Luca Guadagnino’s remake of Suspiria heads to theaters in November, but the praise for the film has already started at high levels. While a horror remake is nothing new, it isn’t always something that draws in a director with the critical track record of Guadagnino. And while the thoughts about any remake, especially one based on a legendary horror film from beloved director Dario Argento, are mixed, the latest reports might boost anticipation for the film.
According to a new chat in La Repubblica (Via SlashFilm), Guadagnino talks about showing the film to Quentin Tarantino and his emotional response at the end:
“I showed it to Quentin Tarantino. We’ve been friends since our jury duty at the Venice Film Festival. I was nervous but eager to hear his advice. We saw it at his place and his reaction warmed me. He was enthusiastic about it, in the end he was crying and hugged me. Because it’s a horror movie but also a melodrama, my goal was to make you look at the horror without being able to take [your eyes off the screen] because you’re captivated by the characters. Amazon is very happy.”
The film is being distributed by Amazon Studios and stars Tilda Swinton, Dakota Johnson, Mia Goth, and Chloë Grace Moretz, following a similar plot to the original with a series of murders and supernatural mischief at a dance academy — in Berlin this time as opposed to New York. How close it will follow the original is unclear, but it does carry a different look according to the trailer.
One thing for certain according to Moretz is that it might be more reminiscent of Stanley Kubrick than Argento according to Indiewire:
“This is a really big statement, but this is the closest to modern Stanley Kubrick I‘ve ever seen,” Moretz said at an event during the Provincetown Film Festival earlier this month. “You’re put into a world, which I can only describe it as being like ‘The Shining’ in a lot of ways, where you’re just encompassed in a filmmaker’s brain and you’re just implanted in there, and there’s nothing like it that you will ever see.”
If you’ve never seen Suspiria or anything from Argento, it is worth your time, especially with today’s art-house horror scene delivering every time. He’s owed a lot of debt for some of today’s successful — and original — horror films. And the fact that the remake looks to be successful and to try to take its own path is promising, at least at some level.
