Suspiria (2018) ReMarch vol 1

If you are a horror fan, have I got a newsletter for you? Head to the show notes right now and click on the sign up link. for Scream Share, a curated newsletter, written to help you scroll less and scream more by serving up a five-minute breakdown of the best horror available on streaming right now from yours truly, Patrick Hamilton.

I'll have essential weekly movie picks covering new films, classics you can catch up on, and one movie that's always streaming for free, just in case your bank account's a little too scared to come out in the open. All this, plus you'll get an exclusive invite to my inner sanctum, where I'll be hosting a frighteningly fun watch party that'll let you get in on the conversation. I'm really looking forward to it. So click the link in the show notes or go to screamshare.behive.com.

That's S-C-R-E-A-M, S-H-A-R-E dot B-E-E, H I I V dot com. That's screamshare.beehive.com. And make sure to whitelist your welcome email. You get all the updates on our first watch party, which is happening on Friday, march thirteenth. I wonder what the movie's gonna be. Anyways, thou the body count continues. and salutations. Dedicated to celebrating the least discussed goodbye. the character. Of suspicion. And the hopes that A dance academy. We might make it there. To dance me.

That you trust who doesn't want to be a good one. People and blowing heads up because man, I wish to the core of my soul that I had. Oh the heads we'd blow. Chas, chas, puf. If I could do it remotely, even better. So Um this March, uh we're starting a little early because of uh Michigas, because we've been having one tactical or life snafu after another. Uh, what a way to start the tenth year of Kill by Kill. But

Uh for March, we decided that we would do remarch. We would talk about all remakes. Now, most of the movies that we're going to discuss, we actually haven't talked about the originals, and today's would be no different. uh the twenty eighteen reimagining of Suspiria. Uh but before we get to that, I guess let's talk in general, what are your Feelings.

about remakes as a genre unto itself. Um yeah, I'm not gonna I'm not one of those people that immediately dismisses Uh, you know, whenever you remake is announced like, oh, Hollywood has run out of ideas. The same, yes. Yeah, I I and for the most part, depending on who is making it. Mm-hmm. Like uh if the name you if the names Eli and Ross are attached to it, that that's a nope. Um but like Mike Flanagan. I I am I am b extremely open to to I mean I feel like he might be taking a little too much.

on his plate right now and is gonna suffer for it in the long run. But you know, so far I I I trust Flanagan. I'm gonna make a t-shirt that says I trust Mike Flanagan. Right. Yes. I mean, he's given me no reason not to trust him, even with movies that I don't um necessarily vibe with. I feel are very heartfelt. They're not coming from a very pandering or um like just trying to do something to do something. Um motivation necessarily. Do we need a remake of The Mist? I find that

Uh uh utterly confounding. How did this man make the dark tower already? I have the feeling that he wants the the the the hopeful ending. Especially like right now and in in these current dark times. I mean like The the the the the bleak ending of of the original adaptation. Like no one wants to see that right now. Um no one wants the the ironic, well, I killed everybody, you know, liter in my party literally three minutes before help arrived.

No one no one wants that. They they they want to see, you know, okay, we just gotta get through this and you know, you know, hope is on the horizon. Yeah. You know, I which I can I I can see that. I mean I I'm not I'm not super thrilled that, you know, we're getting another, you know, thin carry.

But but I I think that he is trying to more remake the movie than adapt the book. Which you know, fine. You know, but like over the course of eight episodes like that. Yeah, that I'm a little I'm like I'm like, oh, we're gonna get a lot of a a lot of Margaret White's backstory and And I'm just like, but I I I think it'll you know, be on on a on a you know, on a storytelling level, I think it'll still be solid. It just may not be

the version of Carrie that I would want to see him make. Yeah. You know, and we'll end up covering it because we've now covered every other version of Carrie. So then then we will be able to do that. I'm at least willing to give the first episode a shot as far as talking about it. So Um, I'm with you. I'm I've stated before on the show, I'm kind of ambivalent about remakes as something to get

I get overly upset about it. I take it on a real case by case basis. And I think yes, attaching Eli Roth's name to something would be an automatic no from almost everything. With the exception of the one episode where we talked about his Thanksgiving trailer. Yeah, that that remains the best thing he's ever done, this three-minute parody of a slasher movie trailer. 1000% the best thing he has ever done by a country mile.

And I stand by that episode. I think that episode is super fun to listen to. And it's a real gold standard for us. That being said, this month we're going to cover some good, bad, and a truly bizarre one over the course of March. Um, but I think in terms of studio heads or directors or writers, whoever's tackling the subject matter. The motivation for remakes has always been the same. How do you exploit a title that you already own?

And so I think the first thing we have to acknowledge is that this is not a recent phenomenon. Hollywood has always done remake. It has always been a component of a studio's slate. Um, there was never a period where remakes weren't used to fill out what uh a studio's offerings were for a particular year.

And so it when you come back to the central question why we make a movie. It's often to try to get it quote unquote right this time, or at least improve it in some significant manner. And then and I think historically over time, that has been to Fill in gaps that the previous version simply could not accomplish. So that's things like add sound when talkies became a thing, add color when color became a thing, add scope when wire lenses.

