I had a dream about a guy I knew in high school. I dreamed we were attending the same funeral, of all things. Fitting, I guess, since we used to talk about ghosts and horror and industrial music. Anyway, the dream made me wonder what he’s doing these days, so I got on Facebook and actually used it to check on a friend for the first time in ages. I’d almost forgotten I could do that–after years of wading through memes and flame wars I’ve mostly stopped using it.
Turns out this friend, though, still uses Facebook to make friendly posts about things he likes. Who knew? He’s spent this whole month posting trailers for his favorite horror movies, which finally inspired me to watch Suspiria. Both of them.
The two films, the original 1970’s film and the recent remake, are very different from each other. Both had aspects that mesmerized me and both had moments that felt silly or half-formed and broke the spell. I loved the music in the original. I love that spare, hollow sound certain avant garde music had back then. I also love the overblown colors and sets in the original, the way they gave everything a surreal feeling and made all the characters seem small and childlike by comparison. I’ve read that Dario Argento was trying to create a fairytale mood and I definitely felt that. The story and characters felt a bit weak and underdeveloped but I was very swept along by the mystery and mood of it all. There were a few moments of really effective terror and gore, but I mostly enjoyed the artistry and the mythic feel of the film.
The second Suspiria was much different, and tried a lot harder to have a developed storyline and some connection to real world themes and events. It tried a lot harder, but it didn’t feel very successful. There were a lot of nods to German history and a lot of hints at various themes, but none of them felt fully explored. I felt the same way about the characters–the movie tried to give them more personality and backstory but largely failed, in my opinion. In some ways, these characters felt less real than the originals, a bit too generic and incoherent. Much of the film felt boring and occasionally confusing, but I was fascinated by all the dancing. Both movies are set in a dance school, but only this one really makes dance part of the story, making the dances into a wild ritual that becomes central to the plot and a vital part of the gore and horror. I loved the dancing. I loved the ending, where the wild dancing and the violence blend into this horrific and beautiful religious moment. Days later, I find myself forgetting most of the movie, and all that remains are the dance scenes all threaded together, from the lead character’s first dance to the last, and that thread was compelling and completely worth watching for me. If you have high tolerance for blood and nudity, and you love arthouse horror, you’ve probably already seen both of these. But if you haven’t, they’re nice to watch as a pair.
It’s funny how an odd little dream led me to watch fascinating films. Sometimes the path between points winds quite a bit. And sometimes the path is quick and straight from suggestion to action. When I wrote about Edith Wharton’s ghost stories, I found out in the comments (thanks so much) that there were two stories set in Brittany that weren’t included in my particular collection. I’ve now found one online and read it. Kerfol, set in an old castle in Brittany, is now my favorite Edith Wharton story. It starts out nicely spooky and then becomes quite moving and tragic. It’s not very long and it’s free online, so go out and read it if you haven’t already. It’s really wonderful.
I hope I’ll have time before Halloween to post a few more spooky suggestions, but in case I don’t, I hope everyone gets time to enjoy a good scare this weekend, even if Halloween isn’t a big deal where you are.
Oddly Cultured 
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