Filmmaker reacts to Suspiria (2018) for the FIRST TIME! 

Tilda Swinton not only plays the leader of the school, she also plays the old man psychologist.

That scene with the contorting dance is one of the biggest "i hate it but i can't look away" moments I've ever seen in a horror movie

You're not crazy, James! I cried during that gory scene. It was truly very emotional

This movie is severely underrated in my opinion. I absolutely love this movie. When I went to see it, there was a single showtime at a theater about 35 mins away that ended at 12:30am on a Wednesday. It was literally me and my buddy in the theater and the employees hated us since we were the last 2 people they had to wait for by like an hour. The older man that was the manager walked in towards the Mother Suspiriorum reveal and promptly walked out. Incredibly memorable and moving theater experience.

Beautiful movie! I love that they kept the whispers and the sighs of the witches as apart of the sound design and not just the soundtrack like what the Goblin music did for the OG. It’s like they go in and out of non-diegetic and diegetic sound, making you wonder if the characters are hearing them like we are.

This movie has such a nice vibe. Luca Guadagnino is the master of creating an atmosphere through the setting, colors and music. Call Me By Your Name and Bones and All are also flawless in that regard.

The older version was visually appealing.. but THIS version has performances and story that’s leaps and bounds ahead of the original ❤

The choice of cameras and filmstock here manage to make this look a lot like a classic 60s/70s horror film in a way. I love that it's not pristine and flashy

I really enjoyed this remake. I also LOVE that Thom Yorke did the score for this movie. Tilda Swinton fits thise role so perfectly.

I love this Film, it just oozes atmosphere. Tom York did an amazing job on the score.

I love this movie, the soundtrack by Radiohead's one and only Thom Yorke is beautiful, dark, atmospheric, hauting, yet beautiful

This film is brooding and then when it hits, it HITS HARD. When I first watched it, it was during a snow storm and I was awake at 3am. I watched this in the darkness as branches from the nearby trees snapped. When the film ended I wanted to immediately watch it again. It just stuck with me. I was thinking about it all... day... long.

Idk if you knew this, but the therapist’s wife is played by Jessica Harper, who plays Susie in the original Suspiria!

What I really didn't expect was for me to cry at the end, where the camera zooms in on the heart edged into the wall, with the "A+J". Such a beautiful, emotional ending for such a strange film (which I loved every minute of).

This is a stone cold masterpiece. An instant classic. Full of depth and beauty. So glad you loved it

Another interesting fact is that Jessica Harper, the original lead in the OG Suspiria, plays the deceased wife of the old psychologist. Great cameo from the original film. Both films are masterpieces in their own ways. This is more a reimagining than a direct remake. It focuses on some different aspects of the plot while keeping the same structure for the whole thing.

One of the best reimaginations of a film ever made. Both version are pure gold for different reason. I think of these to as a one package.. Like looking in a twisted mirror.

After watching this again, I feel like the silent witch with the glasses who killed herself must have some kind of power where she feels the pain of those around her. And the reason that she wanted to die is that there had been so much suffering around her lately, largely due to Markos. And I feel like she sent a message to Sara to let her know the truth, and then she killed herself to be a distraction so that Sara could discover the truth without being seen or heard by the other witches. Also, I had wondered before whether Susie knew from the beginning that she was the reincarnation of Mother Suspiriorum, but I guess she didn't know until the dream where she started shouting "I know who I am!" And I wish we had gotten to see the reaction of Blanc to the plot twist. The relationships that "Susie" had built with Blanc and Sara were genuinely touching. I like to think that Blanc survived. The witch that found her still alive seemed overjoyed, so I'm thinking that they were able to heal her wounds. It's rare that you have horror with such heart like this. And I never picked up on the fact that Josef hid his wife's ID papers because he was afraid that she was going to leave without him, and not having her papers is why she ended up in that concentration camp. I think that's why he talks a lot about "delusion", because he buried his guilt and became delusional about the reality that he was largely responsible for his wife's death. He became a simulacrum (a poor imitation) of himself, just like how Markos was a poor imitation of Mother Suspiriorum. But Josef and Markos (both played by Tilda Swinton) learned the truth about themselves. And we saw the conflict / division within the coven / dance studio, which was paralleled with many shots of the Berlin Wall and how we were constantly hearing about terrorist attacks and such. In fact, I think the plane hijackers were meant to parallel how this coven had been hijacked by a fake Mother. I love parallels and subtext, and this film masterfully delivers in those areas and many others.

