Suspíria: A Dança do Medo

Gone is the exaggerated colour palette, the elaborate set pieces, the nightmarish soundtrack & the no-nonsense premise of the original. In fact, Luca Guadagnino's Suspiria departs from everything that made Dario Argento's horror classic unique, and is a dull, dismal & divisive remake that's exhausting, frustrating & one hell of a slog.

Unlike the 1977 original, this one employs muted colours, shrivelled set design, slow-burn approach, hypnotic score & an unnecessarily drawn out narrative that piles one needless segment on top of another, resulting in an overlong flick that exceeds the original's length by a considerable margin, and will test the patience of most viewers.

Aiming for more than a straightforward supernatural horror, Guadagnino retains the themes of the original but is more interested in exploring the political unrest of the depicted timeline, not because the plot calls for it but because he wants to. While some will admire his choice to not rehash the same story, others will argue that his reach far exceeds his grasp here.

On the plus side, the eerie mood & foreboding aura never leaves the room, some kills are downright terrifying, the earthy tones do fit its depressing tone, that Volk dance sequence is truly a highlight, Make-up is top-notch, and Thom Yorke's score just fits. As for the performances, Tilda Swinton steals the show by taking the role of not one, not two but three different characters, and she excels at all of them.

Overall, Suspiria does retain the original's title but everything about it is different. More a homage than a full-fledged remake, it is an abstract re-imagination that attempts to tackle themes & elements that it could've done without, and comes stuffed with an unwarranted subplot that's detrimental to the viewing experience. In short, Luca Guadagnino's Suspiria is too long, too slow & too far up its own ass.

Need another remake/reboot/reimagining of a classic horror movie that was effective because of the timing of its release... and deserves to keep its legendary status for the rest of time." Then I saw that it was 2.5 hours, and I was like "OMG, what?!" Then I watched it, and I was like "OMG, what?!" I think I'm going to watch it again, because I wasn't paying attention a lot of the time. However, this is one of those remakes/reboots/reimaginings that I respect. Why? Because it takes the CONCEPT of the original, and spins everything about, swirls and twirls it, then flips it up into itself, turning into a completely faithful representation of the term "REIMAGINING". I respect SUSPIRIA 2018. Granted, some of the makeup effects were pretty bad (especially the "old man", which I don't really think was necessary; and the silly makeup for one of the "old ladies" in the final act, which was worse). It is a little long in the tooth. It tries perhaps a little too hard to be artsy-fartsy... But it grabbed me. It pressed its filthy, dirty fingers on my windpipe in parts, and gently squeezed with wrathful intimacy. I felt dirty, yet couldn't help but feel enthralled in parts.

I will say, though, that even if this movie was a complete FAILURE of a horror remake, I will gladly praise the fact that it tried to be its own thing. It wasn't a shameless ripoff. It really, truly IS a reimagining. We just don't get enough of those these days.

While I really liked the weirdness of the Original (you can't really put your finger on it and what it tried to tell us), this really steps up to the task. I know that just writing this or just the rating will have some fans of the Original riled up. Now I'm not trying to take anything away from your memories or your taste, so if you are reading on, I thank you for being open minded.

For anyone unaware of the original, you do not have to have seen it, to enjoy this. But you can watch both, because they differ on enough levels to make them both enticing and interesting to watch. Even a double will would be something that made sense. And whichever order you want to watch them. Though I think it would make sense to watch Argentos Suspiria first. We have different characters here, we have an amount violence and depicted visual explicit pain enducing scenes, that this is not for the faint of hearted. If you are squeamish, do not - I repeat: do NOT watch this! But if you stomach the visceral and painful moments (there are not that many and they are mixed well with the story), you will love the rest too.

Great storytelling and a weirdness that can hold up to that of the original. And really great acting to go along with everything.

I've seen the original and can tell that this remake goes one step further. While the old 'Suspiria' from 1977 has strong atmospheric suspense, his one has less of it, but becomes real bloody at the end. What drives me mad is the run time. 2 hours 31 minutes for a story that could be easily told in 1 hour 45 minutes. So I lost a lot of time for a mediocre story. I would have given even a worse rating, if it wouldn't get so gory shocking scenes at the end. That's the only point it can really score with - as a horror movie. The story is too long winded.

I cannot put my finger on it completely, but something is off with this movie and I don't like that I cannot give it a 9 since the acting was great. As always, Swinton can carry any movie single-handedly on her shoulders. And her doubling as the Doctor was unexpectedly good. Simply, I think the casting was great.

The writing, storytelling and maybe the editing seems to be decent but perhaps holding the film back a bit. So I'm unfamiliar with the historical backdrop of the film, but that's ok because I think there is enough gloom and doom feeling that I get the mood it's trying to set. But then all the flashbacks or sharp cuts to all these random pictures and scenes gets muddy. I get that maybe it was supposed to bring this elevated artistic thriller element but it failed because it was overused and just too random at times. The pacing was a bit slow as well or maybe it was the long runtime that made it feel like it was ongoing forever.

In all, I think it's a 6, but it could have been an easy 8 with at least better editing and shorter runtime.