Dario Argento's giallo/fairy-tale classic SUSPIRIA was released into Italian theaters on this day back in 1977. I guess it only stands to reason that today would be the day that news of the film's remake wrapping production would hit… While it is pretty cool to know the masterpiece was released today, the news of the remake has me a bit underwhelmed. I'm not against remakes. Far from it. I tend to welcome them. But SUSPIRIA might be a bit different.
I'm a fan of the cast for sure, witch (natch) boats stars Chloe Grace-Moretz (right on) Tilda Swinton (oh… that's great casting…), and Dakota Johnson. Yeah, the 50 SHADES OF GREY chick. Hurm. Oh, well, she was also in 21 JUMP STREET and THE SOCIAL NETWORK, so I guess I could become a fan. Especially if this flick ends up being more than, off the top of my head, another MARTYRS remake. Urgh and bleeck.
The original macabre masterpiece's synopsis goes:
"A young American ballet dancer who travels to a prestigious dance academy in Europe, only to discover it is something far more sinister and supernatural. She becomes increasingly terrified after a series of gruesome murders ensue and she slowly unravels the dark history of the academy."
I would have loved to have seen what David Gordon Green would have done with a remake/reboot/reshoe-ing, but Amazon Studios’ remake is instead coming to us from from Italian helmer Luca Guadagnino. Guadagnino's romance flick CALL ME BY YOUR NAME recently premiered at Sundance, and Chris Bumbray gave it 9/10, so that's a good sign too. I guess. Also, to be fair, the remake of SUSPIRIA has been a passion project for Guadagnino for some time.
If that helps you sleep at night…
Amazon picked up for distribution last year and is now heading to the European Film Market next week in Berlin for international sales. Oh, goodie. Still, I'm trying to stay optimistic here, so again with the good stuff: The Suspiria remake stars Tilda Swinton, Dakota Johnson, Chloe Grace-Moretz and Mia Goth, and was written by David Kajganich (INVASION). The original film was written by Argento himself and his (then) wife, and mother to Asia Argento, Daria Nicolodi.
