Goblin to Live Score Original Suspiria Screenings This Fall

Dario Argento's Suspiria is a classic psychological horror movie, which was made even more creepy by the original score from Italian prog rock band Goblin. Whispers, analog synthesizers, chiming bells, and more were all combined to create the soundtrack in a matter of weeks in 1977. Since then, the sounds that Goblin created in the studio have gone on to influence everybody from horror icon John Carpenter to current bands like Secret Chiefs 3 and Goat. The band has announced a North American tour that will see them playing the score live to screenings of Suspiria this fall.

The special Goblin Suspiria live screenings are going to be pretty special events. Founding keyboardist Claudio Simonetti is bringing the band back to North America after some successful shows last fall that will also be able to capitalize on the Suspiria remake, which will be hitting theaters in November. The tour will begin October 28th in Baltimore, Maryland and will see the band taking the live screenings all over the country, finally wrapping on November 25th in Brookline, Massachusetts.

Since Suspiria's release in 1977, the movie, along with the soundtrack, have become cult favorites. Founding Goblin member Claudio Simonetti revealed that the band had previously worked with Dario Argento on another film, which they were only given 10 days to write and record everything. That first experience led to them working with Argento on Suspiria, but with nearly three months this time around. The band were able to throw more of their progressive rock flair into the score, embellished with exotic percussion and other foreign instruments that stretched them outside of their comfort zones.

Goblin recorded demos for the score based off Dario Argento's Suspiria script, which the director would play for the actors on the set to set the mood. Argento also would feed the band records to listen to for inspiration and acted as the producer on the soundtrack, though he did not play any of the instruments on the record. Claudio Simonetti used an anaolog synthesizer instead of bringing in string players, which helped give the Suspiria score a very unique feel that became a horror staple after its release in 1977.

For fans of the original Suspiria, this fall Goblin tour will be a terrific way to experience the movie, as well as the soundtrack, in a live setting. As for the remake, Radiohead's Thom Yorke tackled the score this time around. There have been hints of Yorke's version released in the first trailer for the remake, but nothing substantial has been unveiled yet. However, it's clear that the musician is taking a different approach than Goblin did over 40 years ago, and putting his own stamp on the new version. While the soundtrack will be pretty different, the analog synthesizer that Goblin helped to popularize will be front and center. You can check out the dates for the Goblin Suspiria screenings below, thanks to Goblin's Facebook page.