Suspiria (1977) vs Suspiria (2018)

 

    The original "Suspiria" is a 1977 Italian supernatural horror film directed by Dario Argento. It is the story of an American ballerina who comes to a prestigious German ballet studio and soon realizes that things are far more sinister than she bargained for. The remake of "Suspiria" is a 2018 supernatural horror film directed by Luca Guadagnino with the same basic plot of the 1977 version.

    I watched both of them in the same day and that choice really put their stark contrasts into perspective. Honestly they were so different from each other, it almost felt like watching two different films instead of an original and a remake. They were basically polar opposites in appearance and cinematography.

    The original seems to be more highly-rated than the remake, though I'm not sure how much of that is nostalgia and how much is honest preference. According to Rotten Tomatoes, the difference is 4.5 vs 3.5 respectively between the two. I've read reviews of people claiming the 2018 remake is their favorite horror film ever, even though it seems to be less popular than the original overall. I wonder how I would feel if I had watched them in reverse order, instead of first version to second. 

    But at the end of the day, I personally favor the 1977 version over the 2018, and I'm glad I watched them in the order that I did. 

    So let's get into why.

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    So, just overall - the first "Suspiria" is just... so much more artsy and colorful. 

    The second one DRAINED all of the color out of itself to make some sort of statement about the bleakness of 1970's war-torn Germany. The whole 2018 film is basically dull earth tones and greys until the climax of the film 1.5 hours in, where there is this striking dance with bright red tassels and ropes. Apparently it was supposed to make the dance even more impactful and significant, given the sudden presence of color where there was none before. And then the bloody finale is, of course, entirely crimson.

    You hear these radio broadcasts about terrorist attacks sporadically throughout the film whenever you are outside of the dance studio, further stressing the oppressive atmosphere out on the streets. Honestly it serves to be more of a distraction from the core plot than contributing to it. Everything is gloomy and cold and boring until the very end. Watching the 1977 film first really made the 2018 film feel SOOO lifeless and drab in comparison. It might just be my personal preference but I certainly preferred the gorgeous color schemes and dramatic camera angles. 

    

(Seen here: Original color palette vs Remake color palette, just as an example. Both images were taken from horror film Facebook groups. I take no ownership or credit.)

    Some people might find the original to be wayyyy too vibrant and overdone but I loved it so much more. It was so beautiful and so elegant. Even the blood was "too red" but honestly it fit right in with the rest of the saturated architecture and chromatic lighting. The soundtrack was so piercing and almost painful on my ears in a way that really emphasized the tension and suspense. Even if there was no dialogue or sound effects, the music alone could have made the mood and progression of the movie work as a silent film.

    (I can see someone else finding the soundtrack to be annoying and discordant to the point where it could ruin the film for them but seeing the 2018 without the soundtrack just didn't feel right.)

    I can't speak enough on how suspenseful the first film was. Particular sequences of dialogue between Suzy and Sara were so tense, like when they were counting the mysterious footsteps that would wander the halls of the dorms at night, holding their breath to be absolutely silent. The length of time in which Sara fled from the mysterious killer through the twisting, turning hallways that were all different colors with jarringly bright lights. The way she precariously stacked creaking luggage to escape from a locked room out the window, the chests threatening to give way beneath her at any moment. 

    The way she thrashed and screamed when caught in the pile of razor wire, becoming trapped just when she needed to keep moving the most. She kept fighting to free herself, making such slow progress toward the door to freedom, just enough progress that it made me HOPE she actually could get out in time. She was trying SO HARD to get some footing, to crawl forward, seeming like she had it and then getting snared by the wires all over again. It was literally frustrating to watch this struggle, this taunting safety SO CLOSE to being within reach. She ALMOST made it when it becomes clear that the killer was waiting for her immediately upon leaving the room. 

    Another instance of incredible suspense was when Suzy finally made it into the secret passageway past Madame Blanc's office. It had all of these markings and insignias and runes on the walls. Passages of text that almost looked biblical, or even older. The lighting was sharp with dramatic shadows. Suzy walked down that hallway for what felt like 10 minutes. I swear, I felt every step she took, listening for something scary just as she was as she slowly moved forward. The 1977 film really takes it's time. It doesn't rush these tense moments, letting you revel in it and squirm in it before you finally see what becomes of the character. 

    I enjoyed the final conflict, even though it was a little quick. I loved the reveal that, of course, the Mother Witch was still watching over her coven and that she was behind it all. I liked the 80s light effect that flickered around the old Witch's silhouette after she turned invisible. It had that classic story progression of Exposition, Rising Action, Climax, Falling Action, and Resolution. Just - pretty straight-forward and compelling and it's very easy to see why this film would be such a horror classic even after all these years.

