The three disc set includes a newly made documentary and a Goblin soundtrack from the movie. The documentary suffers from subtitles that are sometimes washed out against a light background. Otherwise, it is informative. The Goblin CD is a lot fun to listen to and I find myself humming the main theme all the time. Unfortunately, I do not find a listing for the names of the songs. The main disk also includes trailers and radio spots and a Goblin music video of Demonia, which appears to be the main theme song.


Color me bad. ** Is it worth the upgrade? Comparisons below**.   August 14, 2007
 51 out of 52 found this review helpful

The premise as most know a girl Suzy Banyon, an American ballet dancer arrives at a well known European dance academy run by mysterious teachers where nothing is as it seems. As Suzy arrives at night in a horrible thunder and lightening storm a girl is leaving in a frenzy yelling a secret into the night, what follows is as Entertainment Weekly calls "the most vicious murder scene ever filmed".

Director Dario Argento "paints" an effective horror story, he puts relatable people in relatable situations so we can buy into his film. Then very cleverly has dreamlike sets bursting with colors, we as viewers subconsciously know something isn't right and I believe this use of color subtly keeps us on edge. Even the title of the film, What is Suspiria? I googled it to find it is a film by Dario Argento, so even the title has us subconsciously unsure going in. Although I could be wrong on that. Then add an unrelenting, nerve wracking, and haunting score by Goblin (one of the most effective I've experienced). We enter with Suzy into this academy and we know something isn't right, we are experiencing what she is, it is like a dream and maybe nothing is wrong, and with the blink of an eye this dream becomes a nightmare, we can stop the dvd but what is Suzy going to do?

To upgrade or not to upgrade. The first set of features are also what you get on the single disc anchorbaby dvd still available for 10$.
Languages
English (DTS 6.1)
English (Dolby Digital 6.1)
English (Dolby Digital 2.0) Not available on the single disc
Italian (Dolby Digital 2.0)
French (Dolby Digital 2.0)

Features (All on Anchorbay single disc)
# Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35:1
# DTS-ES Digital Surround
# Dolby Digital EX Surround
# Stereo

DISC 1 EXTRAS: (All on Anchorbay single disc)

* Theatrical Trailers
* TV Spot
* Radio Spots
* "Suspiria" Music Video By Daemonia
* Poster & Still Gallery
* Talent Bios

DISC 2 EXTRAS: (All new)

* "Suspiria" 25th Anniversary Interviews with Co-Writer/Director Dario Argento, Co-Writer Daria Nicolodi, Cinematographer Luciano Tovoli, Composers Goblin (Claudio Simonetti, Massimo Morante, Fabio Pignatelli & Agostino Marangolo), and Stars Jessica Harper, Stefania Casini & Udo Kier
# French (Dolby Digital 2.0)

The transfer and the sound are going to be the same, if you didn't own any copy i would say this 2 disc version for 5$ more is the way to go, also if your an Argento fan or fan of the film, disc 2's features most likely will be worth it to you.
4.5 stars
Hope this helps..


The last word in fear.   October 1, 2001
 49 out of 57 found this review helpful

For those of us who think that Wes Craven is the master of the horror genre, we can think again. I'm speaking these words after watching "Suspiria," one of the most frightening and terrifying horror movies ever made. Created by Italian director Dario Argento, the movie manages to be menacing and gory at the same time, and Argento fills his canvas with a vast array of vivid yet bizarre colors, eerie lighting and camera techniques, and a soundtrack to top all horror soundtracks. In short, this is one hell of a scary movie!

The plot is a basic one, more of a vehicle for Argento's explorative imagination. It begins with a storm, as young Susy Banyon (Jessica Harper) arrives in Germany to attend ballet school. Argento wastes no time in creating a sense of unease, from her cab ride to the school, as she watches the colors of street lights in the pouring rain, to the gruesome and outright malicious murder of a runaway student. All of this happens within the first ten minutes, which should be a message of what lies ahead (in other words, be prepared).

