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Suspiria (2018)

Started by Swoz_MK, June 04, 2018, 03:32:03 PM

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greenman

Better yet why wasn't Peter Strickland hired to do it?

Z

Quote from: Z on June 05, 2018, 01:22:46 PM
apiachatong weersathul
apichatpong weerasethakul

Fuck it, I was close enough!

zomgmouse

Suspiria is my favourite horror film so if I do make myself watch this it'll be out of spite or curiosity. I had heard this was going to change stuff which would at least be interesting but apparently it doesn't? What an arrogant vanity project. I usually enjoy self-indulgence but not when it's so pompous.

gatchamandave

Quote from: Paaaaul on June 05, 2018, 06:43:44 PM
I re-watched Phenomena last night, and I'm now watching the making-of film.
I like it, but it really does feel like a remake of Suspiria itself. Watching a load of Argento in a short time reveals just how little variation there is in his stories.

Which ones have you watched ?

Paaaaul

Quote from: gatchamandave on June 13, 2018, 05:41:29 PM
Which ones have you watched ?
Suspiria
Phenomena
Inferno
Tenebrae
Four Flies On Grey Velvet
Deep Red

bushwick

I'll watch this out of curiosity too but seems a really weird choice all round. The original is such a singular, dreamlike experience the only directors I'd like to see remake it are probably Gaspare Noe or Ken Russell if he was alive, that'd be a laugh.

Would be much more interested in remakes of Argento's non-supernatural giallo, if you have to have remakes. Deep Red or TBWTCP maybe done by the Bone Tomahawk guy, or Eli Roth to really take the piss (I like him tbf, makes entertaining films). I've not bothered with many of the recent-ish horror remakes - Maniac was ok but pretty forgettable.

Quote from: bushwick on June 15, 2018, 06:03:51 PM
I'll watch this out of curiosity too but seems a really weird choice all round. The original is such a singular, dreamlike experience the only directors I'd like to see remake it are probably Gaspare Noe or Ken Russell if he was alive, that'd be a laugh.



Have you heard about Noes new film he's got coming out soon? Doesnt sound too far off!

gatchamandave

Quote from: Paaaaul on June 13, 2018, 05:50:21 PM
Suspiria
Phenomena
Inferno
Tenebrae
Four Flies On Grey Velvet
Deep Red

So you've probably read tons of articles telling you those are his best, yeah ?

Thing is that most Italian giallo films are very much of a muchness - none of them are particularly interesting for their plots. It's the difference in style between one director and another that makes it interesting, or the style of an individual director as it evolves from one movie to another.

Now me, I actually may be one of the few madmen who prefers his later, dafter movies. I find Deep Red a chore and Mother of Tears a whacky, albeit horribly misogynistic, delight. Dracula has to be seen to be believed.

Thing is, I can see what you are saying, but don't sweat it. I'm interested to know where you find them wanting.

Your list splits in two exactly - the first three are supernatural thrillers that push your suspension of disbelief, the latter three variations on the murder-mystery thriller. There is to my mind one failure in each category, because he pushed things too far. If it helps, keep in mind that you aren't always supposed to find Argento's protagonists likeable, let alone heroic.

Paaaaul

Quote from: gatchamandave on June 20, 2018, 08:27:29 PM
So you've probably read tons of articles telling you those are his best, yeah ?

Thing is that most Italian giallo films are very much of a muchness - none of them are particularly interesting for their plots. It's the difference in style between one director and another that makes it interesting, or the style of an individual director as it evolves from one movie to another.

Now me, I actually may be one of the few madmen who prefers his later, dafter movies. I find Deep Red a chore and Mother of Tears a whacky, albeit horribly misogynistic, delight. Dracula has to be seen to be believed.

Thing is, I can see what you are saying, but don't sweat it. I'm interested to know where you find them wanting.

Your list splits in two exactly - the first three are supernatural thrillers that push your suspension of disbelief, the latter three variations on the murder-mystery thriller. There is to my mind one failure in each category, because he pushed things too far. If it helps, keep in mind that you aren't always supposed to find Argento's protagonists likeable, let alone heroic.

Oh, I get all that. I enjoy his films for what they are. He's a very imaginative visual director and I will be checking out more in the future. As generic as the stories are, they don't really matter. They're just a vector for the visuals and set pieces.

I watched that lot because they're the easiest ones to get on Bluray in the UK.

zomgmouse

The Bird with the Crystal Plumage is way alright too

DukeDeMondo

#40
Two and a half hours long, by the talk. 152 minutes. I dunno, if it needs to be that length then that's the length it needs to be, but it's rare that something goes very far beyond the two hour mark because it's just got so much of worth going on and so much of worth to say. More often it's the case that it could have shut its face forty minutes earlier and been all the better for it.

But, we'll see.

