Hey, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab.
I'm a giant fan of this particular Argento film, especially after seeing it on the bigscreen at QT Quattro last year. I hope to get a chance to bring you a review of this disc in the next few days. In the meantime, here's a spy who's done a bang-up job for you already. Thanks, Aaron...
Hello,
Work at a videostore and managed to receive the about to be released Susperia Limited edition set. So here is my review
Fangoria Made me Do it!!
There is a growing list of films that I regret never being able to see up on the big screen. Considering the way most studios care for the prints of their films (if the studio is around any longer, that is) the chances that I will get grow smaller every year that passes. Titles on my list include Dragonslayer (in 70mm), A Bridge too Far, The Searchers, The Keep, It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Worlds, Tales of Hoffman, Touch of Zen, Heavenly Creatures, Blood Simple, Streets of Fire. Add to this growing list Suspiria.
Many years ago I bought a laser disc player for many reasons but reason number one was I wanted to buy imported disk. More to the point, I wanted something that few around me had or even knew about. Suspiria was number one on my list of imported disk to get. The disc was not letter-boxed (very strange considering nearly all of Dario Argento's were avaliable in leterboxed format from Japan) but the colors on the disc were incredible (especially when the color red shows up on the screen and it does many, many times)!! It was also a huge status symbol for my gore hound friends (all one of them!!!) It was the first time (but sure as hell not the last ) I spent far too much money on film.
Naturally one of the first letter-boxed titles to be released in the states was (ta da!) Suspira. The colors were not as bright as my Japanese disk but the letter-box treatment showed off the incredible sets (unmatched to this day!!) and camera work. I was stuck with a Japanese subtitled Italian horror film that was panned and scanned that cost me far too much money. Soon after I sold my disc in disapointment. Flash forward to 15 years. I'm roaming the internet for lasers discs (more to the point obscure, cheap lasers) and find a great website that deals with horror DVD (HorrorDVD.com). On the site they review a pre-release copy of the Suspiria box set with a 52 minute documentary, lobby card reproductions, and a audio CD of the Goblin's sound track. This does not sell me. The thing that does is the numerous screen shots they featured. It looked excellent. One look at the blood red convinced me that after many, many years I was going to see it as close to perfect as I probably would ever see (and hear) it.
The colors on the DVD are solid. The reds stay bright and stable. I would really love to see it in it's technicolor glory up on the big screen but this is the best I am probably going to get. Add to the mix that the sound is THX approved and probably sounds better than when it first premiered.
In addition to the sound and vision you get two additional disk in the package. One contains the Sound track(which I am listening to while typing this) and the other containing the 52 minutes documentary that features some of the key figures in the film (Dario Argento, Jessica Harper, cinematographer Luciano Tovoli, members of the Goblin's, ect). I would have like to see some out takes or on set footage but since the film is 25 years old I imagine not much exists. (off the subject but I just have to say that Jessica Harper is one of my favorite actresses that has a incredible body of work. Don't miss her role in The Blue Iguana!!)
This is not a perfect collection. I would have loved subtitles but they were not included (but three dubbed tracks are avaliable). I would have liked a commentary track by someone (or maybe a text commentary or notes). I would have also loved to hear from the many fans who have followed the film over the years. Overall this is a great disc that any fanatic of Italian Horror needs to have. Casual fans should probably wait until Anchor Bay (shout out to AB) brings out the standard one disc presentation. All this and Udo Kier and it is still cheaper than my Japanese laser disc!!!
