Skip to main content

Suspiria (2018) -- a review


Director Dario Argento is revered in his native Italy as being a master of suspense. Thanks to his intense thrillers, Argento has been referred to as being the Italian Hitchcock, and with good reason: his dark, stylish murder mysteries are vastly entertaining if lurid tales that grip the viewer right from the very first scene. Argento’s Suspiria, released in 1977, was a turning point for the director in that it was a supernatural tale involving a young dancer (Jessica Harper) attending a swanky dance school in Germany, only to discover that it’s the inner sanctum for a coven of evil witches.


When word got out that there was to be a remake of Suspiria, many people were horrified at the idea, because not only was the original considered Argento’s best film, but it was also considered to be a classic of the horror genre overall. And while that’s usually my initial take to the announcement about an upcoming remake, I have to admit to being intrigued at the idea of a new version of Suspiria. Because, to be blunt, I never really warmed up to the original film in the first place.



The original Suspiria was a broad, over the top melodrama that was garishly lit with bright colors and had a soundtrack from Goblin that seemed headache-inducing at times. The actresses playing the dancers--all in their early twenties--overacted in such broad strokes that it made me wonder if Argento was deliberately going for a campy feel. There was some genuinely startling imagery, to be sure--Argento is a visual master--but no matter how many times I saw it, the original Suspiria always left me with a 'meh' feeling.


In contrast, director Luca Guadagnino’s Suspiria is a fascinating, chilling thriller that drew me in from the very first scene, where elderly psychiatrist Dr. Klemperer (the wondrous Tilda Swinton) receives a visit from Patricia (Chloë Grace Moretz), one of his patients who is driven over the edge with fear. She’s afraid of something evil that she claims resides at the Markos Tanz Dance Company. Klemperer dismisses Patricia’s ranting as the delusions of an overexcited young woman, but we know better. This opening scene serves as a great introduction and foreshadowing of the events to come, as well as deftly serving as a hook that pulls the viewer right into the story.



The new Suspiria does a great job in slowly ratcheting up the suspense with its quiet moments and subtle hints that there’s something not right with this dance school. But, thankfully, it also doesn’t shrink from the terror, either. A lot of recent horror films I’ve seen are too timid, shying away from going completely crazy in their depiction of grisly events. But Guadagnino’s camera is an unflinching eye to when the supernatural fury is unleashed, and its gratifying to see for a change. Guadagnino also isn’t afraid to show the completely bat shit proceedings in all of their glory, as well. This is a sophisticated horror movie that makes you care about what happens by getting you to care about the characters by telling a gripping story.


In addition to a strong script and direction, the new Suspiria also has a marvelous cast, the majority of which are women. It was great for me to see the superb Dakota Johnson finally move on from those crummy 50 Shades films. And the always good Chloë Grace Moretz is memorable as Patricia. Tilda Swinton, who’s magnificent in everything she does (from Orlando to Doctor Strange), really shines here in three separate roles as Madame Blanc, Helena Markos and Dr. Josef Klemperer. Working under heavy makeup, Swinton was extremely believable as an elderly German man.



Is the new Suspiria better than the original? I think so. This was the rare case when I enjoyed the remake much more over the original (one other example of this was John Carpenter’s remake of The Thing). But the new Suspiria is still respectful of its source material. Jessica Harper, the star of the original film, returns here in an inspired cameo. Suspiria is available in both digital and the Blu-Ray formats. --SF







Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Explorer From Another World

It’s Friday night during the summer in Beutter county, an idyllic farming community in Indiana, and the good folks are settling in for what should be another humdinger of an evening. Until their plans are shattered by the arrival of an Explorer From Another World! This turns out to be an alien (Gemma Sterling) who starts savagely killing people from the moment it disembarks from its flying saucer. Local kids Eddie (Colin McCorquodale), Marybeth (Sage Marchand) and Culpepper (Nolan Gay) are planning on seeing a movie, but it looks like they’ll be battling for the very survival of the human race instead! Explorer From Another World is a wonderfully done throwback to the B-movies of the 1950s and 1960s. Ably directed by Woody Edwards (who gives himself a small cameo as Hank in the sheriff’s jail cell), the film is forty five minutes long, but manages to tell its torrid but funny story very effectively in the time allotted. And the short running time tracks when you...
Post a Comment
Read more

Presence -- A Review

Presence, the latest film from director Steven Soderbergh ( Sex, Lies and Videotape, Out Of Sight ), is based on his real life experiences with what he believes is a ghost in his own home. Inspired by his spectral roommate, Soderbergh wrote a few pages of a script, which he handed to David Koepp ( Panic Room, Jurassic Park ), who finished it. The film was shot in a house in Crandall, New Jersey, over just eleven days in September 2023 (they received an interim SAG-AFTRA agreement during the strike that year). Soderbergh shot this in the ‘found footage’ style, using only one camera, with himself as the camera operator. The result is that Presence is a haunted house story that is told from the point of view of the ghost. And it’s marvelous. But instead of the typical ’found footage’ movie, which is supposed to be culled together from film or video that is literally found after the fact, we see everything that’s happening in this house through the ‘eye...
Post a Comment
Read more

Cleaner -- a review

In Cleaner Daisy Ridley ( Star Wars: The Force Awakens ) stars as Joanna “Joey” Locke, a window cleaner at a swanky London office building that serves as the headquarters for an energy company. Joey becomes late for work when she’s forced to take her autistic brother Michael (Matthew Tuck) to her job with her. Because of her lateness, her nimrod of a manager makes Joey work an hour late, well into the evening. Joey reluctantly keeps cleaning windows of bird splatter in the darkness, but eventually bird droppings wind up being the least of her problems. A team of terrorists arrive at a party that’s being held at the office for the energy company’s share holders. Disguised as performers, the terrorists seize the energy company’s board members as hostages, while knocking everybody else out with gas. Joey, still working on the windows outside, sees all of this and promptly goes into action. Because, as the film has earlier established, Joey is a former Britis...
Post a Comment
Read more