Bad Ambassador

There's a reason why comedies and horrors are almost never over two hours. They work on more superficial reactions, rather than emotional investment, so they tire the audience out quicker.

CMBYN felt quite poorly judged, so he's got form for strange errors of judgement.

popcorn

If your film is over two hours long and you screen it to an audience of 250 people and no one thought it went on a bit, then you're allowed. Otherwise, the scissors with you.

lipsink

#43
Anyone seen this yet? Saw it Friday. Sure, it doesn't all work and it's definitely too long but there's a lot to like about it too. The desaturated, grey 1970s look of the film is great and quite reminiscent of something like Don't Look Now. Tilda Swinton is fantastic (in all her roles) and Thom Yorke's soundtrack is breathtaking in places.

There is some fucking bonkers moments in it and just when I thought the film had jumped the shark it utterly won me back. I may go see it again. It has that same feeling as 'Call Me By Your Name' of getting under your skin (but in a more horror way) and making you think about it for days after.

DukeDeMondo

I went into it expecting to really, really dislike it, and I came away from it thinking it's probably my second favourite film of the year. I absolutely fucking loved it. It throws the full of its guts and everything in them at the wall, and so what if it doesn't all stick, or if some of its notions are more convincing maybe than others. The whole experience was utterly exhilarating. It was also far, far closer in spirit to the orginal than I had been led to believe - even though certain of the quieter, creepier passages felt more indebted to Maya Deren or someone like this than Dario Argento - and it engages with it in ways that I found fascinating and compelling far more often than not. It was just fucking awesome most of the time, is all there is to it. What a lot of people seemed to get from Mandy, I got from this.

Loved the daft old bloody stupid thing to bits.

chveik

Quote from: DukeDeMondo on November 19, 2018, 11:56:40 PM
enthusiastic post

I might go and see this then. Is the soundtrack reminiscent of the old giallo sountracks (possibly my favourite kind of music)? I'm really not a Thom Yorke aficionado.
What's you favourite film of the year btw?

Sin Agog

Heard this was more like Black Swan than a giallo.  Which actually doesn't sound too bad.  There are three kinds of horror remakes, and only one of them isn't an exercise in futility: Gus Van Sant/Psycho, 2006 Hills Have Eyes, and The Thing/Fly-style riffs on a theme.  Sounds like this might be in the latter category

lipsink

Quote from: chveik on November 20, 2018, 02:47:43 AM
I might go and see this then. Is the soundtrack reminiscent of the old giallo sountracks (possibly my favourite kind of music)? I'm really not a Thom Yorke aficionado.

Nah, it's more reminiscent of Krautrock from the era when the film is set (and when the original came out).

kidsick5000

#48
This has only just come out round my way, and even then, only for a short run film festival.
Was really looking forward to it.

It's certainly memorable. We're not even at the half-way point of January and this could well be the worst film I will see all year.
This was 'close to walking out' bad.
It isn't the performances. It isn't the music.
It's a mess that clearly feels it's telling an important message - why else be 2.5 hours long?
Quite artless, filmed with no real style, some shockingly poor effects choices, and a multitude of scenes appear to be included for the sake of inclusion, or indeed, purely to say "aaaah, do you see".
It is excruciating.



Small Man Big Horse

If you'd only waited one more day you could have saved money and downloaded it as it's just leaked. I'm tempted to watch it as I often have similar reactions to films as the good Duke above, but you do make it sound pretty damn shitty. Gah, it's days like this that I really miss smoking weed, I could happily watch bad movies back then.

kidsick5000

Quote from: Small Man Big Horse on January 12, 2019, 07:23:09 PM
If you'd only waited one more day you could have saved money and downloaded it as it's just leaked. I'm tempted to watch it as I often have similar reactions to films as the good Duke above, but you do make it sound pretty damn shitty. Gah, it's days like this that I really miss smoking weed, I could happily watch bad movies back then.

I was, like many others, wowed by the trailer. I felt it deserved the cinema treatment. By the speed at which the audience left, I wasn't alone in not liking it

Puce Moment

Fuck sakes - for so many reasons I missed this in the cinema and feel annoyed enough to not watch it on download, but to wait until a local arthouse decides to show it randomly. I think the original Suspiria is a very different film on the small screen, and its shonkiness benefits from projection to highlight the lush set designs.

I don't think I can stop myself watching the downloaded version......

Puce Moment

This is fucking great, btw.

Noodle Lizard

I reckoned it poor, but yet another case of a remake probably faring better had it not been a remake.

Puce Moment

I dunno - a film about power struggles in a witches coven, set during the RAF events of late 70s Germany, is an intriguing pitch. The climax scene is rather daft but I loved all the 70s snap zooms, music and the naturalistic scenes with all the matrons eating food discussing diabolical plans.

