There’s something sinister going on in a renowned dance company in Luca Guadagnino’s horror film Suspiria, a remake of Dario Argentino’s 1977 film of the same name.
In the Amazon Studios production, Dakota Johnson stars as Susie, an aspiring dancer who joins a famous ballet school in Berlin, where a series of grisly murders take place. Tilda Swinton plays Madame Blanc, the artistic director of the school. The supporting cast includes Chloe Grace Moretz, Mia Goth and German psychoanalyst and actor Lutz Ebersdorf. The film also stars Jessica Harper, who had played the lead in the original. She plays a different character in the remake. Suspiria will be released on November 2.
Guadagnino’s last film was the Academy Award-winning Call Me By Your Name (2017).
In the 1977 classic, based on the Thomas De Quincey essay Suspiria de Profundis (Sighs from the Depths), when the heroine begins to investigate brutal murders in a German dance institute, she chances upon an occult conspiracy involving the school’s faculty.
Directed by Italian horror master Dario Argento, Suspiria was a commercial hit and has since become a cult favourite, noted for its colour-rich cinematography, production design and an unconventional soundtrack by the band Goblin.
In an interview with The Guardian last year, Guadagnino described his remake as “a homage to the incredible, powerful emotion I felt when I saw it [Argento’s film]”. The new film has been scripted by David Kajganich, who had developed the AMC horror series The Terror and has also worked on the 2019 theatrical adaptation of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. The background score is by Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke.
Limited-time offer: Big stories, small price. Keep independent media alive. Become a Scroll member today!
Our journalism is for everyone. But you can get special privileges by buying an annual Scroll Membership. Sign up today!