Suspiria

You might hate me for this review or you might not… you tell me, but it's tough to admit that I liked the remake better than the original film. And why was Dario Argento's movie a miss? Let me break down the disaster. Both my partner and I had yet to watch “Suspiria”, and how on earth were we going to watch the remake without having seen the original? Exactly like that, we started “Suspiria” (1977) to get an idea of what it was all about. I had watched videos, read reviews, and heard it over and over again, so it felt like a step toward getting that thorn out of my side. Now… what a huge disappointment. It had been presented to me as one of the cinematic landmarks that redefined modern horror aesthetics, and while I don't deny that its influence helped shape the feature films we enjoy so much today, it just didn't hook me. So when I ventured into “Suspiria” (2018), I felt like it arrived at just the right time. The plot is the same. It follows the typical American girl who travels to Europe to study dance, and unlike Argento's protagonist, this girl actually meets the dancing quota. By comparison, we have two similar concepts bound by the strange behavior of the vice-principal and the "Rottenmeier" instructor, among other witches who form the coven as a sinister female clan. The characters of Susie, Sara, and Madame Blanc have much more psychological weight and dialogue that reveals a more intimate knowledge of what is happening in the Academy. The space speaks for itself; we don't need the characters to tell us something bad is going on, nor do we need Miguel Bosé wandering around without any logical purpose. There is a mishmash of crazy women, a great interplay with the unsettling atmosphere, and the muted grey tones set the tension perfectly—and yet, we must highlight the body horror even more. Can a scene be rewatched over and over? I feel sorry for Olga, but using dance to break bones had a lot to do with my decision to give it a good rating, along with everything surrounding Sara Simms, Madame Blanc's strange scruples, and Susie's deification upon revealing herself as Mater Suspiriorum. Altogether, it made for a darker, less flamboyant, and far more terrifying Suspiria.