I really did not mind the amount of theme thrown at this, and I respected its aspirations. I don't have much love for this Director and find his films off-puttingly bourgeois, but Suspiria blew me away.

kidsick5000

Quote from: Puce Moment on February 18, 2019, 02:13:01 PM
I dunno - a film about power struggles in a witches coven, set during the RAF events of late 70s Germany, is an intriguing pitch. The climax scene is rather daft but I loved all the 70s snap zooms, music and the naturalistic scenes with all the matrons eating food discussing diabolical plans.

I really did not mind the amount of theme thrown at this, and I respected its aspirations. I don't have much love for this Director and find his films off-puttingly bourgeois, but Suspiria blew me away.

I do like how divisive this film is. It's a real love/hate film.

Custard

Finally saw this, and I'm also in the "it's very good" camp.

Tons of atmosphere, nails the late 60's/early 70's vibe it's going for, and I thought it was really beautifully directed. It looks bloody lovely

Thought the cast were very good, though having Tilda Swinton play three different characters was a bit silly and distracting, for me. And the last third gets a bit daft, though I did end up enjoying it regardless.

Great soundtrack from Thom Yorke, and I think overall the film is different enough from the original to justify its existence on a creative level.

The 2.5 hours flew by for me, though I can understand the calls for some of it to be trimmed down or cut out entirely. No horror needs to be that long

Jessica Harper has aged well. Dakota Johnson has a banging bod. Chloe Grace Moretz could've been in it more. The dance scenes are both unnerving and really well done. The effects in the last third looked a bit cheapo.

All in all, I thought it were very good

4 buns

Chriddof

Quote from: Shameless Custard on March 18, 2019, 12:16:33 PM
It looks bloody lovely

I've yet to see this, so I can't really comment on the actual story and all that, but the visual look is one of the main stumbling points I have with this. It's all about context for me - that muddy red brown-ish palette that appears to dominate the film certainly looks different compared to the original, but if you compare it instead to everything else at the cinema these days it fits right in. There seems to be this weird aversion to having more than around two colours in films now, and there's an increasing trend of people not lighting scenes properly (especially dark ones). When you take the original and stack it up against modern films - like, almost anything from a blillion dollar superhero flick to some art movies - the lurid Technicolor look really leaps out at you, and it looks so much more beautiful than most stuff nowadays. So many movies look like dank bleak piles of shit now, and the fact that this particular remake does this feels like an insult of some kind. Basically, I miss colour in films!

(Also what I've seen of the dance sequence at the end seems tailor made for a very bad French & Saunders movie spoof.)

Puce Moment

Quote from: Chriddof on March 22, 2019, 01:57:38 PM
I've yet to see this, so I can't really comment on the actual story and all that, but the visual look is one of the main stumbling points I have with this. It's all about context for me - that muddy red brown-ish palette that appears to dominate the film certainly looks different compared to the original, but if you compare it instead to everything else at the cinema these days it fits right in. There seems to be this weird aversion to having more than around two colours in films now, and there's an increasing trend of people not lighting scenes properly (especially dark ones). When you take the original and stack it up against modern films - like, almost anything from a blillion dollar superhero flick to some art movies - the lurid Technicolor look really leaps out at you, and it looks so much more beautiful than most stuff nowadays. So many movies look like dank bleak piles of shit now, and the fact that this particular remake does this feels like an insult of some kind. Basically, I miss colour in films!

(Also what I've seen of the dance sequence at the end seems tailor made for a very bad French & Saunders movie spoof.)

Great post! And really, the only dissenting opinion (in terms of comparative viewpoint) that I can think of that has some validity. I am relieved that the film was not Argento-esque in any way, and that the director genuinely tried to re-position and re-present this story. But yes, much of the direction in the first half is familiar and rather zeitgeisty (and may not age well).

Viero_Berlotti

Finally caught up with this.

Frustrated really. I thought Guadagnino came very close to creating something that was better than the original (which as much as I love it, has its flaws).

The setting, the acting, the use of choreography as a centre piece, the sfx it all clicked in the first two thirds. I thought Johnson and Swinton as leads were very watchable. The time flew by.

Then the final reel and Guadagnino fucked it. CGI blood explosions? Get tae fuck. Stupid devil creature in a rubber suit? Get tae fuck.

It felt like that end sequence came from another film. The screen going all red was just to mask the god awful CGI effects, you could tell they were making the best of a botched job, and they didn't have the cash to go back and re-shoot.

The whole Holocaust/Nazi Germany subtext reveals itself to be half-baked as well.

Thom Yorke's soundtrack wasn't great either. The presence of such a well known voice book ending the film was just unfitting. His instrumental work forgettable. They should have got Jane Weaver to do it. Her ethereal vocals would have been more way more legitimate and I think she would have had a better understanding of the film's themes than Yorke, who admitted to not being much of a fan of the original.