Goblin - Suspiria

Last week I was clearing out my DVR and found a film I’d recorded nearly two years ago, but had not yet seen. 1977’s Suspiria, visual feast from Italian master of horror Dario Argento, tells of an American ballet student who goes abroad to find sinister forces at work at her academy. Through stylistically bold direction and an outstanding score, written by the Italian band Goblin, the film serves to dazzle and scare, in spite of a somewhat convoluted narrative. Alternating between music that is borderline industrial and hauntingly Gothic, the score provides that sense of slow dread, the foreboding nature present in the first act of so many great horror films. Give a listen to the title track off the film’s soundtrack, which serves as a terrific overture highlighting the common motifs used to great effect throughout the film.  It rivals the great horror scores of our time, from John Carpenter’s work in Halloween to Bernard Hermann’s score for Psycho, in that it creates genuine tension and occasional terror, the true aim for any horror flick.