LISTEN FOR THE WHISPERS. 

In 1977, American ballet dancer Susie Bannion (Dakota Johnson) arrives in Berlin to study at a famous dance academy, but it harbors dark secrets…

A truly imaginative way to remake a film, Dario Argento’s Suspiria (1977). Gone are the giallo ingredients, replaced with ludicrous references to 1970s far-left terrorism and the Holocaust. Far too drawn-out, with an outrageously bloody and bizarre climax… but gorgeously photographed, creating a rainy, oppressively gray Berlin.

Memorably painful death scene in a mirrored dance room; Tilda Swinton is a hoot, playing three characters, two of which are unrecognizable (including the monstrous leader of the coven).

2018-Italy-U.S. 152 min. Color. Directed by Luca Guadagnino. Screenplay: David Kajganich. Cinematography: Sayombhu Mukdeeprom. Music, Song: Thom Yorke (”Suspirium”). Cast: Dakota Johnson (Susie Bannion), Tilda Swinton (Madame Blanc/Josef Klemperer/Helena Markos), Mia Goth (Sara), Chloë Grace Moretz, Angela Winkler, Ingrid Caven, Jessica Harper. 

Trivia: The character of Klemperer is credited as played by ”Lutz Ebersdorf”, which the filmmakers originally tried to present as a real person. At one point, David Gordon Green was considered as director, with Natalie Portman in the lead.