It’s the Booze Talkin’, We should give the Suspiria remake a chance!

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

The word remake has become a bit of a bad sign for some. Many don’t want to see their favorite movies' remade, but frankly it’s a losing battle. Just about every movie from HALLOWEEN to PSYCHO to what ever other movie you loved as a kid has had the treatment. At this point it feels like everything is going to get an update, for better or worse. And one upcoming flick that is spooking a few Dario Argento fans out is Luca Guadagnino’s take on SUSPIRIA. The original film is a gruesome work of art, one that tends to make nearly every single list of great horror movies. The stylish feature is one that leans just enough on the bizarre yet still manages to conjure up brilliantly bloody, nightmarish images. And how many damn times can you ask, “Do we really need a remake?” The answer, of course, is no we don’t, but we are getting one anyways.

However, something stands out when it comes to what Luca is attempting to create. The cast is certainly intriguing; you have Dakota Johnson, Chloë Grace Moretz, Tilda Swinton, Renée Soutendijk and Jessica Harper – who of course headlined the original. Another positive is the director himself. The acclaimed filmmaker is having a terrific year, as his latest romantic drama CALL ME BY YOUR NAME is receiving a ton of praise. It’s also very likely that the film will gather up a few Academy Award nominations, especially for its stars, Armie Hammer and Timothée Chalamet. So why would a director with a solid background in arthouse cinema take on a horror remake?

Recently, we reported from an interview in The Guardian where Luca opened up about why he wanted to do the film. He claimed, “Every movie I make is a step inside my teenage dreams, and Suspiria is the most remarkably precise teenage megalomaniac dream I could have had. I saw the poster when I was 11 and then I saw the film when I was 14, and it hit me hard. I immediately started to dream about making my own version of it. So in a way it makes me smile when I hear people say, “How dare you remake Suspiria. Typical commerce-driven mentality.” I was just a boy who had seen a movie that made him what he became. So that’s how I am approaching it: a homage to the incredible, powerful emotion I felt when I saw it.”

As a massive fan of Dario’s original vision, I was turned off by the idea. And yet, with the talent involved, and the clear passion Luca has for the project, could this be special? One remake that I was intensely surprised by was another one that I absolutely dreaded: Franck Khalfoun’s MANIAC starring Elijah Wood. With all my fears proven warrantless, I happily loved it. The 2012 film stood out as a great way to “remake” a cult classic. Another solid example is the sequel/reboot/homage to THE TOWN THAT DREADED SUNDOWN from Alfonso Gomez-Rejon. While there are also way too many terrible remakes to mention, I feel like we may be unfairly judging SUSPIRIA because of that.

It’s not just what Luca Guadagnino had to say about the upcoming film, but it’s his past work that has me curious. This is not a filmmaker who follows a common path. His previous films like I AM LOVE and A BIGGER SPLASH – along with CALL ME BY YOUR NAME – are beautifully shot, lush and romantic. They are as far from the typical genre director as possible. And considering SUSPIRIA takes places at a prestigious ballet school, he may be exactly the person to make this work. You also really have to give him respect for bringing Jessica Harper back – that’s a huge draw for this fan. And as my man Mike Sprague said in his reporting, unless Luca comes in and steals our copies of the original, we will always have the original.

Maybe it’s the booze talkin’, but we need to give SUSPIRIA a chance. With his excellent feature CALL ME BY YOUR NAME, Guadagnino has proven to be quite the stylish filmmaker. And he is also not the obvious choice which is exciting. The craft he brings to more romantic features like I AM LOVE may prove to offer something original and fresh to the spooky ballet school. And if you are looking for a great cast, they have certainly assembled that. Let’s be clear, I’m not saying that this is going to be the a remake like THE FLY, INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS or THE THING. You know, a remake that is so good it stands equal to the original. However, I do feel that Luca may bring something truly creative and inspired to the project. Obviously, we will all have a better idea as we see more come out from the film, but at this point, I think we can be cautiously optimistic about what he will bring to it. Although is it just me, or would you all like to see Goblin return to update their incredible score?!