Saw Suspiria (2018), a remake of the classic 1977 Itallian film which brought color to horror movies for years to come. In this remake, gone are the eye-searing pinks and reds, and instead we have a muted, chilly, east German palate. I saw the original a long time ago, and I remember thinking it was sort of too gaudy and not very scary, and this film is similar and opposite in many ways. It's quite gaudy in its own way (lots of spooky CGI to be seen, although not as much as you'd think apparently) and although it's not terribly scary, it's sinister in its own way and plenty evokative.
The film draws its horror-energy from the creepiness and magic of performance art. The film takes place in a modern dance theater ruled by a gang of hard-working, terrifying, passionate and charming women, swanning about in their chunky jewelry and patch-work dresses, they are weaving a kind of magic together. They draw lines with tape on the ground and speak of energies and lead the girls in strange chants and ancient rituals. Theater women may well be some kind of witch in real life. Acting is a kind of possession after all. I loved thinking about this as the film went on.
The film has an all-female cast and is heavily feminine. Masculinity is ridiculed and actively rejected when it dares to show up. The favored weapon of the baddies is a skewer, it's true, but one that's bent like a cat's claw or a surgical needle or a sickle, giving it a kind of earthiness and coyness. Similarly, the intense dedication and weirdly intimate cruelty of women features in the film's scary scenes.
I really liked this film. It's true I think this was largely for subjective reasons, given my happy memories of performing myself, but that can be said about any film. This is an interesting, chilly, intense film that's worth a look. So look.
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