Overview
GIVE YOUR SOUL TO THE DANCE.
A darkness swirls at the center of a world-renowned dance company, one that will engulf the troupe’s artistic director, an ambitious young dancer and a grieving psychotherapist. Some will succumb to the nightmare, others will finally wake up.
Review
Horror movies about witches are unlikely to rate very high with me. Horror movies centered around dance are not my cup of tea. So a movie about dancing witches is a hail mary. But movies with Mia Goth are a must-watch. Now you see my conundrum here. In retrospect, adding the remake of Suspiria to my watch list was, shall we say, a hail Mia!
Also, adding to the doomed rating of this movie, I forgot to mention that I’m not a big fan of Argento’s original Suspiria (1977). But I do admire Argento’s original film, particularly the nerve-jangling soundtrack by Goblin. The beautifully shot original is a classic to many, but I ended up not really caring much for either film as a whole.
What I did like about the 2018 remake of Suspiria is that is really does create new grounds from the original. There is more about the instructors, and I just felt more connected to the main characters portrayed by the actresses, especially Mia Goth, Tilda Swinton and Dakota Johnson. I also appreciated the more visceral scenes, especially the dance scene where Olga is dismantled, twisted and broken rather violently. This scene was well coordinated and brought about the only real horror (for me) in the entire film.
Thom Yorke of Radiohead composed the soundtrack and, although I do like Radiohead, I just felt it was nowhere near the genius of the original’s score. Also the cinematography in the new film was good, but not groundbreaking like Argento’s version. By far my biggest deduction from the remake is its run time. The remake of Suspiria did not need to be 150 minutes long! The fixation on the psychotherapist and his wife just seemed a bit of a dilution from the main plot. Along with this, there were some other lagging moments in the story that I felt could have been tightened.
But it was the worth the watch. Mia was amazing!
Rating: ★★½ (out of 5)
