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About This Quiz
The delirious colors, the dreamlike atmosphere, the confusing plotline ... it can be hard to make sense of this 1977 horror classic! Are you ready to give it a try with our quiz?
Who directed "Suspiria"?
Dario Argento
Argento, born in 1940, is a very prolific director. Bonus: He actually *did* collaborate with Leone, on "Once Upon a Time in the West."
Mario Bava
Sergio Leone
Lucio Fulci
"Suspiria" and other Argento films fall into what sub-category of horror?
"found footage"
giallo
"Giallo" is most comparable to the "slasher" genre, but because of looser European standards, they are often gorier than American counterparts like "Friday the 13th." Fun fact: "Giallo" literally means "yellow," because cheap paperback thrillers had yellow covers in Italy.
psychological
morality play
"Suspiria's" sets and lighting are dominated by which color?
blue
white
red
The school's exterior is painted red, and its interior is full of red light. Even the airport where Suzy arrives seems to be lighted by the kind of heatlamp bulbs you find in motel bathrooms.
yellow
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What has Suzy Bannion come to Europe to study?
art history
ballet
Suzy has come to study at a famous ballet academy. Unfortunately, the promotional material didn't mention its history as a school for dark arts.
medicine
literature
Which country, specifically, is the ballet academy in?
France
Germany
The school's name is the Tanz Academy. It's located in Freiburg, but "Suspiria" was filmed mostly in Munich.
Italy
Romania
What is strange about the doors at the airport?
they are glass doors, but painted black
they are stuck open
they are stuck shut
the movie's soundtrack stops and starts as they open and close
The doors seem to be letting in the creepy, tingling music of the soundtrack. The point is clear: go outside, and you're immersed in a dark and dangerous world.
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Speaking of which, who did the film's highly-praised soundtrack?
Ennio Morricone
the rock group Goblin
Argento has a longstanding relationship with the group. Their disturbing score for "Suspiria" has been described as a character almost of its own.
the rock group Black Sabbath
Argento himself
A student is fleeing the academy just as Suzy arrives. What is her name?
Annie
Georgia
Pat
Hey, what an innocent name! Nothing bad could happen to a character named Pat, right?
Meg
How does Pat die?
she is stabbed
she is hanged
she is poisoned
both #1 and #2
This is ranked among the most shocking death scenes in horror film. We actually see a knife going into her heart.
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How does Pat's friend die?
the mystery figure strangles her
she's impaled by falling glass from the skylight
Pat, you'll remember, fell through the skylight (with the noose around her neck). Her friend had the unusually bad luck to run into the building's lobby at just that time.
she falls into a swimming pool and drowns
she dies of shock
Suzy is to room with a fellow student. What is her name?
Cora
Elizabeth
Olga
Olga, played by Barbara Magnolfi, is black-haired and a bit intimidating. She tells Suzy that Pat was suspicious about the school, always trying to find out some sort of information.
Sara
What two words does Suzy remember Pat saying?
"secret" and "lie"
"secret" and "iris"
Suzy might have remembered more, but she was busy paying the cab driver. Plus, there was a rather noisy thunderstorm at the time.
"death" and "dance"
"death" and "escape"
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With which student does Suzy become friends?
Olga
Sara
Sara is less confident than Olga. She's also, like Pat, becoming curious about some of the goings-on at the school.
Anna
she has no friends at the school
What apparently causes Suzy to become ill for the first time?
jet lag
food poisoning
nerves
the cook shines a strange light at her
As Suzy is walking in a hallway, the cook tilts a knife and reflects a bright light at her. Suzy then becomes lightheaded and faint.
Suzy passes out in ballet class and bleeds from where?
her ear
her nose
her mouth
both her nose and mouth
Suzy's fainting seems to be related to her strange encounter with the cook. After fainting, she's given a dorm room to stay in, whereas previously she was rooming with Olga off-site.
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What does the school's doctor prescribe for Suzy?
bed rest
Dramamine
Vitamin C
a glass of wine, nightly
Wine does have some health benefits. But in the context of a school run by witches, we're allowed to have our doubts about what's in Suzy's glass.
What is distinctive about Daniel, the piano player?
he is blind
Daniel was played by Flavio Bucci. Argento often casts Italian actors in his films and dubs in American voices for their dialogue.
he is about seven feet tall
he appears to read minds
he doesn't play the piano very well
What falls from the ceiling as Suzy is getting dressed?
drops of blood
drops of water
plaster
maggots
Maggots are a cheap effect in horror movies. In close-ups, you need real ones, but otherwise, white rice can fill in.