And giant movie palaces were a thing. Add special effects, whatever uh iteration of special effects it is. But one of the things that has often been said, and we've evoked it a a time or two, is that perhaps remakes are are best employed. When remake in a movie that was simply not as successful as it could have been at the time. And one of the things that the versions of that we we've covered now twice on the show is the 1988 remake of The Blob.

Right, exactly. Uh that that first movie doesn't have a lot of ambition. It's a cheapie. It was meant to be thrown up on, you know, drive-in screens for teenagers making out. And it's okay-ish. It's uh it's fine. And the idea is really, really good. It's really sticky. And the moments where you see the blob kind of come to life are so evocative that they were bigger than the movie itself. The fact that Steve McQueen was in the movie, but not particularly great in it.

uh did didn't really keep people from trying to make a sequel to it and eventually remake it. And I think try to do something with the concept that was really more interesting than what they had to begin with. Right. But for the past thirty years or so, I think we've been in a run of How do we use a remake to extend the life of IP?

Um, it's an exploitable property, but only if you can actually exploit it for real money. Simply owning that title isn't enough in these late stage, over overly financialized days of of corporate entertainment. So that's not to say that only bad remakes happen and only happen for the wrong reasons, because in my opinion, and I then would turn this on you.

Uh, Susperia is an example of a remake whose main goal is to explore underutilized aspects of the original. It's not to simply recreate the original with new technology. It is Here's all these elements that are ventured into in the original, and they're interesting. And if I put them against the backdrop of when that movie was made, where it was supposed to have been made.

There's a rich text to be mined, as opposed to I just want to throw up some green and red filters up against a wall. Yeah. Apparently it is controversial for me to say that I prefer this version over the original. I I think it is creepier. I I think it is more unsettling. Yeah. And in a lot of ways, I think it is just genuinely weirder. See, I I think with the original, it's just, you know, a lot of, you know, bizarre images.

And, you know, it it's you you know it's meant to look like you know some, you know, extended dream. Yeah. Where where here it's you know, it's messing with the audience a little bit, like, you know, in terms of, you know, an an This is a huge spoiler. If you haven't seen Sis this the Susperi remake. of who the protagonist is. Yeah. And and the the the big reveal at the end of who of who she actually is. This, you know, mysterious figure kind of, you know, overseeing everything. Um

You know, and I think that, you know, a lot of it you you you can't tell if it's, you know, really happening or not. And and it's you know, which is to me is always, you know, it makes for an unsettling watch. Yeah. I I just think it it crawls under your skin in a way that it doesn't attempt to recreate the original. And, you know, um there are there have been times on the show where we've covered a remake that

I I hate to bag on it yet again, but let's dive into the pool of twenty ten's A Nightmare on Elm Street. That is a movie that is desperate to somehow return the element of scariness to the nightmare in Elm Street franchise. But can't be bothered to do that because it's too busy recreating the original in a poorer fashion. Doesn't have anything to say. Half the people in it or making it don't want to be there.

And and and the most and the the the the the the most glaring message coming from is this this this this ain't your daddy's nightmare on Elm Street. Right. Yes. And it's just like You know, I don't get this ain't your daddy's Susperia. It is it is simply a a a different take on it. It is basically using the same base elements to make a different

type of dish. Um it doesn't there are some beats that are that are the same, but ultimately I think when you're talking about translating the original to this, It comes down to the fact that that seventy-seven Argento film. It's just a bad dream. It is ninety-eight minutes of pure nightmare fuel with very little little logic or reason woven into the final product.

You know, in a lot of movies that might be a a dig at the overall quality of it. But the purpose and engine of Dario Argento's nineteen seventy nine seventy-eight film is to just Make you feel like you're experiencing a nightmare you can't wake up from. Your eyes are already open. And so if things d don't make sense. They don't need to. Like You get off a plane, you see a woman running through the forest in her nightgown.

You know, shit just happens. Sometimes people get cut. Yeah, don't ask questions. Just go with it. Just go with it. It doesn't matter that. you know, faceless killers hunt down women and and kill them in gruesome fashion in a way that the police cannot explain. And the fact that that person is barely talked about or discussed.

For the rest of the movie. It simply does not matter that maggots infest the ceilings of a dance academy. It doesn't matter that that dance academy is in Germany or that people are at a dance academy or that Someone doesn't look down before stepping into a pit of razor wire. Why would that? Why would you do that? Because you before you were just walking across a room that had a floor and then suddenly it doesn't have a floor. It has a pit.

And then suddenly you're in a saw trap. Right. That is shit that happens to you in nightmares. And that's what the movie is. It's just a nightmare. She gets off the plane, the doors open, it's rainy outside, and you're a nightmareville for the rest of the film. Shit just happened.

And then I think the genius of this motion picture is that it takes those elements that didn't matter as much. And actually says, well, what if you could like mine it for deeper political underpinnings or cultural context? Or or what if we or what if yeah, or yeah, I was what I was gonna say was what if we grounded all this horror into reality? Right.

And it's not to say that there isn't political underpinnings and cultural context in the original Susperia. There, there's plenty of them. It's they're not at the forefront. It's not meant to be at the forefront. They're all there. You know, the fact that You know, Dario Argento is essentially writing that movie with his wife and mining his wife's experiences and her fears into the script. And then everyone says, look, it's Dario Argento's Sesperia.

