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Following several years of wrangling, news that old giallo peddler Dario Argento’s cult classic 1977 horror film ‘Suspiria’ has been given the go ahead for a remake has shocked and surprised many. Despite the almost frenzied rash of similar rehashes over the last few years, that anyone should want to remake this, of all films, appears queer in the extreme; due in no small part to it’s idiosyncratic nature and the adoration afforded it throughout the global horror community.

‘Suspiria’ is the Trout Mask Replica of the exploitation movie world, i.e. a work of unparalleled genius to some, pretentious, delusional rubbish to others. For my money, despite its faults, it’s a sumptuously sinister, painterly period piece still without peer or equivalent within the genre. Lavishly shot using the now defunct 3-strip Technicolor process, it’s a visually intense banquet of atmospheric colour and striking set design (none of that dark modern blood here). That it features several of the nastiest and most insistently gory deaths on screen has meant that it’s still banned from cinemas in certain countries, including Germany.

The story is based around a young American girl who arrives at a prestigious European ballet academy, only to find that it is in fact run by a coven of murderous witches. What follows is hallucinatory high drama infused with esoteric symbolism and operatic flourishes, with the first truly epic death scene occurring but minutes into the film (see below). Part of the films appeal is also the much bootlegged soundtrack by Italian symphonic prog rockers Goblin. Chock full of discordant Moog’s and evocative percussion pieces it creates a tense atmosphere of dread and foreboding which will be sorely missing from any new version.

Suspiria is the first film in Argento’s ‘Three Mother’ trilogy which are based loosely on the concepts found in ‘Confessions…’ author Thomas DeQuincey’s ‘Suspiria de Profundiis’ (sighs from the depths) a book of fantastical essays rooted in the author’s prodigious opium addiction. The Mothers are allegorical figures who represent the embodiment of human suffering and asserts that just as there are three Fates and Graces, there are also three Sorrows. However, in Argento’s trinity, figures representing redemption and clarity have been subverted into paganistic witches who rather than appease suffering, create it.

However, all that makes it sound far more profound than it actually is. It isn’t a film with the strongest narrative and plot was never one of its greatest strengths. Realistically it’s an exercise in style over substance; a jewel box, there to be admired as opposed to opened. And if that’s your starting point you can only really get away with it if the visuals and soundtrack are absolute top notch.

According to the producer of the remake, Marco Morabito, Argento gave up the rights with a gracious, if arrogant flourish, quoted as saying that he’s convinced that a remake won’t do him any harm as his original movie “is a masterpiece and can’t be overshadowed”. Masterpiece may well be too strong a word but there’s more than a grain of truth to that sentiment. It would be great to think that someone could give the original a run for it’s money but seems unlikely.

So far it’s ‘Pineapple Express’ director David Gordon Green that’s pencilled in at the helm but that’s all that’s definite at the moment. Rumours that Marilyn Manson and Natalie Portman were to be involved have been put down to spurious gossip.

Watch this space for updates…

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