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Where do the girls sleep on the night of the falling maggots?
in town
in the cafeteria
in the practice hall
Supposedly, the teachers don't have quarters at the school, but leave every night. Sara has her doubts about this.
in the teachers' quarters
How does Sara know the "directress" is in residence?
by the unusual sound of her breathing
Sara is awakened by the high-pitched, raspy sound of the breathing. Waking Suzy, she tells her that she's heard that breathing before -- when the directress was sleeping next door to her.
she smells the distinctive tea the directress likes
she overhears the teachers whispering about it
she sees the directress's black car outside
Why is Madame Tanner angry at Daniel?
he is playing too fast for the girls to dance
he is constantly late for work
his guide dog bit Madame Blanc's nephew
Daniel defends his dog. This leads to a heated argument in which Madame Tanner throws his cane aside, forcing him to stumble around searching for it. Nice!
he has been faking blindness to spy on the girls while they are undressing
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Who kills Daniel?
Madame Tanner
the custodian
Madame Blanc
his own guide dog
Daniel has been drinking at a bar. He is walking home when his dog suddenly growls, then turns on him. It's implied that this is the witches' retribution for Daniel's veiled threat to expose them.
How does Sara die?
she drowns in the school's pool
she cuts her own throat in a trance
she's thrown from a horse
she falls into a room full of razor wire, then her throat is cut by an unknown pursuer
All ballet schools have a room full of razor wire, you know. Students just have to advance to a certain level before they're allowed to see it.
Who does German actor Udo Kier play?
the school custodian
Blanc's nephew Albert
a policeman
Sara's psychologist friend
Dr. Mandel tells Suzy that Sara was troubled by the prospect that her school was run by witches. In fact, he says, she'd learned that the school was founded by a powerful witch.
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Helena, the witch who founded the school, was from what country?
Bulgaria
Greece
Helena Markos founded a school for the occult, not ballet. It was only after her death that her successor made it a dance academy, as a cover.
Italy
Romania
Suzy also learns that a coven cannot survive without what?
a special runestone
the fear of surrounding townspeople
a plot of their native earth
their queen
We think Dario Argento was confusing witches with bees. But hey, just go with it.
Who tells Suzy this bit of information about the coven and their queen?
Dr. Mandel
Dr. Mandel's friend, Professor Milius
Boy, it's a good thing on the very day Suzy located Dr. Mandel, his friend the witch expert was standing ten feet away, ready to be called over for a special consult on witches!
the custodian
the cook
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What animal attacks Suzy in her room?
a bat
Maybe this wasn't supernatural at all. It's not like a bat has never flown in an open window before!
a cat
Daniel's guide dog
a wild boar
Which iris provides access to the secret room?
the blue one
At a key moment, Suzy remembers in full what Pat was saying: "I saw behind the door! Three irises! Turn the blue one!"
the red one
the yellow one
it was an orchid, not an iris
When Suzy finds Sara's body, what does she have in her eyes?
crystallized tears
pennies
nails
"Suspiria" was so gory that New York Times critic Janet Maslin warned readers about it in her review. Which, for an Italian horror film, really should have gone without saying.
catlike contact lenses
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When Helena Markos goes invisible, how does Suzy know where she is?
she feels the air current when Helena moves
she follows the sound of Helena's breathing
she throws a blanket over her
Helena's form is illuminated by lightning
Helena apparently failed to lightning-proof her invisibility cloak. Seeing her outline on the bed allows Suzy to stab the woman in the throat.
With what does Suzy stab Helena Markos?
a kitchen knife
a hatpin
a nail file
the sharp base of a glass peacock feather
This is presumably a nod to Argento's early film, "The Bird With the Crystal Plumage." The peacock figurine was in Helena's bedroom, and Suzy woke her up by knocking it over.
How many students come to Suzy's aid in her final showdown with the coven?
one of them
three of them
all of them
none of them - they weren't in the building
It was lucky for them they went to the theater that night. If nothing else, it saved them from dying when the building self-destructed.
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At the film's end, has Suzy inherited Helena's power?
yes
what? no!
it's not really clear
This is one fan theory. When the school begins to disintegrate, one reading is that Suzy's new power is causing things to explode before her. And why was Madame Blanc so nice to Suzy, and so eager to have her live on site, if she wasn't being groomed to be part of the coven?
You Got:
/35
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