Yes. Let's put some some uh a spotlight on Nicoletti. You know, the she is a driving force in that movie, not given nearly the amount of credit that she should have coming her way. Um but I think some of that comes from the original interpretations of the movie, which was this is no bird with a crystal plumage. I'll tell you that right now. And you know.

The the trailers doesn't have any footage of the movie. That's how rock solid sure Fox was in this motion picture. They're just like, put that skeleton in a wig and turn her around slow. Ha ha ha. That's how they sold the movie. Like, what does that have to do with the movie?

Nothing. What does half the movie have to do with the movie? I think it's the retort. Yeah, it's basically like, shh, don't ask questions. Really? Like the main driving force behind what happens or what you think happens next. Is that it just gets worse and worse and worse until you start stabbing shadows and the shadows bleed. That's it. You're like, Patrick, that sentence doesn't make any fucking sense.

Congrats! Welcome to 1978 Sesperia, a movie I enjoy very, very much. I have seen and owned in multiple formats. I have seen it on big, big, big screens. I have dragged people to go see it. I think it's worthy of seeing. And I think this movie is as worthy, if not more so than that. But I think its audiences, even a tighter target.

than the original Suspiria. Yeah. Yeah. I would definitely agree with you there. Um I'm just as I was like looking at like what people wrote about Suspiria at the time, like Yeah, Siskel was like, fuck this noise, right? He's just like not having any of it. The New York Times is like, Looks pretty, worth nothing. And the LA Times is like, I don't know, like if you want to go see some nightmare fuel, like it's there for you, but there's not a lot of meat on the bone.

But then, you know, as it continues to grow in stature, it's not the hot new thing on screens. people take a longer lens of it. And Jason Buchanan at All Film wrote a pretty good summation of the movie that I think sums up what I think of it as in that it's quote, one of the most striking assaults on the senses ever to be committed to celluloid.

It is an unrelenting tale of the supernatural that was and likely still is the closest a filmmaker will ever come to capturing a nightmare on film. And I agree with that. That being said, it's not immune to reinterpretation.

And what you get out of Luca Guardadino and screenwriter uh uh David Crescentage is they manage to use all the elements of the original story that Argento and Nicoletti Don't really want to delve into. It's not the point of that movie. They set it in Germany in 1977. Now they're living through that. So they don't really have the lens of the past to look back on.

But when you do, that is the so-called German autumn when a a student-led far left military group began kidnapping and killing former Nazi officials who are sort of Hiding in plain sight within West Germany's government and the halls of power there. And as such, they had multiple battles with police and the government. It led to a series of bombings and kidnappings and revenge kidnappings. It's a it's a whole smear. And it's a really interesting time.

that the original has zero desire to engage with. If I think if I watched the Argento uh documentary where it's just on him and they went to a villa and they talked to him in a lovely garden for a while and they're like, You know, what does the spheria mean to you? And it's like, well it's a really good soundtrack. But and and so and so y and so you could say the same for for the new one too. True. I I I love that Tom York title tit title song. It's really good.

I think it's good throughout. It's entirely different than what Goblin br brings to the table, but I I think that's par for the course. They are not concerned with recreating a movie that already exists in what I would argue its most perfect form for that version of Susperia. Whereas 2018 is trying to dig into all the areas that 78 just doesn't have time for, doesn't care to examine. It's not what it's there to bring to the table.

So a dance academy isn't just a location to house young women. There's a purpose to it. Setting it in Germany, there's a reason behind it. All these elements that are just flash in the pan surface area. We have to walk past this to get to stabbing shadows. From the original are things that this movie just digs into and lives in. And some might say for far too long. Is it a little shaggy? I would argue, yeah, it's a little shaggy.

But I think its aims are to really examine What this dynamic is, why power can be corrupted, why these power struggles always lead to bloodshed. And why nothing can quite overcome it, like just wiping out the old system.

There's a lot of fascism stuff that is woven into this movie that hits even harder now than it did in twenty eighteen. Oh absolutely. Um and I, you know I I I love Jessica Harper. Uh we are huge fans of Fan of the Paradise here. And, you know, I think she's very proud that she's in that movie. It's very iconic that she's in that movie. But I don't know what that character is. She she is a person who sees things. Yeah, she's sort of a blank canvas that the audience can project their own

you know, th their their their own sort of feelings towards. And I think to a certain sense, up until it's revealed who she actually is. The same could be said about about Dakota Johnson. Yes. Now now I will say, uh she's not the most dynamic actor in the world. She she she's a little bit of a blank in in in in, you know, s several of the roles that that I've seen her in. But

Right. That suits her character well here initially because she just seems like this, you know, fresh off the farm, young adult who who is escaping, you know, fairly you know, the uh the fairly A brutal death of her mother. uh you know, she she is haunted by, you know, her her you know, the the the last days of her mother's life. So she, you know, flees the country to to this kind of

you know, sterile and creepy dance school. But but, you know, it's certainly, you know, a a jarring change of pace from where she was. Yes. It's not exactly where you think most Mennonites go. I need to head out to a dance academy in Germany. But I think for her Half a world away is a good head start from where she wants to be. She's yeah, she's clearly on her own for the first time, but she just sort of is taking everything in.