    2018 did do a couple things that stuck out to me so I should certainly give those praise. Dakota Johnson and Tilda Swinton both give wonderful performances. The sequence where Suzy was dancing and it was somehow hurting and killing Olga who was trapped in a separate room filled with mirrors and no way out. That sequence was incredibly disturbing and very well done. Olga's actress had to be a contortionist because there was no way a normal person could bend that way. 

    In line with that sequence, 2018 had a more purposeful and direct plotline. Suzy apparently had some specific affinity with her dancing to channel witch magic. The witches wanted her specifically for that reason, because they wanted her to be a new vessel for their ancient, decrepit witch mother, Helena Markos.

    The original film, Suzy seemed to be there just for simple, normal dancing. And she was only attracting any attention from the witches because she was getting suspicious of how many of her fellow dancers were disappearing or winding up dead. They were just going to kill her to get her out of the way. (I'm not sure if they were making human sacrifices with the purpose of ... strengthening their coven or what. Their objective as witches ruling over the dance studio isn't super spelled out, as far as I can remember. It seems like they just kill off the girls that notice that something is weird in the studio.)

    2018 did have that really striking final dance number, with the cool makeup and the bright  red shibari-esque rope outfits, but otherwise the color palette of the 1977 film was so much more lively and memorable. I certainly prefer the energy and life that 1977 contained in basically every frame.

    1977 had a very intense opening sequence, and then things calm down a bit as Suzy arrives and gets settled. But 2018 has a very intense ending sequence, which is an absolute bloodbath. It turns out Suzy has channeled her own witch magic so well that she has essentially been reincarnated as one of the other ancient witch mothers. So she kills every member of the coven who was loyal to Helena Markos and grants quick, painless deaths to all of the dancers who had been hurt in the process of the final ritual. 

    Both films had the dead girls make reappearances, but in rather different ways. 1977 only brought one girl back, Sara - to terrorize Suzy as a bloody zombie in the final moments before Suzy killed Helena Markos in her bed. 2018 had one of the girls hidden in the secret chambers of the studio and she was like... half mummified to the walls. Really weak and decrepit and almost dead. I'm not sure if the witches were stealing her youth or what. Also the twisted, broken body of Olga seemed under the witch's control and was patrolling the halls to stop any intruders. 

    Both films had amazing moments of eerie lighting and cryptic imagery in these sort of hallucination/dream sequences. 2018 leaned into this much more, giving Suzy very vivid dreams and showing all sorts of cerebral images and moments of things that had already happened and things that were yet to come. And the sound design and cinematography in 2018 is very successful as well, though I don't believe it is nearly as memorable as Dario's vision in 1977. 

    That's most of what I gathered when watching the films back to back. I wonder if I would feel the way I do if I watched 2018 first, instead of the original, but as it stands the original is definitely my favorite. I think it leans more into my cinema preferences, with all of its color and light. It was such a visual treat, whereas 2018 had a bit more substance in the plot department but otherwise just wasn't as bold or as strong as its predecessor. 

    2018 also spent a lotttt of time on this psychiatrist man who is trying to uncover what happened to Pat and therefore was actively investigating the goings-on of the Dance Academy throughout the entire film. He gets in contact with Sara too and they do their best to bring all of the hideous witchy dealings to light, but both fail in the end. It was... okay? Like, having someone check in with the weirdness at the academy is certainly an added element of suspense - I say added because the 2018 film didn't really have Suzy investigating as much. She was more participating right into the coven's hands. 

    So perhaps they brought in the therapist to kind of serve as the one "sticking their nose where it didn't belong" in the 2018 film because otherwise it lacked that character, seeing as it was Suzy in the original. 

    The 2018 film is entirely credible as a horror film all on its own. It has more direct characterization of the different dancers and the different witches. The practical effects and gore are also quite well done.

    But it seems to lack some liveliness that the original film possessed, seeing as 2018 pulled back HARD on the color and music that makes the 1977 film so vibrant and memorable. The ending was strange. Suzy becoming this reborn witch and killing all of her opposition in one crazy bloody scene is so unexpected. It was obviously MUCH more directly "cultish" than the first film, but sometimes it was gratuitous. Way more nudity and way more blood. Also the camera was so blurred and shaky in the climax. It was just some strange artistic choices from Luca. 

    So, in summary, I definitely think I prefer the original "Suspiria" film to its remake. These are my final ratings for the moment. I'll update if I think of any other praises or reprimands.

                                    Suspiria (1977): 9/10                Suspiria (2018): 7/10

    

    Thanks for reading!

More reviews on the way :)