Suspiria (2018)
Luca Guadagnino (Call Me By Your Name) puts his own spin on Dario Argento's classic 1977 fantasy horror. Stars Chloë Grace Moretz (Let Me In) and Guadagnino's A Bigger Splash stars Tilda Swinton and Dakota Johnson.
"A darkness swirls at the centre of a world-renowned dance company, one that will engulf the troupe’s artistic director, an ambitious young dancer, and a grieving psychotherapist. Some will succumb to the nightmare. Others will finally wake up." (Venice Film Festival)
- Director:
- Luca Guadagnino ('Call Me By Your Name', 'A Bigger Splash', 'I am Love')
- Writer:
- David Kajganich
- Cast:
- Dakota JohnsonChloë Grace MoretzTilda SwintonMia GothJessica HarperAngela WinklerDoris HickMalgorzata Bela
Reviews & comments
Flicks, Aaron Yap
flicksIt does make for a lengthy sit, and understandably some will balk at its excessive exposition. But it’s also genuinely mesmerising, sustaining a two-and-a-half-hour duration with lashings of camp, rhapsodic dance choreography and wildly unpleasant body-horror that somehow doesn’t even begin to prime us for the orgiastic freefall of a climax.
Flicks, Aaron Yap
flicksLuca Guadagnino’s Suspiria isn’t the Suspiria you know—and all the better for it. Seemingly unencumbered by any obligation to pander to purists of Dario Argento’s 1977 original, Guadagnino allows his freak flag to fly high with this categorically bananas reworking.
Flicks, Luke Buckmaster
flicksI assume anybody unfortunate enough to watch me dance experiences the same feelings as audiences sitting through the new or old Suspiria: abject horror, and an instant dismissal of the very possibility of a higher power or grander purpose. For a long time I considered myself somebody who puts the oogie in the boogie, but director Luca Guadagnino's remake of Dario Argento’s classic 1977 giallo pic has comforted me with the idea that I might instead be demonically possessed.
A Bleak Beautiful Masterpiece
As an enormous fan of the original and its director Dario Argento I would usually be opposed to a remake. But with Luca Guadagnino, director of such masterpieces as 'Call Me By Your Name', 'A Bigger Splash' and 'I Am Love'at the helm I was most certainly excited. Suspiria blows every expectation I had out the water and delivers a deeply disturbing nightmare...
Film of the year so far
I loved this but I can totally understand why someone wouldn’t. My kind of messed up. Loved the historical (or is it?;))context to the film as well, always enjoy films set in Germany during the time of the Berlin Wall. And Thom Yorke’s music...beautiful. Looking forward to some rewatches. Hopefully this at least gets nominated for sound design.
Slow and deliberate arthouse chiller
Dario Argento’s 1977 SUSPIRIA is a cult classic, a psychedelic, colour-splashed, giallo slasher, inspired by Thomas De Quincey’s 1845 essay ‘Suspiria de Profundis’. Now re-imagined by CALL ME BY YOUR NAME director Luca Gaudagnino, the story remains intact, with a young dancer attending the prestigious Markos Dance Academy in Germany, only to discover it is...
Vulture
pressSuspiria is a gorgeous, hideous, uncompromising film, and while it seeks to do many things, settling our minds about the brutality of the past and human nature is not one of them.
Variety
pressBy the time it drags itself to the finish line, you may think, "Okay, now we know what 'Suspiria' looks like as an art film. Can we please go back to when it was just a garishly flamboyant piece of bat-house trash?"
Time Out
pressTraditional horror fans won't be pleased: Almost transgressively, Guadagnino has deprioritised the shocks, even the fear. But in their place, he's pumped up the exotic strangeness and crafted a movie you can get lost in, which is the ultimate tribute.
The Guardian
pressThere are smart moments of fear and subliminal shivers of disquiet, the dance sequences are good and of course Guadagnino could never be anything other than an intelligent film-maker. But this is a weirdly passionless film.
Stuff
pressAny film from Guadagnino demands to be seen, and Suspiria is no exception. But I kinda wish all this effort and skill had been expended in the service of a truly new story, not a project that invites comparison to an of-its-time unimprovable original.
