After the stratospheric mega-hit which was Call Me By Your Name, director Luca Guadagnino had an illustrious career laid out before him of directing sprawling, sensitive drama pieces. But, much to our delight, he decided what he would do instead is direct a remake of legendary horror flick Suspiria for Amazon. The distributor gave a little sneak peek to attendees of CinemaCon in Las Vegas, and well… people were suitably disturbed.
Hold up: if you’ve not seen the original Suspiria, I recommend you do so – along with the rest of Dario Argento‘s output. It’s a masterpiece of horror with a genuinely unique and nearly unsurpassed use of colour. It’s also, in the true Italian giallo style, very bloody.
So it’s perhaps unsurprising that tweets from attendees at this particular screening found the content somewhat challenging to their intestinal fortitude. Here’s how Variety described the scene in question, which has not been released publicly:
The scene finds Dakota Johnson practicing ballet at a creepy dance company.
Every pirouette she pulls off has gruesome consequences for a dancer in another studio — as Johnson practices, the other young woman is literally ripped apart, descending into a mess of broken bones, urine, spittle, and blood. It’s intense, to put it mildly.
And here’s how the people actually in the trenches of this screening described it:
Luca Guadagnino presented a scene from his #Suspiria remake; there’s a 70s sepia tone … and seriously some of the most disturbing body horror. They went for it and the #CinemaCon audience is gasping. Just brutal but with a gentle melody. Holy crap… call me by your bent body.
— Fandango (@Fandango) April 26, 2018
Ummm I am traumatized after seeing a scene from “Suspiria” in which Dakota Johnson controls the body of another woman as she dances. The woman’s body literally cracks in half. She is like, torn apart. Spitting, urinating, bleeding. It’s… A lot. #CinemaCon
— Amy Kaufman (@AmyKinLA) April 26, 2018
First clip from Suspiria invokes a dancer being thrown around like a rag doll telekinetically in a mirrored rehearsal space, bones breaking, becoming a contorted mess. Very gruesome and hard to watch. This film will make most people feel uneasy. #CinemaCon
— /Film (@slashfilm) April 26, 2018
For context: bones cracking. Skin ripping. I literally feel sick. Woof. #Suspiria #CinemaCon
— Lauren Cox (@Iaurencox) April 26, 2018
Sounds like a faithful remake, and perhaps a wonderful way for Guadagnino to preemptively smash any conceptions that he might go the easy route and direct lovely queer romances for the rest of his career.
Suspiria lands later this year.
Open your mind and stretch your imagination. #Suspiria is coming to theaters this fall.
Starring Tilda Swinton, Dakota Johnson, @ChloeGMoretz, Mia Goth and Jessica Harper. From director Luca Guadagnino. pic.twitter.com/67O57kJWQD
— The Consultant (@nowscreamingpv) April 26, 2018
