Back in October last year the BFI launched a new season of events celebrating the importance of music with moving image. The first event was a live re-scoring of the original 1933 classic, King Kong by Radio 1 DJ and head honcho of Bestival, Rob da Bank.
Other events in the Sonic Cinema series include the amazing Chemical Brothers evening and Marley just a couple of weeks ago. Next up was Suspiria, Dario Argento’s 1977 horror masterpiece, re-imagined with an exclusive live soundtrack from producer and DJ Fake Blood.
As a fan of horror movies, mainly from the 60’s and 70’s (Halloween, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, most of British studio Hammer’s output), as well as the creepier, more psychological works created by Stanley Kubrick (The Shining), and David Lynch (Eraserhead, Inland Empire), I had heard the name of Dario Argento, and of probably his most famous work, Suspiria, but for whatever reason, I had never got around to viewing it.
Adding to this the fact that I was only vaguely aware of DJ Fake Blood, through his earlier work as Wiseguys, I had little idea of what to expect from this screening. Despite this lack of prior knowledge, sitting down with the mixed bunch of fellow audience members in the sold out screen of NFT1, I was hoping I would be in for a treat.
During a passionate introduction to the film by the curators of Sonic Cinema, Stuart Brown and Tayo Popoola. I discovered, through a quick showing of hands in the crowd, that i was not alone in my lack of experience of either the film – or Fake Blood. Around 50% of us had never seen Suspiria before, and around the same number were unfamiliar with the work of Fake Blood.
It turns out we were in very safe hands. DJ Fake Blood (real name Theo Keating) is currently hailed as a house and techno superstar. He made his name with The Wiseguys, and Black Ghosts, and from his speech in the introduction you could tell he has a deep respect and affection for the film he was to be re-scoring here, which he would do using a selection of library music, personally selected rarities, as well as his own compositions. Added to this, the film itself has been simultaneously described as a “masterpiece”, a “cult classic”, and the directors “undisputed magnum opus”. Heady pedigree for sure, but would they work together, and how well?
These questions were answered for me even while the films opening titles were rolling. As soon as Fake Bloods ominous, unsettling beats kicked in, I suspected that the treat I had previously been hoping for had arrived.
The film concerns the story of a young American girl, Suzy Banyon, and her (mis)adventures while studying ballet at the Tanzakademie in Germany. From the moment she arrives here, we are entombed, by brilliant use of light, colour, and surreal and psychedelic imagery, in the nightmarish fairytale she has entered. Argento (along with cinematographer Luciano Tovoli) generate more visceral and shocking moments skilfully using these techniques than you would find in any 10 of modern cinemas gratuitous and unnecessary torture porn flicks. Combined with Fake Bloods devastating employment of sounds, these two artists create a brutal yet beautiful assault on the senses.
The story continues, involving a coven of witches, an unnamed yet ever present evil, and scenes of savage bloody murder. This is a horror film in the purest sense of the term. The only thing that surprised me while watching Suspiria, was nothing that occurred on screen, but that a few of the more disturbing scenes garnered some laughter in the audience. On reflection I would probably attribute this to the fans of the film who knew what was coming or who had been numbed to it through repeated viewings. Personally I found nothing to laugh at here, just plenty to admire. Entire scenes bathed in startling blues, yellows and red, creating a disorienting and dizzying effect in the mind of the viewer. Fake Blood using snippets of dialogue to drive on the films narrative, while never seeming intrusive or out of place with his score, and likewise, his music never distracting from or slowing the pace of the film, only ever enhancing it. Exhilarating stuff.
Having not encountered the film with its original score, by rock act Goblin, I am unable to compare the two pieces of work, but I cannot praise what Fake Blood has accomplished here highly enough. He has created a score here that is in turn dark, haunting,and incredibly stylish. A perfect companion to a film with those same qualities. I do not know if Goblin were a tough act to follow, but all I can say is this, when I watch the film in its original incarnation, as this screening has inspired me to do, in my eye’s, it will be Goblin who have the tough act to follow.
The BFI and Sonic Cinema deserve the same standing ovation that many audience members gave to this screening at it’s end. To find a new and invigorating way to experience cinema these days, without, some would say, the overuse of 3D and CGI is no mean feat, Sonic Cinema have genuinely succeeded in doing ust this, in the most simple, yet effective way, and I hope it has a future. It certainly deserves it on this basis.
What’s Next?
The next Sonic Cinema event is a British Sea Power special, with 2 events on 15th June.
– Out of The Present (18.45pm)
– From the Sea to the Land Beyond + Q&A with Penny Woolcock (9pm)
Fake Blood
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