Review of Suspiria 25th Anniversary

This fascinating and illuminating 52 minute retrospective documentary offers a wealth of tasty trivia about the making of Dario Argento's terrific horror cult classic "Suspiria." The people interviewed in the doc are Argento, co-writer Daria Nicolodi, cinematographer Luciano Tovoli, Goblin band members Claudio Simonetti (he sings all the creepy verses in the incredible score), Massimo Morante, Fabio Pignatelli, and Agostino Marangolo, and cast members Jessica Harper, Stefania Casini (who readily acknowledges that she was thrilled to work with Argento), and the ever-quirky Udo Kier. Topics discussed herein are the origins of the story (Nicolodi based the dance academy on an actual prestigious school that teaches the black arts!), the elegant star presence of Joan Bennett, Goblin's fantastic freaky score, Argento's highly distinctive style, Tovoli's use of the soon-to-be obsolete Technicolor process to obtain the incredibly bold and vibrant color scheme that's featured in the film, Harper and Casini hitting it off on the set, that the movie is basically a dark fairy tale (Argento cites the Walt Disney animated picture "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" as a major influence on "Suspiria"), and the ongoing legacy of the film. Moreover, Casini admits that her unforgettably brutal death scene was a nightmare to shoot and Kier confesses that someone read all his dialogue to him off screen for his sole scene in the movie. Essential viewing for fans of the film.