Suspiria (1977) **1/2 and Suspiria (2018) ****

 Suspiria (1977) 

 

From Italian horror director Dario Argento comes “Suspiria.” Jessica Harper plays Suzy, an American dance student come to Germany to study at a prestigious academy. As beautiful dance students die one by one, Suzy discovers that the academy is home to a coven of witches.

Argento and his writing partner/lover, actress Daria Nicolodi (“Deep Red”), had a few inspirations for their story, including the works of Thomas De Quincey, a British essayist who wrote about his opium dreams. De Quincey imagined an analogue to the three Fates, which he termed the three Sorrows: "Mater Lacrymarum, Our Lady of Tears", "Mater Suspiriorum, Our Lady of Sighs", and "Mater Tenebrarum, Our Lady of Darkness". “Suspiria”, named for Our Lady of Sighs, barely touches on the concept, but Argento went on to develop it into a trilogy with the films “Inferno” (featuring Mater Tenebrarum) and “Mother of Tears,” with the idea being that these are 3 sister witches, who have lived for centuries in 3 different cities.

It's an intriguing concept, but Argento's directing style does not lend itself much to developing a narrative or a mythology. He focuses more on creating mood through cinematography, using Technicolor to create lush, surrealistic scenes bathed in red or blue. It adds up to a visually interesting movie, but the scenes drag on too long without really advancing the story, and there just isn't a whole lot of story there to begin with.

2.5 stars out of 5

 

Suspiria (2018) 

I was skeptical about watching a remake of a movie that I wasn't all that impressed by to begin with. 1977's “Suspiria”, by Dario Argento, was a tone poem in red and blue technicolor, without a lot to say. Fortunately, the 2018 remake takes the best pieces of the original and assembles them into something much more compelling.

Dakota Johnson plays Susie Bannion, an American dancer who travels to Berlin to study at a modern dance academy. Inspired by Madame Blanc (Tilda Swinton), the head instructor, Susie discovers new depths in her dancing. Things are unsettled in the studio, however, as they are in Berlin, itself. The story is set in the German Autumn of 1977, a restless time in Germany, marked by terrorist attacks by the leftist group known as the RAF. A member of the dance troupe (Chloe Grace Moritz) has gone missing, and everyone assumes her disappearance is related to her connection to the RAF. Her psychiatrist, Dr. Klemperer (also played by Tilda Swinton), however, comes to suspect that her rantings about a coven of witches may have some credence.

Directed by Luca Guadagnino (“Challengers”), this is a remake that surpasses the original in every way. First, while the story is about a dance studio, the 1977 film featured almost no dancing. The remake puts dance front and center, and poses it as a way of performing witchcraft. Plus, all the beautiful women in skimpy dance outfits help the 2.5 hour run-time go by painlessly. The film explores the themes of witchery, matriarchy, and rebirth much more fully than the original, which barely had a theme at all. The setting, a Germany broken by WWII and tearing itself even further apart, lends a richness and melancholy to the tale. Dakota Johnson looks great and carries the film well, but Tilda Swinton steals the show. She tempers her usual weirdo vibe by appearing relatively normal as the bewitching Madame Blanc, but then she tempers the normalcy by being unrecognizable as the male character, Dr. Klemperer and as Helena Markos, the coven's aged matron.

“Suspiria” is definitely not for everyone. The horror, the gore, the nudity, the modern dance, these will be off-putting for some, as will the film's length. If you like an art-house horror flick, and you aren't afraid to use your pause button for a bathroom/snack break, then this is one remake you will not want to miss.

4 stars out of 5