When going to see this in theaters I was not expecting it to end with an orgy of exploding heads, and damn was it glorious

This movie is so well done. The audio with the feet hitting the floor and the fabric rubbing together and the heavy breathing is almost music like. I basically fell in love with this with the dancing. The way you hear the bones breaking and just see her getting juiced is horrific, but you watch because it's all just so well put together. I watched it on a recommendation and didn't even see a trailer to it and it feels like the best way to watch this movie.

Dude. your recent selections and reactions have been 🍕

I love this version. As for the comparisons to the original, I’m at the frame of mind that I love both as they are so vastly different from one another.

As an avid horror lover, there are not many films that truly scare me. But this...this is an exception. Absolute masterpiece by Guadagnino

This movie is hypnotic and came at a very weird time in my dancing career as I was choosing to leave a company. The movie touches on a lot of very real politics found in dance companies and the choreography of Damien Jalet is both mesmerizing and horrifying, incredibly visceral and violent. Watching Jalet’s choreography he really taps into something otherworldly and it makes my skin crawl every time I see his stuff. But I am glad to see this film get some love, it was really divisive upon release.

One of my favourite remakes, much like The Fly, The Thing and Invasion of the Body Snatchers, it takes the original idea and does new stuff with it.

This was easily one of my top films that year. Its gorgeous on so many levels.

I watched this reaction yet. I just needed to say that I am so glad somebody is reacting to it. It's too good to miss. Such an incredible film from 2018.

Literally my second favorite horror movie ever. I just fuckin' LOVE the complexity but also humanity behind this new register of the same story. Thanx Bro for watching this gem

I know it’s a very unpopular opinion but I prefer this version to the original. There’s some really messed up imagery in this one.

Similarly to you I did not expect Suspiria (2018) to hit me in the feels that much. There is soooo much thematic depth in here. As a German I can tell you that a lot of this is about German history and politics of the post WWII era. It's insane how Guadagnino did his completely own original thing with the base structure of the original. Btw, it wasn't a war, that was occurring. It was terrorist attacks by the German Red Army Fraction. A lot of this had to do with the cold war and with the conflicts between fascism and socialism, both of which are represented by Susie aka Mother Superiorum on the one hand (socialism) and Helena Markos on the other (fascism).

I am so happy that you reacted to this like I asked because I knew you would love it!! This was created by the brilliant Luca Guadagnino (Call Me By You Name and Bones and All)! His films are some of the purest examples of someone who truly appreciates films and filmmaking. And wants to do complete justice for whatever source material he uses. I'm glad I didn't know Dakota Johnson was in this film because I probably wouldn't have watched it. I have issues with her, but I'm glad I went into this completely in the dark because it is masterful! Also, that scene almost made my food revisit me I swear 😂

The main star from the very first Suspiria has a cameo in this one as the wife of this old man detective (Tilda Swinton)

YESSS I WAS JUST GONNA RECOMMEND THIS TO YOU Also the woman that played the old guy's wife (that was just a trick) in this movie, played Suzy in the original Suspiria

I have to say I was so much more impressed by this version than the original. They were wise not trying to compete in colour with the Argento version, going with a muted colour scheme until that scene goes hand in hand with the setting. I don't know if bleak is the right word but the legacy of the Nazis, divided Germany, the violent political attacks give a sense of oppressiveness that saps the colour of the world. The sound and editing are this films colour it seems to me.

The Olga scene is genuinely terrifying. Her twisted face is so unbelievably creepy.

Thom Yorke does a wonderful job in Suspiria just as Goblin did in the original with the music. I am glad they brought back the OG character Jessica Harper for a bit role to tie both films together. Amazing one woman Tilda Swinton can play three roles in this film. Damien Jalet does the dance choreography and it is both sensual and nightmarish. Such an intellectual film on so many levels! Chloe Moretz and Mia Goth? Dakota Johnson was perfectly cast too for the doubters!

Brilliantly horrific..this film was awesome! Want to vote on what I should watch next? Click here! www.patreon.com/jamesvscinema Have a great day!

Nobody talks about this movie enough. This movie inspired me to write again. I get emotional when I think about Suspiria 2018. 😅

I love that Tilda Swinton plays three roles. Madame Blanc, Dr. Josef Klemperer and "Mother" Markos.

This is literally one of my favorite movies of all time, I'm so glad you're watching it and hope that means more people will too!

I love the original but I like this one even more. This is how you take a classic and make a brand new interpretation of it.

omg so hyped to see you post this. This is hands down my favorite remake but also one of my favorite films of the last decade. The first time I watched this the very first horror scene in the mirror room hit me so hard I almost passed out. I was very impressed by how deeply it disturbed me lol.

Way back, last year, I just was so excited that you actually watched the original. Then there’s this excitement

LOVE this movie and so excited people are still reacting to it. thank you!!

