Suspiria - 2018

Impressive preview. This might be a hit at the 16 screen movieplex

 

I'm a big fan of the Argento original, but I'm looking forward to this. Hope it comes out good.

 

I'm really looking forward to seeing Dakota Johnson in this, with the 50 shades stuff behind her. I really liked her in the comedy roles she's done (21 Jump Street and the series Ben and Kate). We'll see how she is at drama, but I find her a likable actress.

 

#metoo

 

I hope it's good, but I'm not sure the trailer convinced me it will be. It's just a trailer, so who knows? According to IMDB, it's going to be a 2 and a half hour movie, so it's kind of an epic. The original is one of the best horror films of all time, so while I certainly don't think it'll be nearly that good, hopefully it won't suck either. I guess I'll keep my expectations low and hope to be pleasantly surprised.

I see what you did there!

 

I didn't know Bob Fosse did a version of "Suspiria."

 

More like Darren Aronofsky

 

The original, for all its visual (and aural) splendour, lacks any measure of plotting and characterisation, so one can hope the remake succeeds in that respect. One assumes the seemingly drab, muted colour palette will be contrasted with a truly technicolor finale (somewhat teased in the trailer). Interesting to see.

For me, Suspiria and Inferno have worn thin over the years. Deep Red and Tenebre, on the other hand, are fine wines. Argento was at his best with giallo.

 

I loved the most hated that movie in the last five years: mother!

 

I wanted to like Mother! and I did like the look of it. but the story is just so blatant and inane, and for me, the central idea of the world as a house just didn't work. Also, how did we end up with the male writer with writer's block character again? Aren't we sick of that guy by now? And Jennifer Laurence's character was totally passive.
I'd hoped Mother might be along the lines of Gaspar Noe's Irrerversible, or Nicolas Winding Refn's Neon Demon, but it was nowhere near as good as either.
Neon Demon is probably actually a closer remake of Suspiria than the new remake will be.

 

As for the Suspiria trailer, well, he's gone the same route as the Omen. The Omen took a lot from Suspiria, but swapped the bright colours for a more muted look, and so has this. The remake does look like it's trying to 'fix' some of the problems with the original. For example, the original having actors speaking different languages to each other, the bizarre dubbing. The cast is now speaking English, which may make the new film better, or ironically worse, as it will be more like every other film.
It also looks like the human daytime versions of the witches will get involved in the violence, rather than leaving this to disembodied hands. This again may not actually be an improvement. We don't get to see how violent it is going to be, the set piece violence was a big part of the original, so that remains unknown at the moment.

 

The hope for many remakes is to mainstream the chosen film for modern, international audiences. That can work financially but rarely works artistically. Probably the case here. For all its deserved legend and standing, the original is still mostly unseen.

 

True!

 

Well, I pretty much disagree with that.

Argento is, above all else, a master of the set piece. A lot of his plots were vaguely incoherent, but within that is a large part of the mystery in what you were seeing. He has never been much interested in linear plots, and dances within the madness of his scenarios. Just an amazing film maker.

Deep Red and Tenebrae, on the other hand, are giallo's, and followed the tropes of that genre of film. Once again though, both films really take off with the set pieces, especially in the case with Tenebrae - whose plot, if you really take it apart, has holes in it. However, as experiences, Suspiria and Inferno have gotten better through the years, imo. I see them as films verging on madness to the degree that their very structure is strange and foreign (which, as an native English speaker, they were).

It's also worth mentioning the soundtracks to all the films you mentioned. Every one of them provides exemplary music, especially Tenebrae and Suspiria. The soundtrack is such an integral part of the experience.

As to the trailer. The number 1 thing that struck me is that it wasn't out and out terrible. Given Argento himself ended the trilogy of movies in a train wreck, that's good to see. On the other hand they appear to have a new soundtrack by Thom Yorke that didn't seem half as chaotic as the original. They also seem to have included some tired cliches of wall climbing, and CGI'd face contortion, which wasn't in the original. I'd say overall it was a 60% hit.

We have to see which of the set pieces have been retained - if they take them out, then it's game over for me. I also need to hear more of the soundtrack. I need to make sure they haven't messed with the plot too much. And yes, the cinematography on this one needs to be spot on. Suspiria may not be a film most mainstream fans are aware of, but in the context of horror cinema it's an out-and-out, stone cold, classic. You mess with the elite of horror titles at your peril.

I'm cautiously optimistic though.

Argento? He was best when allowed to explode ideas across the screen, to splash color, dark imagery, and gore in abandon. He's a man of extremes. His plots don't often work for American/British audiences, because honestly, one gets the impression the plot is secondary to the experience. He's a surrealist, so if you go in expecting photo-perfect landscapes, you can feel disoriented and dizzy - and yeah, unpleasant. If he hits the spot, then there's nothing like him.

 

It's a good sign that the Director isn't trying to be Argento. I hope there isn't as much dancing as it seems to imply.

 

I won't mind if there is, as it could be a nice visual set-piece. Argento planned to have a lavish dance section in the original, but I think they ran out of time and so it wasn't filmed, though the actresses had been rehearsing and preparing for it.

 

Given how poor much film-making is, someone trying to measure up the master that is Argento would be fantastic!

 

The Omen came out in 1976 and Suspiria in 1977.

 

Witchcraft + Dance School = Young Millennial Date Night Flick.
Make it artsy ala Black Swan, get positive reviews and there is a box office smash.
.
We'll always have Goblin

 

What I meant was he appears to be following his own vision of the film rather than attempting to stylistically follow Argento's and probably failing

 

This looks like it will be a brilliant remake. Just like a lot of the other remakes over recent years.

 

Interestingly, I'd argue that those films labelled gialli are rarely stringently linear - at least, those at the height of the cycle. Their incoherence is what makes many of them so entertaining, and the lengths to which they confound and distort the traditional ratiocentrism of detective fiction is very much part of their appeal.

Ironically, however, Argento's giallo titles (those prior to 1985) have rather formal plotting when assessed against the greater body of the cycle and I'd argue that, as a filmmaker, he benefits from a tighter leash in that respect - if only because the set pieces have a broader investigative framework to support them. Four Flies, Deep Red and Tenebre indicate that Argento can deliver dramatic characterisation and solid pacing when the material requires it, and he makes better films as a result. Suspiria attempts to get by entirely on style, but it plods between the bloody crescendos; Inferno is a mishmash of stylistic navel gazing that noodles along with little momentum. Phenomena feels like an attempt to mesh the two approaches, but it fails for a host of reasons (albeit entertainingly so). And, unfortunately, I've always felt that Argento post-1985 is a waste of time.

But yes, I'd like to see some greater dramatic meat brought to Suspiria in the remake, because that could really invigorate the material well beyond the simple visceral appeal of the original.

 

I thought maybe I meant Damien - Omen 2, but no, the scene with the nanny hanging herself is actually in The Omen, and it does seem to have been released first.
I was always convinced that nanny scene was a Hollywood restaging of Argento's opening double murder from Suspiria, minus the style and colour, but maybe not, I will have to investigate further.

 

It's mainly about grabbing an iconic title, so when fans mention Suspiria, or Texas Chainsaw or Dawn of the Dead or whatever being great, people then see the remake.