The movie then takes us to the school itself, a dazzling array of vivid colors and elaborate set pieces that put the house in Robert Wise's "The Haunting" to shame. Susy is shown the many rooms and introduced to the staff and students, though discovers that she will be rooming off campus. That is, until she begins to get suspicious about strange occurrences, and the staff relocates her to the premises. Her suspicions mount higher, and she begins to wonder if there isn't more to the ladies that run the academy.

You may find yourself forgetting the plot behind all of this mayhem, but that's perfectly reasonable, given the fact that Argento seems to be more interested in attacking our minds than provoking them. And he succeeds in doing just that, taking us into the darkest depths of horror with his adept use of gore, bursting colors, camera movements and creepy sounds from all around.

This is extremely unsettling stuff here, some of the most elaborate yet unbearable set pieces ever constructed for a film. The beginning murder sequence is a true shocker, one that we see coming, but never in such a gruesome manner. Other sequences involve a blind man being attacked by his own seeing-eye dog, multiple stabbings, a girl's corpse coming back to life... it never stops.

But it all works due to Argento's ability to get under our skin before shocking us out of it. Before each scene of brutality, there is a wonderful buildup of suspense and terror, because even though we know what's going to happen, we're totally in the dark as to how it will occur. He keeps us waiting impatiently by employing a slowly building soundtrack, heightened by slow camera movements that center on the faces of the person involved.

"Suspiria" will remain in the memory long after its first viewing; in fact, you may never forget it. It stands out as a visionary masterpiece, one for the senses and the mind, a horror film that transcends the boundaries of the genre. I was intrigued by every minute of this film, which keeps you in the moment long after it's already passed.


Terrific DVD for a terrific movie   October 24, 2001
 24 out of 29 found this review helpful

What many claim is the definitive Dario Argento movie(some say "Deep Red" but I say this), has been put into a wonderful DVD. I waited for weeks for the limited edition. It was well worth the wait. The limited edition throws in everything, but the kitchen sink. While the laserdisc was in letterbox, the colors were washed out. Pity too, since that was they used a technique which enhanced the colors into a deeper, richer texture (in letterbox to show the entire picture). Thankfully, the DVD lets us see this wonderful enhancement beautifully. On the second disc, we see interviews with the filmakers and stars of the film. We also get a bit of a hint why we still haven't seen the conclusion of "Three Mothers" Trilogy. It also has an interesting interview of the composer of the bizarre music to the movie. The third disc is a CD soundtrack to the movie, which contains a terrific updated version of the theme song (a music video of the song is in the first disc). All in all, an excellent DVD set. Bravo to Anchor Bay!


A cross dresser of a comedy, disguised as horror   August 4, 2008
 22 out of 36 found this review helpful

I watched this because my daughter said it is a cult movie among horror fans. Italian made in the 70s. Unfortunately the strong sides, ie the set designs, the colors, the decorations, the architecture, are being left utterly alone in their struggle for class by the plot, the actors, and above all, by the butchers who did the dubbing. Most of the time the acting and talking is so grotesque and bad that you can only laugh.
Story: an American ballet dancer comes to Germany to attend a 3 years course in a dance school. We learn in the course of events that the school was initially started by a Greek witch, that it had specialized in ballet and occult sciences (in itself a fairly funny idea), that it had dropped the occult things and focused on dancing. Of course it turns out that it is still run by a whole gang of witches, who commit fairly colorful, senseless and stylish murders. There are a few bats and there is a blind man's dog, an Alsatian, who lets himself be talked into becoming a raging kind of wherewolf. The main actress spends about 80 minutes being terribly worried and big-eyed, until she does the right thing and kills them witches. Bully for you, girl!
If you got anything better to do, do it!
One more malus point: Susie arrives at Frankfurt's airport, gets taken by taxi to something like the Black Forest, with a beautiful art nouveau castle, but some of the action takes places in Munich on a big public square. Well, you know, being fond of plausibility, this annoyed me a wee little bit.