Calling Mike Campbell! Director Luca Guadagnino (Call Me By Your Name) is doing a grotesque and gnarly update to the 1977 Dario Argento Classic, featuring Dakota Johnson and Tilda Swinton.
OK, I’ll admit it, I didn’t think that anyone would be able to pull off an adaptation of the Dario Argento masterpiece Suspiria. Amazon films just released some footage from the movie at Cinema Con, that will be released through their Amazon Prime service. I was not familiar with Guadagnino, and even though he showed a real narrative deft touch with Oscar nominee Call Me By Your Name, nothing about him screamed “Horror Director. For my Scariest Things podcasting partner Mike Campbell, this is a remake of his #1 horror movie of all time. So, I will be curious to see what he thinks about this remake when it comes out.
Reports are that Guadagnino has opted to go darker and grittier, ditching the trademark primary colors of the original. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing, as Suspiria was lauded for its art direction (And should have been nominated for an Oscar!) The trademark music by Goblin is being traded in by none other than Tom Yorke of Radiohead, so expect a memorable soundtrack. As far as how the horror is going to play out, a great review by Scott Wampler at Birth.Movies.Death describes an absolutely horrifying sequence, that just might be the mind-blowing sequence required to get you excited for the movie:
Wampler writes:
“At first, the connection between these two scenes wasn’t clear, but soon enough it became evident that the routine being performed by Johnson was having an effect on the dancer in the mirrored room – as Johnson’s body swirled about the studio space, the dancer in the first room was tossed around like a rag doll. Soon enough, hideous, grey, tumor-like growths appeared underneath the flesh of her abdomen. Shrieking in pain, the dancer’s body was twisted and folded into a number of unnatural positions. In the second room, Swinton watched eagerly as Johnson continued to flit about the studio. Back to the mirrored room, and now the poor young lady’s face was stretching into unnatural shapes, a toothy rictus letting forth a guttural howl. Her body folded again and again before the dancer wet herself, graphically, right there onscreen, a thick stream of drool pouring from her mouth. Eventually, Johnson’s routine came to an end, and what was left in the other room was basically just a crumpled, leaking mess that used to be a human being.”
BBBLuuuurrrghhghghg! That sounds horrible! I want to see it! Needless to say, Guadagnino has his work cut out for him, but he has two fine actresses as his leads, and he has the pedigree for great storytelling, so I’m optimistic. A triple feature of Suspiria 1977, Black Swan and Suspiria 2017 may be in order. I’m sure Mike will come over and watch this with me…