In 1977 SUSPIRIA stunned cinemagoers around the world. Now, forty years later, CultFilms is proud to terrify audiences once again with the dazzling 4K restoration of Dario Argento’s groundbreaking masterpiece, on dual format special edition.
Italian horror auteur Dario Argento unleashed the ultimate cult film with his visionary symphony of terror, SUSPIRIA. Ballet student Suzy Bannion (Jessica Harper) arrives at a prestigious dance academy in Freiburg, a school plagued by gruesome and supernatural happenings. Soon students begin to die in horrific circumstances – is Suzy next, and can she uncover the academy’s sinister secret before it’s too late?
Abandoning the black gloves of the giallo in favour of a witchy brew of magic and murder, Argento carved a Baroque nightmare, saturated with expressive colour and punctuated by shocking violence.
Considered the most famous Italian horror film of all time for its vivid, groundbreaking style and jaw-dropping bloodshed, SUSPIRIA now returns for its fortieth anniversary to assault audiences once more.
The Restoration
‘I hope that you are ready…’ declares Dario Argento in his personalised introduction to the CultFilms release of SUSPIRIA.
Argento filmed SUSPIRIA on some of the last of the Eastman 5247 film stock. In order to reach the deep colours he had envisioned, the director struck the original release prints using a very different Technicolor Dye Transfer process which had already become obsolete. SUSPIRIA was the last film to be released following that particular method and all subsequent prints did not adhere to Argento’s original vision, with the look of the film affected dramatically.
The new 4K scan was painstakingly restored by TLE Films in Germany with that crucially distinct colour palette reinstated in accordance with Argento’s original Technicolor Dye Transfer specification, using period film materials as reference.
The restorers also reinserted all the missing frames which had degraded badly or were simply lost over the years, making this version of SUSPIRIA from CultFilms the most complete and original looking, finally doing justice to Argento’s vision.
Release date: 4 December 2017
Pre-order: https://bit.ly/2A77hFV
EXTRAS
Dual format special edition: Blu-ray and DVD in a numbered, embossed slipcase
New Extra: Long interview with Dario Argento
New Extra: Exclusive Dario Argento Introduction of this new 4K restoration
Audio commentary by critics Kim Newman and Alan Jones
Fear at 400 Degrees: interview with Dario Argento and Claudio Simonetti
Interview with Claudio Simonetti, Norman J Warren and Patricia McComack (Blu-ray only)
New Extra: The 4K Restoration Process ‘utterly fascinating’
SPECS
Blu-ray
Duration – 100m 40s
23.98 / Region B / AACS
Aspect – 2.35:1
Audio – 5.1 DTS-HD and 2.0 LPCM stereo
English and Italian with switchable subtitles
DVD
Duration – 96m 30s
PAL / Region 2 / CSS
Aspect – 2.35:1
Audio – 5.1 Dolby digital surround and 2.0 Dolby digital stereo
English and Italian with switchable subtitles