I normally despise reaction videos, because they’re usually done by people who don’t have the ability to dissect or appreciate the content - not so here. Anxious to finish your vid and see your final thoughts!

One of the very few cases where I prefer the remake to the original. I love them both, and it's very hard not to miss the Goblin soundtrack from the original. And although Thom Yorke does an amazing job here in the remake, especially with the song Suspirium, the Goblin soundtrack just had something special that puts it above the new one. But back to the film, it's such a good way to make a remake, it has basically the same storybeats and plotpoints, but they're expanded upon and filmed in a completely different way, the tone of the two movies could not have been more different. Love this movie, might even enjoy it so much as to put it as one of my favourites of the decade.

Just watched this for the first time last night. There is so much to adore about this film. I have to say that I wasn't a fan of the final act, but there is so much to sink your teeth into on this that it still gets my vote of approval. That Olga Volk dance scene was probably the hardest thing I've ever had to watch, and I've seen so many horror films since I was young. I watched BME Pain Olympics as a child, and this scene was worse to me than that.

This is one of the first movies I almost walked out on because I had no idea what to expect. I went alone and the theater was almost empty! It quickly became one of my favorite movies and experiences haha. The actress for Olga is actually a contortionist (I heard) and I had the same reaction as you, I couldn't look away even though I wanted to.

I was fortunate enough to see this at a cool little art house theater when it came out, where they were playing the soundtrack before the film started to create ambience. Then the film played. I walked out of the theater that night not really knowing what I thought of it all... but I couldn't stop thinking about it. Five years and multiple, multiple viewings later, I not only consider it a cinematic masterpiece, but find it one of the more inspiring, thought provoking, emotionally resonant films I've ever seen. Needless to say, it is now a personal favorite, and I'm hopeful that a some distributor like Second Sight or Severin or Arrow will give it a proper prestige physical release with all the bells and whistles. Guadagnino had plans for more films, wanting to expand upon the lore and the story and the characters, but the movie failed so miserably at the box office that all such plans were abandoned. Sad in a way, but I think I'm glad that this film will stand alone.

Damien Jalet is the choreographer for this and I highly recommend his work in Paul Thomas Anderson's short film Anima, which features Thom Yorke and his music (who did the score for this movie)

Hi, I "watched" 🫣 it when premiered, in a theatre, one of the most horrific and scary movies I ever watched, just like you said, it it's at moments almost too real, at least to me. The scene when they're "talking" at the restaurant was as difficult to watch as the "folding" one and the last bloody coven 😱🫣🫢 I wouldn't say beautifully shot but skillfully (I'm very phobic when it comes to blood), I saw a Pasolini influence in that part (Guadagnino is a great cinema connoisseur and for some of us, with thousands of hours re watching and dissecting movies, is not difficult to find those "references" in his work). Great review; I was tempted to buy the pink vinyl of the soundtrack but decided it's so scary I don't even want to own anything related to it 🫣😱🫢🤢🫣. Greetings from Buenos Aires, Argentina 👍👋.

i too listen to “unmade” all the time. the suspiria remake is one of my favorite horror movies. i’m still sad that we (probably) won’t ever get the prequel-sidequel-sequel that luca guadagnino planned.

Tilda in three roles is amazing! Also a wonderful portrayal of 70-s Berlin with the Berlin wall and west and east part of the city.

Yesssssss!!! I’ve been dying for you to watch the 70s Body Snatchers and this. So happy to be getting both within a week. If you release a video for Coherence soon I think I’ll have a heart attack lol. Great video as always. I wish more films tried remaking like this, just completely doing their own thing while keeping true to the core elements only.

Okay, so since you diving into the obscure, and hittin' on 'em, you might want to check out "The Ninth Configuration". Great cast, wild theme, good time (if you like different)!! Oh, and, thanks for what you do!

First reaction I watch to this movie where "so much" is shown. You're brave to defy the algorithm like that xD

You need to check out Argento's Inferno. It's part of a trilogy Argento finally finished in 2007.

Thom York of Radiohead did the score... that’s why it’s SO GOOOOD!! ❤

Hey, James! You've got to see "Inferno" and "Mother of Tears" to complete Dario Argento's Three Mothers Trilogy about Mater Tenebrarum and Mater Lachrymarum! Tilda Swinton played the old man as well! Dual role!

So glad you loved it, I love this one too! I think its soooo underrated

Extraordinary this film comes from the same guy who did "Call Me by Your Name."

This is one of my favourite movies and I just now realized that Mia Goth is in this. I've seen her elsewhere besides X/Pearl but I didn't realize that she was in this!

Oh I am OBSESSED with this film

Thom Yorke's soundtrack for this is crazy good, I have the record as well and tracks like Suspirium and Unmade lend so much to this remake.

