all if they were concerned with her? Why not let her stay with Olga so she can't figure out anything at the school? Why did they decide to kill her? Were they originally planning on making her a witch? To me, this whole main story line was unclear.*****QUESTIONS ANSWERED*****I watched one of the featurettes and it did explain some of what I wanted to know. The girl running through the forest was supposed to mimic a scene from 'Snow White'. Olga apparently was most likely supposed to be a witch. One of her scenes ended up being not shot but that wouldn't really have changed anything. My confusion is justified as many of the scenes were in fact 'red herrings' or for whatever reason, Argento never finished some of the plot lines he was developing.MY NITPICKS: The purpose of this section is not to 'slam' the movie. It's just to point out that no movie is perfect in my eyes and there are always things that could have been done better. Overall, I think this was a good movie.-Ultimately, what makes this movie so memorable is the very bright colors and lighting.It is something that I did not really like. It was different. I get it... it's part of what makes this movie so memorable. I just didn't like the constant use of it. More specifically the lighting. The painted buildings and rooms are not the issue for me. The colored lighting just seemed out of place a lot of the time. I think it would have been more effective had Argento used it more strategically. For example, I see no reason for the lighting to be all red right at the beginning while she was in the airport. I think a scene like that should have been similar to the scene where Suzy meets the psychiatric doctors at the corporate park. The lighting becomes more effective when you don't see it the whole time. Think of how effective the 'Wizard of Oz' was going from black & white to color.-The blood didn't look very much like blood other than the fact it was red. It just looked like paint, which is what it probably was. One of the problems of such beautiful restorations and watching in such high resolution is that flaws in the special effects are magnified.-The girl who falls into the room with the razorwire doesn't actually get cut up by the razor wire. She did a lot of struggling in it and didn't appear to be cut at all. The only blood on her was from her previous wound. Perhaps it wasn't razor wire? Was it just put there to entangle her like a net? If it was razor wire what was it doing there? Was it intentionally put there? There didn't seem to be any use for it at the ballet school.-I thought the scene where Suzy meets the psychiatrist's was out of place. On the one hand it does take some pressureoff of the tension that is prevalent throughout. But somehow it just doesn't seem to belong in the movie. You go from almost surreal to the real world. I don't like it for just one scene. If going back and forth between realities was part of the movie then it would be OK but in this case it happens just once.-Finally, the final scene. Two things here...1) I didn't like Suzy's reaction at the very end. Her smile was just wrong. Instead of looking like she was relieved, like she should have been, she had a big smile, almost as if somebody just told her a joke... The reaction doesn't seem to be the proper reaction for what she just went through especially since the school was on fire and crumbling and people were dying.2 ) I didn't like how Argento ended the movie. It just didn't seem right. The music with the direct jump to the credits just seemed out of place to me.CONCLUSIONS/RECOMMENDATIONS: I'm giving this release 5 stars. The picture is 4 1/2 to 5 stars. The extra's are 5 stars and the movie... let's call it 4 stars. But overall this is a 5 star release.This is about as good as a release as you can get for this particular movie. If you are a fan, it is worth the upgrade.Recommended for fans of Italian horror and/or 'Giallo' films and obviously Dario Argento fans.Recommended for fans of 70's horror films.Recommended for fans of any good horror movie, anytime, anywhere.

SUSPIRIA, ich meine damit DEN Original aus dem Jahr 1977 von Dario Argento. Das Remake aus dem Jahr 2018 wird hier NICHT besprochen...es können noch so viele gute Schauspieler*innen da sein, Argento ist NICHT zu toppen.Nach Jahren habe ich mir den Film wieder angeschaut.Ich bedanke mich bei unserem Zauberer, der uns (mir) immer wieder wunderbare Rezensionen liefert, gerade in den Berreich Giallo Filmgenre, Horror usw. Er weiß schon, was ich meine.Und weil gerade seine Rezension aus dem Jahr 2014 perfekt ist, wird mein Teil hier nur eine Sicht, nicht mehr.Ich mag Dario Argento, und zwar mag ich seine versteckte Andeutungen, die manchmal ziemlich leicht zu durschschauen sind (das will er auch). Ich liebe sein Spiel mit der Kamera, mit den Lichteffekten. Mit wenigen Worten, ohne den/die Hauptdarsteller*in überhaupt zu zeigen, erzeugt er einen permanenten Schauer, der mir in dieser Hitze eine "Kälte" über den Rücken zurücklässt...Warum hat er den Film nach Freiburg im Breisgau "verlegt"? Ist es wegen den "Haus zum Walfisch"? Ich war neulich erst dort (leider zu kurz), habe mir das Haus, das Portal angesehen, es ist diese ROTE Farbe, die Argento in dem Film verwendet. Und, es sind die Treppen und vieles mehr, das Innere hat Argento dann auch nach seinem Geschmack verändert. Für