And there's a lot to take it. Because if this movie borrows anything from the original, it is the atmosphere of that dance academy. the austere nature of it, its grand rooms, its stately hallways and and descending staircases. It is a maze. that seems to not work with the architecture. Again, we're we're having another the architecture inside is bigger than the building that exists outside. It's the it's the impossible dance school. Right.

Um, and it makes sense because there seems to be a dimensional shift happening underneath almost every other floorboard. Uh when people are in dream states, they are manipulated to crawl up door jams. And you're like, okay, sure. That makes perfect sense to me. She's having a real good dance session. You want to make her have an orgasm in the middle of it.

Yeah, I'm on board. Well, I just think it's interesting that she is, you know, fleeing the death of her mother, you know, o only to end up in an extremely matrix.

Society where everybody is desperate for the approval of of uh Madam uh Madam Marcus. Yeah. And also they don't take bloc seriously in a lot of ways. Because she's uh she's not this figure you can't see. She's not the figure that's only talked about in whispers. Right. She's not a big thing. Right. And there's I think a lot to be made from that. The the this unseen matriarch is the one they all wish to

to impress when that person is twisted would kill them regardless of their devotion. They're just a means to an end for for Marcos. It's sort of like the the the the the attitude everybody seems to have about Marcos abit initially is Sort of comparable. Now you and I you you you did it more extensively for longer than I did, but we both did theater for a little while. Sure. Yeah. Where you were auditioning for someone

that you cannot see because, you know, you've got the the stage lights and they're designed in a way that you really cannot see into the audience. It's actually a blessing if you have stage right because you you can't see how the audience is you can hear them, but you can't really see them, which is which is, you know, it it it helps a little bit.

But you know, I think of some re I for some reason I think of a chorus line where they're they're all they're they're all they're like you got this character I can't remember the the the the the main character, Zach. He is out he is out in the audience. And you've got these these group of people all desperate for his approval. And that's kinda the same thing here. Like, you know, d everybody talks in low tones.

about when when Madame Marcos shows up and and you've got to impress Madame Marcos and she you know, she can make or make or break, you know, literally your your, you know, your c you blossoming career as a professional dancer. Yes. Um I like to think of Man Marcos as a weird Lauren Michaels. Why did you do that dance for me throughout this? It is this unseen force that can, as you say, like make or break you. And so they're all focused.

On impressing somebody, they have no chance of impressing. Because ultimately, what Marcos wants is a vessel. She's used up what she has and she's just looking for a a good spot to reinvigorate herself. and fresh digs. And that's all any of these girls are to her. And yet their devotion just sees them wash over anyone who genuinely cares about them, which

Uh you know, Blanc is a very morally gray character here. She's a she's a very typical like Tilda Swinton was made for this character. Yes. Where you know she's a little little reserved. You know, she's a little cool, but you know, there's a there's a you there's a you know a a humanity and intelligence, you know, a very deep intelligence behind that. Yes. And she she's so much closer in looks and age to these young women.

than the monstrous troll lady of Marcos who lives in the kinda almost reminds she kinda almost reminds me of um The creature that um Bill Paxon is turned into at the end of Weird Story. Oh my, if we get them together, then now we're Like, where's the further adventures of these two? Hanging out with one another. Getting together and having her own little poop demon baby. Just poppin' pus. Uh all the live long day. Oh honey, why do we have to watch more dance?

Why are we fishing? Why are we hunting ducks? But Tillis Whiton, you know, plays both Blanc and Marcos. I and and Dr. Clemperer, which which fucking blows my mind. Yes. I this was unfortunately spoiled for me. I don't remember. Did you see it? Did did you see it in the theater? No, I didn't. I don't remember exactly what was happening in 2018. But a very small child back then. Yeah, I a much younger, much more uh you know uh a child that couldn't do anything on their own.

So that that was tougher to do. So while you know, I don't know there was a ton of things that I saw in the theater in twenty eight. I I saw the theater. I would love to tell you if I d if if I knew in advance. I don't honestly don't remember. I mean I all all I know is either way, I was very impressed to to to discover that. There's it it is a very physical uh performance, and I don't think there is any telltale

thing about her performance that gives it away other than her voice, which Guadalinho is very dedicated to not manipulating her voice. And I wish they had just dialed that. That v that button down. But like the the the makeup is astonishing. You know, she's got you know, a very, you know, elderly man kind of stoop to her walk, which is amazing. Yeah, but yeah, the only thing that's not quite there is is the voice is a little too tilde swint and fluty. Yes.

Um, and I think if you had just just added a bit more bass tone to that sound mix, I think you probably could have completely gotten away with it. Um, but I understand his dedication to trying to make because most of the movie is delivered in the most naturalistic way you can, a supernatural film. And that seems to be something he's very, very dedicated to. So gone are the gaudy splashes of color that, you know, you can see in almost every frame of Argento's original. and gone are the sort of

constant montage. And the other element is none of these people are speaking with in sort of ADR mode. No. Because so many of those movies were filmed without an onset sound recording. They just would gather all the actors from all the places around the world they could gather them from and record them speaking in their own dialect dialect and just replace every line of dialogue.

after the fact. And in Susperia, it has a dreamlike quality that sort of works for that. And in a lot of Italian cinema, it can be the thing that just bounces most people right out of it. Uh and certainly I know from doing horror trivia now. If this round has to do with Giallo, I know I'm going to lose. Yeah. I I for a so called horror fan, my knowledge of Giallo is limited. Yeah.

