A lot of people are going to hate Suspiria — a witchy gorefest that harks back to the Hammer classic of the 1970s — but what's so bad about style over substance?
DO you remember mother! - the film from last year that I gave five stars, but virtually the rest of the world hated?
Well, forgive me , but I may be about to slip down a one-man wormhole again, because this is another divisive film which will undoubtedly be derided as an arthouse mess.
It has many faults, but I couldn’t help but really enjoy it.
The original ‘Susperia’ is thought of as a Hammer classic. Released in 1977, Dario Argento’s style over substance horror was lauded - raising the question as to why Luca Guadagnino has bothered - well I was quite pleased he did.
Set in the year the original was released, Suspiria is a relatively simple story with the kitchen sink thrown at it - if the kitchen sink was full of blood and innards.
Dakota Johnson plays Susie Bannion, a talented dancer who arrives at a Berlin Dance Academy to be trained by the famous Madame Blanc (Tilda Swinton), unaware it is a front for a coven of witches.
The film walks a tightrope between arthouse, old school and modern cinema, lulling you in with classic horror tropes but throwing you off-guard with quick cuts and disjointed angles.
To say this is gross and shocking and horrific in places is understating it - it is stomach churning and shockingly brutal.
It is easily 45 minutes too long and is laughably up it’s own backside for a healthy amount of the rest, but Johnson and Swinton are brilliant and anything with Thom Yorke’s involvement wins for me.
Grotesque and problematic, but gets the thumbs up.
