Suspiria Review

R: Disturbing content involving ritualistic violence, bloody images and graphic nudity, and for some language including sexual references

Amazon Studios, K Period Media, Frenesy Film Company, Videa, Mythology Entertainment, First Sun, Memo Films, Vega Baby

2 Hrs and 32 Minutes

Dir: Luca Guadagnino | Writer: David Kajganich

Cast: Dakota Johnson, Tilda Swinton, Mia Goth, Angela Winkler, Ingrid Caven, Elena Fokina, Sylvie Testud, Renée Soutendijk, Christine LeBoutte, Fabrizia Sacchi, Małgosia Bela, Jessica Harper, Chloë Grace Moretz

Young American dancer Susie Bannion arrives in 1970s Berlin to audition for the world-renowned Helena Markos Dance Company, stunning the troupe’s famed choreographer, Madame Blanc, with her raw talent. When she vaults to the role of lead dancer, Olga, the previous lead, breaks down and accuses the company’s female directors of being witches. As rehearsals intensify for the final performance of the company’s signature piece, Susie and Madame Blanc grow strangely close, suggesting that Susie’s purpose in the company goes beyond merely dancing. Meanwhile, an inquisitive psychotherapist trying to uncover the company’s dark secrets enlists the help of another dancer, who probes the depths of the studio’s hidden underground chambers, where horrific discoveries await.

I’m so glad I didn’t review this right away because it was three weeks after viewing that I learned how much work Tilda Swinton put in for this movie in accounts of makeup. She doesn’t play just one or two characters, but THREE who all look and sound distinctively different. There is a character named Jozef Klemperer who is a psychiatrist whose role plays a larger part of the narrative and throughout the entire film….

I thought it was actually an 82-year-old German male portraying him. They even credit him (or her, I guess) as Lutz Ebersdorf. But nope. It’s Tilda fricking Swinton. The delay of my knowledge of Swinton transforming herself into an 82-year-old man is an indicator of how effective the makeup is in this film. Without a doubt, this is surely bound to snatch each and every award for best hair & makeup from now until the next Academy Awards. In a New York Times article Swinton admitted that, not only did she write the IMDB for Lutz Ebersdorf, but also requested that the makeup department provided her with a prosthetic penis. If that’s not dedication, I don’t know what is.

If there is anything that “Suspiria” is fueled by, it is the power of DANCE in the most impressive ways imaginable! The narrative is set in this dance academy where all of the ritualistic movements are just so hypnotic to watch, especially Dakota Johnson’s. Seriously, how many dance classes did Dakota Johnson take for this? She’s so good! If we see Dakota Johnson appear on “Dancing with the Stars” in the future as a contestant, this movie is to thank for that.

When the dancing sequences happen as juxtapositions to the horror elements, they’re effectively executed. If there is anything that warrants the price of admission it is those sequences. If one person is having a solo dance moment, someone else is getting thrown around like a rag doll. Many of the shots are disturbing, intense, and bone-chilling [emphasis on bone]. I’m telling you, one woman’s dance is another woman’s torture and potential death. Director Luca Guadagnino does a great job capturing the disturbing imagery that gives this remake it’s own identity. I’m so happy that Guadagnino went from a film where a boy fucks a peach to German witches dancing. Talk about expressing range.  

God, I wanted to love this so bad… so damn bad.

Let me start off by saying (well, screaming because nobody seems to get it) something which is also relative to a lot of the releases that have come out this fall:

THERE IS NO REASON FOR “SUSPIRIA” 2018 TO BE TWO HOURS AND THIRTY MINUTES LONG!

While the film has a distinct identity that can be separated from the original, it shouldn’t have been as padded out as it was. The narrative is divided into eight acts similar to a stage play and it feels like it. In terms of pacing, the movie runs at two speeds: either way too fast or way too slow, with the latter being prominent. While the film manages to keep you engaged and intrigued all the way through, there really isn’t much going on in many of the scenes. A lot of the scenes run too slow and drag on for much longer than necessary. The momentum of suspense often vanishes because of what little goes on. The original 1978 film was 93 minutes which means it was short, sweet, and got straight to the point. This is not an epic story by any stretch and even when it attempts to deliver that, it’s nonsensical. When you encroach on three hours for your running time, you’re walking the line of pretension. When the film actually engages you it keeps you on your toes, but not for long, especially when the script is also part of the issue.

This film has to be the most baffling, quotable thing I’ve seen this year. Sometimes strong lines are delivered, but when the characters lash out, they say the most ridiculous things that I don’t think any person would ever say. I get it. “Suspiria” is an odd movie so it might as well have dialogue to match, but that dialogue is too stupidly weird.

In the film’s prologue Chloe Grace Moretz’s character says (and I quote), “They'll hollow me out and eat my cunt on a plate.”

Or when Dakota Johnson’s character Susie delivers a captivating solo dance performance, she says, “I think it felt like what it must feel like to fuck.” Blanc says “Do you mean fuck a man?” and she replies “I was thinking of an animal.” I get that it’s supposed to indicate what the power given to Susie felt like, but also:

Another reason why this film didn’t work for me was the lack of character and focus. The film primarily centers on Susie, an American girl with overwhelming innocence and positive energy, who goes to Berlin to be a part of this dance company but becomes a pawn for some witches’ scheme. The witches run the place. Straight up, relatively simple. Unfortunately, the film derails often to tell a larger story that never seems to work.

There are subplots that add nothing of substance to the main story and it feels as if they’re only present to express what events were occuring during the film’s time setting. For a film about witches owning a dance company, these subplots are so out of place. All they do is add to the running time. Because of this, the central characters aren’t fully fleshed and you don’t develop any attachments towards them. At a certain point, there is supposed to be a developed relationship between Johnson’s Susie and Swinton’s Blanc but you don’t feel anything towards them, even though it’s the entire purpose of the climax. Johnson does a fine job but Susie is not a complex, enticing character. Swinton is the one who is actively running the show, primarily because she’s playing three different characters. She’s practically the Sarah Paulson to Luca Guadagnino’s Ryan Murphy.

The only relationship that is established and that you resonate with is Mia Goth’s Sara who shares a great chemistry with Susie. Sara is Susie’s roommate and her only friend and they have a cute friendship that is actually fleshed out. They both genuinely care about each other and as the story progresses the only character you care for is Sara.

By the way, the filmmaking quality is really unbalanced. A lot of the shot composition, in my opinion, is incredibly awkward. There is often poor usage of quick zoom as if you were watching the cinematographer emulate Wes Anderson. Other shots seem amateurish, for when they zoom in on a character from an odd position, it’s cut right then and there so that it seems more like an on-the-spot demand than anything on a shot list. When it gets to dance sequences or notable highlights of the story, the cinematography is amazing and some of the camerawork is pretty good, but most of the time, it’s bland and flat.

Lastly, the film is loud. It’s similar to watching a Michael Bay movie. Loud gasping, loud cackling, people screaming in pain and agony. The third act is just a lot of screaming and it nearly gives you an aneurysm. By the time the climax hits (which is pretty bonkers), I was just looking at my phone thinking:

“Suspiria” is ambitious but, due to the lack of substance in its story and poor execution in structure and filmmaking, this intentionally deviant remake is a kick ball change of disappointment.

Rating: 2/5 | 47%

Super Scene: Mother Suspiriorum