die Handlung, natürlich - zum Guten!Wir sehen die junge Amerikanerin, Suzy Banyon (Jessica Harper), die in München ankommt und nach Freiburg weiterreist. Als sie vor dem Haus, in dem sie Balletunterricht nehmen wird, ankommt, lauft im strömenden Regen eine junge Frau aus dem Haus. Suzy klopft an, man lässt sie aber nicht hinein. Sie schläft in der Nacht dann in der Stadt.Am nächsten Tag kommt sie dann in die Schule, wo sie Madame Blank (Joan Bennett) und Marie Tanner (Alida Valli), die Leiterinnen, begrüßen. Sie sagen ihr, man hat sie gestern nicht gehört. Es war ein Gewitter und somit ware die Geräusche draußen nicht zu hören, außen den Regen...Die Schule ist groß, es gibt viele Räume. Madame Blank zeigt Suzy die Übungsräume und will ihr Können testen. Man übt sehr konzentriert und unter strengen Aufsicht, die Schüler*innen sollten schon einiges wissen und können.Als Suzy in der Schule ein Zimmer bekommt, fühlt sie sich nicht wohl. Die Farben stören sie, rot, dann kommt ein kräftiges Gelb dazu, überall sieht man Fenster, einige bemalt wie in der Kirche. Und es ist verwinkelt, man verliert sich in den Korridoren. Das Haus scheint ein Eigenleben zu haben. Einige Schülerinnen berichten über die Seufzer (Suspiria, lat.) in der Nacht. Man hört die Türen, die laut zuschlagen...Suzy freundet sich mit Sandra (Stefania Casini) an. Als Suzy einen Schwächeanfall hat, verordnet ihr der Doktor eine Diät und ein Glas Rotwein für das Blut. Der Hausdiener Pavel (Giuseppe Transocchi), ein Rumäne, der angeblich nicht die Sprache versteht, serviert ihr das Abendessen und kontroliert, ob sie es gegessen hat. Sandra kommt öfter zu ihr, doch Suzy ist schläfrig und kann ihr nie genau zuhören.Sandra hat indessen etwas über Patricia gehört, das Mädchen, das damals geflüchtet ist. Sie sei tot. Sandra erzählt von den Gerüchten, die man sich über das Haus erzählt. Auch über eine mächtige Hexe...Die beiden "Lehrerinnen" sollen jeden Abend nach Hause gehen, doch Sandra zählt die Schritte und merkt, dass eine von ihnen sicher nicht immer zu Hause schläft. Vielmehr, sie bleibt hier, im Haus.Die Mädchen und auch einige Jungs werden zwar streng unterrichtet, aber hinter der Fassade lauert etwas. Wartet etwas, was besonders junge Mädchen braucht...Etwas, dass einen blinden Klavierspieler zu dem Opfer macht...Sandra will mehr erfahren...Und sucht nach den Antworten.Am nächsten Tag sagen die Damen, sie wird nicht mehr kommen, sie sei nach Hause gereist. Suzy kann das nicht glauben, sie ruft sie an und stellt fest - man hat sie belogen.Am Abend wirft sie das Essen weg, trinkt den Wein nicht und begiebt auch sie sich auf die Suche.Das Haus ist viel größer, als sie denkt. Sie geht den Geräuschen nach, sieht die Damen und hört dabei (und den jungen Neffen), wie sie über ein Mädchen sprechen, das verschwinden muß...Suzy geht weiter, kommt in ein Teil des Hauses, der mit vielen Zeichen "beschrieben" wird. Und sieht dort...Was macht den Film zum KULT, den das ist er auf jeden Fall? Was schon viele in den Besprechungen über das GENIE Argento geschrieben haben, so denke auch ich. Der braucht diesmal weniger "Schock", weniger Blut als in manchen seinen anderen Filmen (oder überhaupt im Giallo Genre). Die Musik, die von der Band "Goblin" gespielt wird, ist sehr schön, hat wenig "Horror-Elemente", aber gerade diese Schönheit, die wiederkehrende Töne, die an die Musik aus den 17. Jhr erinnert, all das macht den Film perfekt. Die Musik gibt den Film die Hand und umgekehrt. Man erwartet nicht, das bei solcher Musik auch Blut zu sehen ist. Aber, die Musik kündet ganz "klassisch" an, man weiß, es wird etwas geschehen...und dann kommt es. Nie gezwungen, immer langsam und perfekt.Die Metapher sind ein sehr bedeutender Teil des Geschehens. Sowohl die rote Farbe (Liebe, aber auch Blut...), wie die Mädchen, alle jung, sehr unschuldig, wegen des Ballets "ohne" viele weiblichen Attributten. Sie sollen "wie Knaben" aussehen - aber, doch Frauen sein. Die erotische Note ist auch hier vorhanden. Und ist wichtig!Die Kameraeinstellungen, die das Grauen von weiten zeigen, unsere Imagination anregen - um uns am Ende doch zu schockieren.Die vielen Fenster, in denen Mann sowohl die Mädchen sieht, wie auch die Schatten, das Spiel mit Licht und Dunkel, klassisch mit dem Gewitter.Es bleibt immer noch so viel verborgen. Und ist auch nicht wichtig, wie wir uns das Ende vorstellen. Es gibt ja eine Vorsetzung (das dritte Teil ist nicht meins), alle haben nur ein Thema gemeinsam...eine Frau, eine Hexe und ihre Kraft.Mein Gedanke? Waren die Hexen immer schlecht, schuldig? Oder, waren sie im Mittelalter DIE Frauen, die man heute als emanzipert nennt? Wobei, Emanzipation ist die normalste Sache, oder sollte sie wenigstens sein, werden...Dario Argent hat hier mit Alida Valli, Joan Bennett den großen Schauspieler*innen perfekte Rollen gegeben. Aber, auch Jessica Harper macht ihre Sache sehr gut.Noch ein Wort zu "Inferno" (1980), die Vorsetzung, hm, gut, dort ist die Musik von Keith Emerson zu hören (Emerson, Lake and Palmer - eine meiner liebsten Bands, schon früher mit Nice", was nur das besagt, was ich ankünden will - Inferno ist eine würdige Vorsetzung...obwohl, ein Film für sich.Noch einmal, danke an alle Rezensenten, der Zauberer hat sicher noch etliche Ideen, wie man die Besprechung zur Perfektion machen kann.Mehr als 5 P kann ich nicht geben.ANSEHEN...