Suspiria was a horror masterpiece twice over

Making remakes can be difficult. When trying to create a fresh, contemporary take on an existing piece of material, there’s a risk in alienating the audience from the first film and defeating the very purpose of remaking a movie: profiting from a known commodity.

One of the most creatively successful remakes of the last few years is Luca Guadagnino’s 2018 version of Suspiria. Where Dario Argento’s original film was a colorful, crowd-pleasing thriller, Guadagnino’s movie is contemplative, somber, gray, and commanded by three separate Tilda Swinton performances.

On this week’s Galaxy Brains, Jonah Ray and I are joined by All Elite Wrestling star Ruby SohoWe’d love to discuss one of the greatest remakes ever.

The conversation is edited, as always to be less bizarre

Dave Yes. The 2018 film has a lot to offer. One thing I love about it is the Tanz Dance Academy coven made up of women. They just sit there smoking cigarettes, reading newspapers all day, and then they have serious discussions about black magic. It’s very domestic.

Jonah: The cleanup after the film, which includes the washing of blood and bodies, is also important. It’s just so matter of fact. It’s like, Get ready, there are other crap we have to do!

Ruby Soho: Super-nonchalant

Dave You bet. There’s almost a collective kind of utopian vibe to how they live together. They all get along and help each other. We wash each other’s dishes, we go to the movies together, we eat dinner together. Black magic is also a part of our lives. This is very interesting. You pointed out that there are very few male characters in the movie. Tilda Swinton plays Dr. Klemperer, the only male major character.

Ruby Soho: You guys need to get this. When I saw the remake, I didn’t know that that was Tilda Swinton. So when I went to see the psychiatrist, I realized that the make-up was so perfect that it was hard for anyone else to tell that this wasn’t the real man. There was just so much makeup. You had to turn your head. This actor is who?Is this you? After that, I began my quest to discover who he was. But, I couldn’t find him. Then, I saw the news articles. Even though it has nothing to do the movie, I’ll still say this on podcasts. I will still find a way to bring it up because it’s the most amazing Easter egg thing that I have ever heard. I was blown away by it.

Dave In the previous episode, we mentioned that they tried to persuade her to play Dr. Klemperer in press. The whole thing was about killing that fake actor. It would be his only and first film role. And of course, I’m not trying to brag by saying that I knew it was Tilda.

Ruby Soho: Sounds like a brag to me, guys, I don’t know.

Dave It’s not true. I’m one of the most humble people in the world, right, Jonah? It’s right. He took out. He said “No”. This is, undoubtedly, my favorite part of the film. Also, she plays Mother Marcos.

Ruby Soho: This is what I discovered today.

Dave It’s incredible the performance that she gives as all three characters, including the grossest, most deformed monster at the end. And of course, there’s this really interesting, complex Madame Blanc in the rest of the movie. There’s a great line with her and Dakota Johnson’s character. They’re talking about The Dance, and Susie said something about it being sexual in a way and Madame Blanc says, “Were you thinking about boys?” And she says, “No, I was thinking about animals.”

Und ich war wie, This is both gross, and I understand exactly what she’s saying. It is not about caring about sexuality or boys. This is a movie about women and women’s issues, women working together as a collective and how women’s psychology is something that we don’t explore in movies. Do you feel like there’s any movie in your filmgoing history that comes close to this in terms of telling these kinds of women’s stories accurately?

Ruby Soho: It’s not one I know of, as I only saw the movie three months ago. It was actually quite recent. The thing that I love about just the line that you said is it’s more primal, like animalistic instead of like the sexual desire that’s now inherently been like a marketable thing with women. It’s become more, I guess dirty in a way. But in this movie, it’s so much more empowering, like this primal, animalistic, mother-like energy that she’s possessing with The Dance that I really like.

I also noticed, and maybe it’s not meant to be this way, but like in the original, the woman who plays the headmistress, the difference in their energy. As a woman, I find it strange that successful women are often portrayed immediately as selfish bitches when they are happy. It’s almost as if they must be the tyrant women these women fear. But Madame Blanc’s success and how she presents herself is very maternal and she carries herself in a way that you’re like, these girls aren’t afraid of her, they just admire her and they want to be around her and they want them to care about her, to care about them. There are so many subtle things that maybe you don’t pick up on that I think are so powerful within the context of women in film. I think it’s just really, really well done. It’s a great movie.

#Suspiria#horror