Um, there are movies I have seen. Um I think Deep Red uh might be my fave. Uh, although tenbre cu is up there as well. Uh there's a lot to like in Tenebrae. Um, but I also think Tenebrae is like the last vestige of Dario Argento really working. By the time I'm in video stores and I'm going back to watch these movies and like, oh my God, there's a new Dario Argento movie coming out. And then I see it, I'm like, I what are what are people talking about?

These kind of blow. Yeah, I I think my first one, uh my first Gialla was phenomenon. And I was like, hmm, all right. I mean, I love a man in his monkey tail, don't get me wrong. Uh, but it's a lot of weird bugs. It doesn't make a damn bit of sense. It just doesn't. There's no version of it that I've ever genuinely enjoyed.

And that's not, you know, that's my personal evaluation. Uh, I think there are those who who find a lot more value in any level of Dario Agente that you can get or sus and certainly have gone deeper into the uh the Giallo and Italian horror realms. I would love to, but there's there's it might be like dragons for me. Right. I can only get so far before I'm just out. Exactly. Yeah, I feel the same way. Um, you know, and Sisperi is one of those exceptions. Then again.

What I don't think Suspiria is, is the i ultimate expression of Giallo cinema. Because while it does have an amateur detective. She doesn't solve shit. Not that a lot of them do end up solving the crime. They kind of stumble into what's behind the crime. But here the crime is a coven of witches. And she doesn't so much outwit or outplay anybody. She's she sees a a shiny thing in a shadow and stabs it. And turns out she's a good stabber of shadows.

Like at one point, someone's like, we gotta look out for flowers. And you see right behind her is the wallpaper is flowers. And you're like, well. Maybe turn your head a hundred and eighty degrees like There's a lot of clues being given here that you do not give a shit about. Yeah, you're a you're a terrible detective. Truly. And you know, Giallo not known for the best detectives. They're all amateurs and everything, but

Yeah, these people are just like prolonging how long it's gonna take them to fall into an open pit of razor wire. That is not what I call Scooby Doobying it. No. Whereas here we're told They just here they just get their dicks laughed at. You know Sometimes people need their dick slapped at. This is the thing. If you can't take an occasional dick slap, maybe you shouldn't have one to begin with. So I'm telling you.

Uh, there are behaviors in this world in which instituted dick slapping might save us a lot of time and energy. I concur. Um, and so yeah, I I think it is all that deep well of things that are just a part of suspiri but never really engaged with that Guadadino harnesses here into a an actual story.

And in here the politics are at the forefront. You're it's occurring at a time of political upheaval. It is dealing with women who find power through this one art, and even that art is corrupted. by a fascistic leader who d requires you to not believe your eyes and ears and just dance with blood on you already. And demands and demands total fealty. Yes. And, you know, to step out of that, to state, you know what, I'd rather not be a part of that, um, is you are going to get murderized for that.

And you're you're going you're going to like like bones are going to be go going to move to areas where those bones don't belong. Right. Yeah. I mean that's a sequence. When Susie performs a piece that magically tortures and twists Olga, who's a student who's her friend has disappeared from school and everyone's kind of acting like, hey, you know, some people disappear. You know, sometimes just you just, you know, leave your school in the middle of the night in West Germany. Right.

Wh which is another like a a way of both evoking the original and grounding it in a reality. Because when she voices this, the people are like, Well, she was really into the sort of anti-government feelings out there. She kinda wanted to be a revolutionary. If she's out, you know, loading, you know, gasoline into bottles to throw at lines of policemen.

Who are we to tell her, stop, come back to the safety of this dance school? Like maybe maybe she decided to make that a full time gig. Who can say? Who can say? Maybe she is just a mess of weird bones. With her hands and uh feet cut off and she's just crawling around in an in in the In the upstairs attic, which is actually what's happened to her. And when you see that, when I saw that the first time, um, there was an imprint of me on the couch. I was

Pushing back so hard away from the screen. Just making that making that emoji grimace face. I just I think there are things that Guadadino can do right now that aren't necessarily unique to him. I think just the way he accomplishes it and just He doesn't do anything, like we were talking about Flanagan, that isn't heartfelt. The reason he's making this movie is cause he really feels that this story

can be told this way and can affect people. And, you know, that doesn't always bring you your next assignment. Sometimes eventually he's going to be put in director's jail. Well yeah,'cause'cause'cause his movies don't make any money, unfortunately. Uh but I for me with this and um Bones and All, I mean he's Two for two for horror for me. That's well, you know what? I completely forgot that he also directed Bones and All. This is our second uh from him. And yes, his horror is entirely heartfelt.

