After dropping two hair-raising trailers — one wordless teaser and one nightmarish feature length — critics finally got their chance to view Luca Guadagnino's highly anticipated Suspiria update during this year's Venice Film Festival. The resulting reviews are polarized, to say the least.
Hailing from Amazon Studios, the movie serves as a remake of the ’70s Italian horror classic by Dario Argento. The narrative centers around an internationally-renowned dance company, its artistic director, a young aspiring dancer, a grieving psychologist, and the darkness that looms over them all. “Some will succumb to the nightmare," the official description reads. "Others will finally wake up.”
The project is helmed by Call Me By Your Name's director, Guadagnino, and stars Tilda Swinton, Mia Goth, Chloe Grace Moretz, Dakota Johnson — who, by the way, needed therapy after filming because the subject matter was so dark. Revisit the trailer up top, and then check the reviews below.
The Good: Provocative, complex, the 'ultimate' horror tribute.
David Ehrlich / indieWire'Suspiria' is a film of rare and unfettered madness, and it leaves behind a scalding message that's written in pain and blood: The future will be a nightmare if we can't take responsibility for the past.
Robbie Collin / Daily TelegraphSuspiria draws a complex, provocative line through faith, politics, dance and, yes, witchcraft: in all cases, a group of resolute like minds can birth something more powerful and dangerous than themselves.
John Bleasdale / CineVueGuadagnino directs the hell out of his Suspiria, heightening the sound design and using cuts that feel more like stabs. He wallows in the impressionistic weather - it only stops raining to start snowing - and gives a wonderful sense of place.
Joshua Rothkopf / Time OutTraditional horror fans won't be pleased: Almost transgressively, Guadagnino has deprioritized the shocks, even the fear. But in their place, he's pumped up the exotic strangeness and crafted a movie you can get lost in, which is the ultimate tribute.
The Meh: It's arty and smart but 'weirdly passionless.'
David Rooney / The Hollywood ReporterGuadagnino has made an ambitious homage, but it doesn't really benefit from its more intellectualized gaze, instead draining the stomach-churning thrills of great horror.
Own Gleiberman / VarietyBy the time it drags itself to the finish line, you may think, 'Okay, now we know what 'Suspiria' looks like as an art film. Can we please go back to when it was just a garishly flamboyant piece of bat-house trash?'
Peter Bradshaw / GuardianThere are smart moments of fear and subliminal shivers of disquiet, the dance sequences are good and of course Guadagnino could never be anything other than an intelligent film-maker. But this is a weirdly passionless film.
The No: Bland, silly, and fails to connect.
Stephanie Zacharek / TIME MagazineThis new Suspiria is bland, grisly, boring and silly. There is nothing poetic or erotic about it.
Alonso Duralde / TheWrapThe frights aren't frightening, the political subtext never connects with the rest of the movie, and even Guadagnino's generally unfailing visual sense isn't enough to put this over.
Suspiria hits theaters October 26, will you still be watching? Share your thoughts in the comments.
In other movie news, the final trailer for 'The Predator' is bloody as hell.
