Movie Review: SUSPIRIA (2018)

What I'm about to say will sound like blasphemy to some, I'm sure, but... I like Luca Guadagnino's remake of SUSPIRIA a bit better than Dario Argento's original.

I've ranked both films at 4 stars, but the only reason why the remake didn't get 4.5 is down to length. At 152 minutes, the film is just too long, by about 30-35 minutes. Because of that length, there are a few times where scenes go on too long, or scenes where too little happens. Fortunately, the film is really magnetic, so even when it slows down, I didn't get bored, so much as simply feeling the weight of the run-time. Anyway...

Modern film-making is awash in remakes as all of you know, and as so many of us lament. However, remakes have always been with us, even if they weren't as frequent as they are now. In 1978, a remake of INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS was released, and many regard it as well as they regard the 1956 original. In 1982 John Carpenter released what may arguably be the best remake of all time, when he released THE THING, 31 years after THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD. Both films were adaptations of John W. Campbell, Jr's 1938 novella, WHO GOES THERE?, with Carpenter's version being far, far closer to the original source material. And in 1988, a remake of THE BLOB made a gory mess of things as an extremely good remake. And let's not forget David Cronenberg's superb 1986 remake of THE FLY, which also made a gory mess of things.

However, we've also gotten lots of remakes that are questionable or downright shitty, such as Gus Van Sant's almost shot-for-shot remake of PSYCHO in 1998, the arguably unnecessary American remake of the Swedish LET THE RIGHT ONE IN that was released 2 years after the original, two absolutely godawful remakes of DAY OF THE DEAD, and don't even get me started on the remake of A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET.

As for me, I'm not automatically opposed to remakes, myself, because I've seen more good ones than bad ones...largely because I've avoided some of the more notorious stinkers. However, I do believe that when you decide to remake a film, you need to do something different with it. But there's a fine line to walk when you do that, because you don't want to drift so far from the original that your remake might as well be a completely different film. Fortunately, SUSPIRIA manages to pay homage to the original film, while doing some radically different things with it. The new version has the same basic plot of the original: talented American dancer journeys to an exclusive German dance-academy, where she quickly displays her prowess, and later finds that the school is run by a coven of powerful witches. Also, both the original and the remake have awesome but oddly out-of-place musical scores, by The Goblins and Radiohead's Thom Yorke respectively.

There is where the similarities essentially end. Where Argento's film is bright, with gaudy primary colors, Guadagnino's is mostly restrained to the point of being drab. Where Argento delivers frenetic and often bewildering energy, Guadagnino gives us a film where the pace is restrained, with explosions of horror here and there. Both films take place at a prestigious dance-school, but Argento's film features almost no dancing, while the the power of the dance is the key to the coven's magic in Guadagnino's, and is heavily featured.

As with some other films, I don't want to spoil this one for anyone who wants to give it a shot, so I don't want to say too much more about it, other than the fact that I really enjoyed it, despite the long run-time. The film features Dakota Johnson as Susie, the Ohio native who has journeyed to Berlin to study at the academy, while the multi-faceted Tilda Swinton co-stars, co-stars, and co-stars. The film also features Mia Goth, Elena Fokina, and Chloë Grace Moretz as well.

Four stars, highly recommended.