It's about these people in these situations where They are monsters. They are participating with monsters. They are being corrupted by a force or elements out of their control. And how they react to it. defines who they are and yeah. Between this and that and then, you know, I don't he doesn't have another horror necessarily. Uh but uh with the exception of the last one, which I think was just a rare misfire.

Um, I I I think he's pretty damn good. Yeah. Uh he brings a lot to the table. It's it's always heartfelt. It's always coming from a centerpiece of this is a story that needs to be told. And yes.

It's not always going to be told in the most naturalistic way. Or if it is naturalistic, it's going to be grounded in another form of weirdness. Bones and all and this have a lot in common in the way they're photographed. But I think it was a bigger shock to the system here simply because they had entitled the movie Susperia. And that gives uh an audience member um a very distinct idea of what to expect.

I I do think it is entirely possible there there are more people in this world who have heard of Susperia than watched Susperia. Oh, without a doubt. Without a doubt. Uh and you know, when it seems to come back into the four, it's when it is been remastered in another way. The 4K that came out was really revelatory. The sound sounds really good and the picture is incredible.

So much so that some of the tricks in the movie are kind of given away because you can see so much of the movie when in previous every iteration I'd seen before that. always had a film of this is 480p. This is on VHS. Um particularly I think there's one sequence in which Susie walks down the hall and there's supposed to be a pair of eyes that appear out of nowhere from the darkness behind a door.

And in the for K you can see the person painted black. Yeah. I mean sometimes you just need the the the the the dimmer lighting of a of a of a movie theater screen for that for th those kind of things to work. Yeah. Um sometimes it's it's hiding uh sins that otherwise would have been covered up.

You know, I I don't it's why I kind of stopped. If I own something on Blu-ray and it's like a boutique horror title, I don't need a 4K of it. Right. And it's not that I don't want to support these boutique labels and everything. But I don't know that I need to see Galaxy of Terror any more than I already am. There's only you might there's you there might be a uh a few blobs of like Vaseline or something.

that that uh that that you missed on that on that rape worm the first time around. Exactly. And there's I sometimes I don't need to see the wires. I don't need to see the mat line. Um, it's great that it's cleaned up and everything, but also some of that just hides stuff that we were never meant to see in the first place. If it was meant to be splash on a on a drive-in movie screen, I probably don't need to see everyone's pores. That's just not necessary. And I would also note.

Please, Netflix, if you're listening, I know you're listening. Netflix listens all the time. I don't need to see anyone's pores. It doesn't make anything any better. It never has and it never will. I I I need a level of Nicety. Yeah, we we don't need to, we don't, we don't need it even more obvious who has veneers and who doesn't. Truly. This is not.

More visual information does not necessarily make for a better viewing experience. And I feel like we are constantly upping the K's and forgetting the art.

Or at least the dreamlike aspects of it. Right. Um And so, yeah, it's not a plot i this is a plot heavy movie. In many respects, because it does engage in the actual meat of the story, whereas the it's just a weird chasing uh given ninety eight minutes in the original. Yeah, no, it it it does have a plot, but good luck trying to explain what happens in it. Yeah.

But ultimately what it comes down to is that we meet one girl, Patricia, who has discovered what the quote unquote secret of this dance academy is and it has broken her brain. She shares much of her thoughts about it with a a different student, her her best friend at the academy, Olga. When Patricia eventually disappears, um, and everyone starts to kind of

Uh sort of whitewash the f you know, sort of like dance plain that she's not around anymore, we don't have to worry about her. This drives Olga crazy. And then Olga disappears, only we know exactly what happens to her pretty early on, because uh Susie uh in a dance trance uh manipulates her body into a bone crunching uh finale. Like it's crazy this happens the first hour. She's basically turned into like a human pretzel. And her suffering is the point.

And it's I at that point you think Because there's this subtle thing where Madame Blanc goes up to Susie and s after the first attempt at doing the dance and says, now you gotta center yourself. really feel it here and she presses into her palms and when she lets up her hands hands there's a little glow and then the same thing happens at her feet and you're thinking, aha. She has been enchanted by Madame Blanc.

And she is merely yet another vessel. And when she does this dance, she does not know that this transformation is taking place. But what I think has actually happened is that uh Olga has been kept behind so that w what they think are is their spell is actually hiding the spells that Susie can accomplish. Right. Now, what we don't know, what we never know, is at what point does Susie and Suspirium merge into one?

I mean I kind of at this point I think this I've seen this movie about I think this was my third or fourth watch. Yeah, this is my third, yeah. And I'm pretty sure she's been there the whole time. I think so too. I think You know, she when she drops the book. I don't know that she realizes she's Susperium though.

I think Susperium is lying dormant inside. Yeah, yeah. That that's probably true. But how else to explain a Mennonite girl who gets into trouble for rubbing one out? As we all do. Of course. deciding, you know where I should go? A German dance school. It's time for this Mennonite girl to spread her wings. That to me seems like a vessel that was sought out as Pure of heart and wanting uh adventure, wanting to leave the dire circumstances of their reality.

And Susperium going, uh, I'll give you this so long as you give your body to me. And yeah. But I don't think Susie realizes what's in her until heads start popping off.

