SUSPIRIA (18)
ITALIAN director Luca Guadagnino follows Oscar-winning Call Me By Your Name with a physical, emotionally draining remake of Dario Argento’s 1977 supernatural horror set at a dance academy, home to a witches’ coven.
American student Susie Bannion (Dakota Johnson) arrives at the Markos Dance Academy in West Berlin in autumn 1977, shortly after student Patricia Hingle (Chloe
Grace Moretz) disappears.
The girl made outlandish claims to psychotherapist Dr Josef Klemperer (Tilda Swinton, under heavy make-up) and he wonders if there might be a germ of truth to her ravings.
“There’s more in that building than what you can see,” Patricia warned him.
As Klemperer investigates, Susie rises to the challenge of tutelage under the formidable Madame Blanc (Swinton again), whose unconventional practices raise the eyebrows of teachers Miss Tanner (Angela Winkler) and Miss Vendegast (Ingrid Caven).
Susie usurps rival Olga (Elena Fokina) from a principal role in a forthcoming showcase and befriends another girl, Sara (Mia Goth), who is desperate to track down Patricia and agrees to meet Klemperer to discuss his suspicions about the staff.
“They are professional performers,” he warns. “Illusion is their craft.”
Suspiria bludgeons us into admiration and weary submission with a blitzkrieg of violence, profanity and full-frontal nudity.