This grandiose remake of Dario Argento’s dreamy 1977 masterpiece conjures up all the right witchy ingredients but lacks the original’s joyful abandonDario Argento’s dazzling 1977 chiller Suspiria first opened in the UK in a censoriously truncated version, having suffered significant cuts to blunt its extremities.
Horror fans were appalled and sought out more complete versions of the film, videotapes of which were promptly confiscated during the “video nasties” hysteria of the early 80s.
How things have changed! Today, Luca Guadagnino’s grandiose Suspiria remake can sail into British cinemas with all its bone-cracking, skin-slicing, blood-letting intact – a cause for rejoicing, no doubt.
Yet watching this sporadically sparkling yet weirdly saggy “cover version” of Argento’s biggest international hit, I couldn’t help wishing that someone had been there with the scissors to trim the film of its indulgences – not the violence, but the verbosity.Set in “divided Berlin
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