Yeah, and then she's just sort of like, all right, well, this might as well happen. Like, have you seen my heart lately? Hold on, hold on, hold on. Let me grab both sides of my rib cage and just just get it out there. Which is one of those things the first time I saw it, I'm like, that is a crazy visual. And then I saw Oh yeah, this this ending is just like i it'll be burning your brain forever. And it's the inspiration for so many things we've seen since.

that it's kind of wild The amount of blood splosions we've seen post this. that I feel like are very in tune with like the very like s other writers and filmmakers putting that in the back of their head and then it shows up and ready or not. Like I mean for for me the the the the image that that I d have taken away and you know

haunted by is when death appears and she's sort of moving like a dancer. Right. Like like just and and I mean and you know like the little the little casting wink in in this, right? Yes. That it that it's the same actress that plays Susie's mother. Right. Which which I'm like, oh, that's clever. I mean, you wouldn't know that because you don't actually really see Death. Yeah. She's kind of like just sort of crawling across the floor. And it it's

And it's so spooky and and it's just like it's like it's it's a really, really haunting image. Yeah. The the only thing that I disconnect with slightly about the ending. is the fluttery elements that the camera gives it g it to me it communicates a little sci fi straight to cable movie. Yeah. I to me it's you're not confident in the effects.

Yes. I think sci fi straight to cable movie. Which is a form where they're never competent of the effects. They're they're they're they they shouldn't be competing of the effects because they're all terrible. But I think this would have been fine. I mean that that sequence with Olga is is very well done. Yes. And done in stark light, you know. Right. That is a well lit studio. Is a technical achievement to be in a completely mirrored room. and have that level of physical effects going off.

Like it is haunting and yeah, like I pushed myself away from the screen every time I've seen it. The moment she pees is like there's a human being in there. Yeah. It's like, oh, this is not going to end well for her. No. No. And then everyone else is like, hey, did you bring your hooks? And they all did. They all brought their hooks, Gina. They brought their corpse hooks.

You know, when you when you when you when you go to when you go to work at a dance academy, you know, you you bring you know several pairs of, you know, good foot comfortable footwear. Sure. Yes. Uh you bring your your favorite leotard and you bring your corpse hooks. It's just part of the job.

It's what you signed up to do. You know, you know those are like custom design corpse hooks. Those ladies have very high standards. Oh yeah, no no no. Th those are haute couture. You're you're not going you're not going House depot ha ha House Depot. Yeah, I'm trying to think of what the German Home Depot with Home Depot. Exactly. With an oom out somewhere. Enjoy getting your screws, little weird man. Um but yeah.

And then uh where I think the shagginess of it, but uh that I eventually, you know, w really weaves in. is this outsider of the psychiatrist. you know, is constantly on the edge of kinda believing what's happening, kinda unsure what's going on, mainly focused on his own shit. Because his wife disappeared at some point during during the war, and they're separated by the Berlin Wall, and he's haunted by what could have possibly have happened. What did I do wrong? Did I

What could I done differently to to change this? And then there's the sequence in which our original Susie from 78 returns as his wife. And leads him through this sort of dream of, No, no, I managed to find my way to the other side. I escaped to Britain. I lived a comfortable life. Everything is fine. And then it turns out it's all a fucking ruse. And they just brought him there for him to witness the ceremony of either Blanc or Marcos becoming Susperian.

Yeah, which is like an unbelievably cruel thing to do to It Really yes. It's a real Real gut punch. But weirdly enough, he lives through this circumstance to get another gut punch when Susie ends up telling him, No, actually she died at a Yeah, but then she sort of, you know, she gives him a gift in in essentially wiping his memories of presumably of you know the whole exp obviously the experience at the academy and possibly also, you know, memories of his wife. Yeah. It just it's a real um

I think a movie that is going for a lot of gut punches and manages to land many of them, which I don't think is anything I expected from a remake of Susperi. Because when you say, I'm gonna remake this. I'm putting even for a person who's like, yeah, okay, I'm putting a lot of guards up. Yeah. You're asking a lot. Because that movie, that original film is a lot. It is, yeah. Uh what I enjoyed about this is it deepens almost every experience and never tries to blatantly

be a recreation of the original. It's not concerned with that. It's simply taking that maze and doing something completely different with getting from the beginning to the end.

I I don't get that the impression that uh Luca Guadinho went into this to, you know, fix mistakes, as it were. I think it is very much his own take on the story. Yeah. No, I wholeheartedly agree. It is coming from a very pure place of I've o this this means a lot to me, and I think I can make something different out of it. and not worry about trying to live up to that because my goal is not to that it exists. No one's going to burn it in a pile outside of the movie theater.

uh when you buy a ticket to t Sisperia twenty eighteen. It's always going to be there. They are interesting companion pieces in that there's a lot the same, but they are delivered in a completely different manner. Right. And I think it is the last time Mia Goth approached normal. I think this might have been the first movie I've I I ever saw her in. Yeah. Uh that might be true for me too.

Um, but she's just a girl with slight eyebrows here, as opposed to Mia Goth. I think she I think she might have her I think I think she might have her uh Dickensian orphan accent here too. Yes. She's not trying to hide how high whistly. And British it is. Not not as it didn't come on as heavy as it does in Infinity Pool. Have you seen Infinity Pool? Yes.

