Review of Suspiria (2018) by Michael B — 04 Nov 2018

In a lot of instances I abstain from reviewing films - mostly because a healthy combination of confirmation bias and negativity can make a shitty film out of Citizen Kane - but, after seeing around 600 films in my lifetime, I have to say I have never seen a film that makes me feel what I did when I saw the remake of Suspiria last night.

It's a beautiful, melancholy, often disturbing, often uncomfortable look at brutality, the sins of the past, motherhood, rebirth, guilt, corruption of power, and the transfer of power from the old to the new.

The steady escalation of horror set-pieces and tension ratchets up gradually throughout the 2 hour 30 minute runtime to a completely overwhelming climax of visuals and sound that makes the torture porn of contemporary horror look veritably PG.

It's the only horror film I've watched where I felt bad for the characters and what they were going through, which made it all the more harrowing when one of them was dispatched. They weren't expendable.

They were human, and watching some of the characters suffer was almost unbearable. I'm sure many people will criticize the remake for an ostensive air of pretension for being a horror film that has more ambition than your average run of the mill jump scare flick, but the way that the film connects atrocities in human history and various events to this ultimately small-scale story about a wide-eyed American girl discovering a disturbing secret in a renowned dance academy in Berlin makes the events of the film feel like they have the weight of the world behind them.

I'm tempted to call it the first epic horror film, though The Shining may better fit that category. And like The Shining, which was widely criticized upon initial release, Suspiria doesn't offer easy answers.

It's morally complex and doesn't spoonfeed you information. It's been stuck in my head ever since I watched it. There's no other film like this. It's a slow burn, and it's not for everyone, but for those who want a novel experience, you'll find an ultimately melancholy and mournful horror film that plays like a historical epic, with some incredibly disturbing and unique moments that'll burn their way into your subconscious.

As susie says, "we need guilt" if we hope to build a better world at all. Violence often begets violence, and often those oppressed (susie & the girls) can become the oppressor and abuse their power (wiping the memories from klemperer's mind).

See it if you get the chance. This film more than deserves the support. A+.