What’s good? It's Salim. Yesterday, Amazon Studios graced us with the second trailer to their upcoming horror film, Suspiria, a film that performs double duty as the remake to one of the seminal horror films in cinematic history by Italian legend Dario Argento and Luca Guadagnino’s follow-up to his acclaimed Oscar contender Call Me by Your Name. To some, the attempt to remake such a perfect masterpiece as Suspiria may feel like sacrilege. To yours truly, it has been one of my most anticipated movies ever since Guadagnino was announced as the director years ago (Much less so when the poor fit of David Gordon Green was attached) and seeing the cryptic first teaser months ago felt like manna after long speculation of how the results would be (including Armie Hammer going on record after seeing it calling the movie “evil”).
More on the Trailer After the Jump
Now, we have a trailer out with less implication behind its narrative (we can tell that there will be a thread regarding psychoanalysis), though still enough to warrant heavy speculation including one element that feels transparent.
Let’s dig into it.
YES
- It is obvious that Tilda Swinton would have returned to work with Luca again, but the casting of her as Madame Blanc still remains an on-point decision to make. In fact, one might say that most of the famous adult roles in Suspiria would be a great fit for her, but when it comes to an actor like Swinton, you give her the best.
- The most impressionable narrative development appears to be the remake’s focus on dancing and we’ve seen a couple of moments involving Dakota Johnson in very intense routines. It’s particularly great to see how Swinton in the role of Blanc adapts herself to that by making every motion we’ve seen out of the character feel sweeping and graceful until we see that hook thing shooting up in her hand.
- Really glad to see Jessica Harper returning here. Not only because of the ol’ tip of the hat that it gives to the original (in which she starred), but because she’s hardly shown up in much for the last 30 years, has she?
- Much disappointment has been expressed at how the remake won’t be copying the original’s garish and bright primary color tones, but I find the muted darkness of the design within the browned school (compared to out on the gray streets) lets sudden imposition of blood red shock us. It feels more deliberate and thoughtful in its use of color than the nevertheless gorgeous and unique indulgences of Argento’s film.
- It looks like not all of the movie will be those drained slate tones of the school, given a few shots in which a directly monstrous being (perhaps Helena Markos herself!) crawls in floor lit from above with cherry red.
- Those gnarled pressured cracking sounds, ugh. This promises to be a grotesque thing, even if they have only teased us thus far.
NO
- I have not really warmed to Chloë Grace Moretz as an actor, though I understand most people do not have this issue, and while I hope for the best with her performance here, the idea that she is indeed separated from the main action within the school means it’s all riding on her shoulders and those of her scene partner Lutz Ebersdorf.
- Looks way too dedicated to explaining the lore behind the strange goings on in the school and making horror movies soluble is a boring approach. You can’t disorient a viewer if they know exactly what’s going on.
- Knowing that an amount of the 152-minute runtime might be dedicated to narrative explication gives me an amount of pause regarding its extended runtime.
- I will admit a bit of doubt in regards to the monochrome style when the only major color to show up is red. In Luca we trust and I vehemently disagree with those who say this is monochromatic, but we can’t say the trailer has had very much payoff in that manner yet beyond the first few supernatural shimmers and a couple of garishly lit shots.
MAYBE SO
- The mention by name of the Three Mothers from the trilogy which Argento’s original is a part of leads one to suspect that this might very well involve the other two movies in that set – Inferno and Mother of Tears. I hope it resembles nothing like Mother of Tears.
- A certain actor’s Modus Operandi and the shape of another particular actor’s face looks very familiar on another character in the trailer (out of respect for the filmmakers’ insistence that the cast list is on the level, I won’t name them though I feel it’s obvious). And with that, one builds curiosity as to what else does this actor have planned for this film, with rumors surrounding that we will also see a portrayal of a very famous figure known for being in Berlin during the time of this movie’s Wall-era setting.
- Here’s hoping working with Luca twice now will have the same effect on Dakota Johnson’s public reception that working with Olivier Assayas has had on Kristen Stewart and working with David Cronenberg has had on Robert Pattinson: a respect for the actor unfairly withdrawn on account of her association with adaptations of critically mocked books (though mind you, she rocks it in the 50 Shades of Grey trilogy, y’all).
- It looks like that shot of the poor girl having her face contorted in the studio is a bit of the infamous clip that premiered at the San Diego Comic-Con witnessing someone’s body literally breaking in accordance to a dance elsewhere. I just hope it doesn’t look chintzy.
- I have no true response yet to Thom Yorke’s score (if we’ve actually heard bits of it in this trailer), which has big shoes to fill after Goblin’s iconic soundtrack. But I will remain optimistic because I love Yorke and I’m optimistic about this movie in general.
We’ll see how well it all comes to pass when Suspiria premieres at this year’s Venice International Film Festival on 1 September, followed by a limited release on 26 October expanding on 2 November. Are you excited about the film? Do you think its besmirching the legacy of a classic? Do you have no response to the original whatsoever? Has the two trailers affected your attitude in any way?