Screen Daily
pressThe passion of Guadagnino's messy vision - the swirl of emotions he conjures on this grand canvas - has a forcefulness that mostly transcends its sizable flaws.
Hollywood Reporter
pressGuadagnino has made an ambitious homage, but it doesn't really benefit from its more intellectualised gaze, instead draining the stomach-churning thrills of great horror.
BBC
pressI expected to be peering at the screen between splayed fingers, but instead I was peering at my watch.
Flicks, Aaron Yap
flicksIt does make for a lengthy sit, and understandably some will balk at its excessive exposition. But it’s also genuinely mesmerising, sustaining a two-and-a-half-hour duration with lashings of camp, rhapsodic dance choreography and wildly unpleasant body-horror that somehow doesn’t even begin to prime us for the orgiastic freefall of a climax.
Flicks, Aaron Yap
flicksLuca Guadagnino’s Suspiria isn’t the Suspiria you know—and all the better for it. Seemingly unencumbered by any obligation to pander to purists of Dario Argento’s 1977 original, Guadagnino allows his freak flag to fly high with this categorically bananas reworking.
Flicks, Luke Buckmaster
flicksI assume anybody unfortunate enough to watch me dance experiences the same feelings as audiences sitting through the new or old Suspiria: abject horror, and an instant dismissal of the very possibility of a higher power or grander purpose. For a long time I considered myself somebody who puts the oogie in the boogie, but director Luca Guadagnino's remake of Dario Argento’s classic 1977 giallo pic has comforted me with the idea that I might instead be demonically possessed.
Vulture
pressSuspiria is a gorgeous, hideous, uncompromising film, and while it seeks to do many things, settling our minds about the brutality of the past and human nature is not one of them.
Variety
pressBy the time it drags itself to the finish line, you may think, "Okay, now we know what 'Suspiria' looks like as an art film. Can we please go back to when it was just a garishly flamboyant piece of bat-house trash?"
Time Out
pressTraditional horror fans won't be pleased: Almost transgressively, Guadagnino has deprioritised the shocks, even the fear. But in their place, he's pumped up the exotic strangeness and crafted a movie you can get lost in, which is the ultimate tribute.
The Guardian
pressThere are smart moments of fear and subliminal shivers of disquiet, the dance sequences are good and of course Guadagnino could never be anything other than an intelligent film-maker. But this is a weirdly passionless film.
Stuff
pressAny film from Guadagnino demands to be seen, and Suspiria is no exception. But I kinda wish all this effort and skill had been expended in the service of a truly new story, not a project that invites comparison to an of-its-time unimprovable original.
Screen Daily
pressThe passion of Guadagnino's messy vision - the swirl of emotions he conjures on this grand canvas - has a forcefulness that mostly transcends its sizable flaws.
Hollywood Reporter
pressGuadagnino has made an ambitious homage, but it doesn't really benefit from its more intellectualised gaze, instead draining the stomach-churning thrills of great horror.
BBC
pressI expected to be peering at the screen between splayed fingers, but instead I was peering at my watch.
A Bleak Beautiful Masterpiece
As an enormous fan of the original and its director Dario Argento I would usually be opposed to a remake. But with Luca Guadagnino, director of such masterpieces as 'Call Me By Your Name', 'A Bigger Splash' and 'I Am Love'at the helm I was most certainly excited. Suspiria blows every expectation I had out the water and delivers a deeply disturbing...
Film of the year so far
I loved this but I can totally understand why someone wouldn’t. My kind of messed up. Loved the historical (or is it?;))context to the film as well, always enjoy films set in Germany during the time of the Berlin Wall. And Thom Yorke’s music...beautiful. Looking forward to some rewatches. Hopefully this at least gets nominated for sound design.
Slow and deliberate arthouse chiller
Dario Argento’s 1977 SUSPIRIA is a cult classic, a psychedelic, colour-splashed, giallo slasher, inspired by Thomas De Quincey’s 1845 essay ‘Suspiria de Profundis’. Now re-imagined by CALL ME BY YOUR NAME director Luca Gaudagnino, the story remains intact, with a young dancer attending the prestigious Markos Dance Academy in Germany, only to discover it...
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