Suspiria 2018
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(Trying to avoid major spoilers)
I thought the trailers looked interesting and although fearing the worst i thought sod it i'll check it out.
Obviously there wasn't going to be an attempt to recreate the atmosphere, but given the arty direction it seemed to be going for i was interested to see what the director would do with the basic premise.
Well after watching it i was slightly perplexed, not really sure who the film was aimed at, for the most part it's a very well made slow burn arthouse film, cinematography is really well done and there is a thread of unease running throughout that is quite palpable, beginning with a guttural death rattle in the first scene that mutates into heavy breathing and sighs, throughout many scenes in the dance academy where an underlying feeling of despair and unease lingers.
This was the first thing that struck me with the film, the soundtrack is used very effectively but in a slow kind of lingering way that is the opposite to Argento's original. Thom Yorke's soundtrack when it appears was in moments very good, then at others seemed to be out of place, this is my favourite piece
which in some way has a undercurrent of Goblin, with it's discordant hypnotic feel that builds up to an anxious final drone.
Then in opposition to the slow burn there are moments that are filled with bone crunching nastiness, nightmarish dreams that are interesting (but slightly generic for a modern horror film) and a finale that throws taste to the wall and descends into a ritualistic b-movie bloodbath, closer to a insane feverish version of the finale in Mother of Tears.
So there is a lot of stuff i liked in the film, the dance academy still has art deco overtones, with floor patterns and decorated handrails on the staircases etc that seemed to nod to the original in design but seem a bit more subdued.
The dance scenes i found interesting and well shot, often being used parallel with a death scene, they are used in a sort of ritualistic manner by the coven as if weaving spells, and this is something i liked as it reflects the use of dance in voodoo and pagan religion etc.
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Then we come to the bad parts, while Tilda Swinton is very good in her numerous roles, i think playing the male psychoanalyst was a step too far, she plays the character well but knowing she is under prosthetics for this make's for a very large elephant in the room that is distracting.
Dakota does fine with the dancing and is generally good but she just doesn't have the power when needed in certain scenes.
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The film uses the backdrop of Berlin 1977, and draws in elements of history, but to me this didn't really add much to the film.
This is also the problem with the Psychoanalysts story in general, it takes up too much of the film and doesn't really amount to much in the end.
it's nice to see Jessica harper crop up in a cameo, she is good while onscreen but i would have liked to have seen her as part of the coven myself.
The film is focused generally on the female psyche and viewpoint, which i felt was fine, when you consider the original men don't play much of a part, so i am fine with this but actually felt the focus of the film should have been just that, centred around the coven and the newcomer without the outside world distractions.
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If pared down to the central ideas like the original this would have been a really strong remake i feel, and taking a good half an hours worth of subplot away would have made for a much tighter and better film.
As it is the film is meandering to the point of distraction, it just tries to do too much and is straining for respectability, when it actually would have worked better if it just went for the jugular.
So all in all a mixed bag, interesting but frustrating, good atmosphere but not enough genuine scares.
A film that has underlying themes and moments that link it to the original, but one that has to be viewed as a separate entity to appreciate it for what it is.
I would say also that i've been thinking about it alot since i watched it, to me that is always a good sign, i don't think it's a film that you can watch and just say "that was shit" and dismiss, it's definitely interesting and if you can put aside reservations and attachments to the original you might get something out of it.
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It's a long film and although i was tempted to go out for a cigarette halfway through i never did, so that must say something.
7/10