Talk about a movie that that I pushed away from my couch. When she's trying to when she's trying to get him to come out to to c get off of that bus. She's like, what are you doing? It's just like Okay. I'll join your weird troop of of wallet stealing orphans. Fine. Okay. Like like she just sat in like some sort of like like like British comedy theater character. Like like she should have been on like are you being served?

Oh, any other I mean, listen, there's a lot to dig into this movie. But I feel like I didn't want to become a video of like explaining to you what Susperia 2018 is about. No, because you're deep and rich and you should experience it yourself. Yeah. Yeah. And you're gonna take your own, you know, things away from it. You know, I I use a I use the phrase a lot. It's it's a vibe. Yes. You know, don't don't try to figure out what's going on.

Because you know, a lot of it is even though it's very much to me at least more rooted in reality than the original. It still works with a lot of dream logic. Yeah. Like, um, you know, when they they put these put these police detectives under a sp under a spell. Like

We don't know what happens to them after that. They they they basically, you know, they go and investigate they're there to investigate Patricia's disappearance. She's the the first dude that disappears. They put'em under a spell, they laugh at their dicks, and then they send them on their way. And we and we

And and and we, you know, we don't know anything. Presumably they snapped out of the uh out of the spell after a while, but they just never show up again. You know, twenty eighteen was a weird year for laughing at dude's dicks. Because there's th there's this and um Oh, why why is it the the the Centibyte Biker movie?

with the Oh uh uh Mandy Mandy Oh wide Mandy jumped out of my head. But yeah, Mandy's a lot of like, are you fucking kidding me with that thing? Get the fuck out of here. That's a bet that's the best part of the movie. Uh oh my God, Mandy. We gotta do a whole episode on Mandy. We do. You should listen to it on Patreon. It it's that was our first our very f that was our very first Patreon episode. Was that our very first? Wow, we started off with a banger. Well, yeah.

I mean, it was a time, yeah. It was an interesting time. But uh yeah, I you know uh that there was a year where we're just like It's time to start laughing at dicks. Let's just let's just all have a good laugh at the worst dicks we can find. Um

And so uh the other thing we laugh in the face of is choosing our own death venture. And that's where we decide of the deaths presented in this motion picture. If you were forced to die in one of those ways. Which would it be and why? Um I forbid you can just die in the cold of winter. Uh you can stab yourself with a butter knife. Um And then you can get well one person gets decapitated and then comes back. But up Yeah, yeah, that was weird. That's odd. So I don't think she counts.

Um, but or uh you can just get blown up real good. Cause most people get their heads blown up and Marcos just kind of gets crushed expanded. Th there's a gravity well uh inside of of of Madame Marco. And I think uh uh Patricia, Olga and Sarah, I think she just stops their hearts because they've just been like already made to suffer. Yeah, Olga's kinda like uh or is it?

Is it Patri I can't remember who, but what she's like, how do you what do you want to have happen? She's like, I would like to die. She's like, done. Then she just kind of snaps her fingers and Yeah, but she so she I mean yeah, I mean it also shows that she is capable of mercy. Yeah. Um, and weirdly enough, like the most grisly death is does not end in death. She does get all of her limbs snapped the wrong way and then end up

uh one of the sacrifices at the end of this movie to have the finger snap pass away. So wow. Uh a rough goal for over none of these are good. None of these are good. None. None. I mean I guess head exploding'cause at least it's quick. Right. You're not suffering, but you also have to learn all that choreo.

That is the one thing they're not telling you. I'm not I'm I'm a pretty good dancer when I'm just like, you know, you know, not that I've gone to a club in a while, but just that kind of general dancing, but a free choreograph choreograph dancing, no. I I I am I have two left feet. I for a while, as I've mentioned on the show, I was quite good at dancing in my youth. Uh it was a time

Hip hop was emerging. I w that music made me want to move and I dedicated myself to learning all of these dance moves so that I could recreate them on the dance floor in the hopes that one girl out there would go, hey. That guy knows how to dance. And then I discovered I just enjoyed dancing and just continued on and didn't worry about the girl part. And that's when I really had fun. But choreographed?

Not great at it. Not then, not certainly not now. Uh not being called upon to do a lot of choreo these days. So yes, I'd rather have my head pop off. Um, you know. I I'm just one of the nude bodies there. Yeah. So if I if I don't do that well, I'm assuming the spiritual power of a crazy witch is probably carrying me through it.

Exactly. Uh but that just about does it. Um Gina, where can people find you on these here internets? I write about uh pop culture at my sub uh substack. I fuck substack uh at my newsletter Gina watches things.ghost.io and uh I am here and there on social media, mostly on Instagram. Do it today, people check it out. Find us on Patreon where you can get episodes like Mandy and bonus episodes that we

Got plenty for you there, then that way you can help support the show. We'd really appreciate it. Uh we also have uh our newsletter a ten my newsletter will be coming out here. It's called Scream Share, it's where I give you So please uh rate and review us there. Tell us what your favorite uh That is still I will do that. because you deserve it, because you rated us well. For myself and Okay, we did it.

If you like the show, please take a moment to rate, review, and subscribe. It really does help the show to grow. Thank you for listening.