I love how broad of a range you have with the movies you react to, this one is awesome and one of my favorites of modern horror. Since it looks like Funny Games is gonna make it in this current poll, you should definitely add more Haneke films to your radar because he is one of the best modern directors.

This is largely the opposite of the original in having less visual spectacle but a comllex and deep plot, it's like amboent vs direct dread. Perfectly complimentary as a parallel to the original.

James, the whole film was shot on glorious 35mm film, not just the dance scene

If you have not seen Inferno, I recommend it, as it’s my favorite of the trilogy Dario Argento’s Suspiria is part of. I love this film, gave it a 5/5, and in fact, I love it more than the original. Please, give more Giallo films a watch, like Mario Bava’s Blood & Black Lace.

This film is so fucking great. I think In the Mood For Love is the greatest film of the 21st Century but this is so very close. Your reaction was the same as mine haha great stuff man

A brilliant updated reimagining of the original. And Tilda flexing her acting chops in three different roles. Kudos to the make-up department for her old man make-up. :)

This movie pulls from the og Suspiria’s sequel, Inferno which gives a backstory to another one of the three mothers.

You know, there's a movie kind of similar to this that I think you'd really enjoy called Pastoral: To Die In The Country. That movie is right up your alley.

One thing I do appreciate modern suspiria moreso than the original is because of the music soundtrack alone. I’m a huge fan of thom yorke and Radiohead. Also I liked how they incorporated “the trinity of witches” in the last sequence similar to like father, son, Holy Ghost. They made like mother, daughter, and Antichrist

I feel the same way as you, I love both for different reasons. But, this one just feels different. I really, really hope they do two more films about the other two mothers like Argento did to make an updated/remake 3 mothers trilogy.

I love this movie so much and I love how they put the original main actress reappeared as the old man's wife

When you gonna hit Rosemary's Baby? THE modern classic horror film.

I prefer this one over the original. Don't get me wrong, Argento's film is great, but I adore the overall direction this one took with its relationship to the real world. You can really feel the past clinging to every single character. Also, those dream sequences are insane.

Huge fan of Thom Yorke and Radioheads music

So glad this one hit you the same way it hit me

I love that you react to the artsy movies!!❤

Dang, I liked so fast after you flexed that vinyl!!!!!!

Finally someone who gets it!!! Unlike the rest of people that are always like “what’s going on?” “What’s happening?” “What is this?”

I have that Vinyl too, sweet pickup.

damn, bro... is there any other reaction video of you with THAT intense of an reaction? i couldn't go on eating, because i did not want to miss any of your hand acrobatics and the sounds... intensity equals volume in your case :-)

“She looks like Peter Griffin in Family Guy after falling down a flight of steps.”

I don't know if anyone mentioned it but that scene where they're just tossing the girl around the room, I'm pretty sure I read that the actor is contortionist, so they actually used minimal CGI in that scene, I think only for the part where she dislocates her jaw. I literally spent hours reading about this film when I finished the first time. It still lives in me months after and I really need to find time to finally watch it again. Such a pity that we will probably won't get the sequels (I mean I still hope for some big resurgence how incredible this film is) since I'm so curious what would the creators do with them.

I was listening to the Suspiria (78) album literally as this dropped. Very cool.

Your reactions 😁 I'm here for it 😆 Where else would you keep your abominations but in the cellar?

I just finished this movie a week ago and I’ve been wondering if you’ll ever react to this movie and here you go!

One of my favorite films !!!

This was the film that made me realize that good horror remakes could happen. Glad ya got to experience it, I remember spending two years looking for a film festival to watch this movie before it hit Amazon.

Came for Thom, stayed for Thom.

9:54 REBUKE!!! 😂 Best reaction ever.

Oh and also, I think it's hinted at during their volk performance that THAT was the event when Mother Suspiriorum awoke inside of Susie. Before that, she lay dormant within her. Susie was born the reincarnation of the Mother of Sighs, but she obviously had no idea and thought she was just a normal person. But after the performance the "real" Susie was taken over by the Mother. Markos had been pretending to be the Mother. She's a powerful witch but she's a fraud.

Tilda Swinton plays three roles - Dr. Klemperer (the old man), Madame Blanc, and Helena Markos

One of my favourite movies 👍

This is why you always need the Spanish Inquisition at standby. Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!

Not me just realising that’s Mia goth after all these years 😂 I always recognise her too late 😅 like I literally just saw her at Paris fashion week for Miu Miu and it’s when I got home and looked at videos on my phone I realised WAIT I met Mia goth 😂😂😂😂

Art

Same director who made Call Me By Your Name :)