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Fantastic Fest 2018: ‘Suspiria’ Is Sensual, Savage Filmmaking-Sorcery

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Suspiria

Argento’s original Suspiria is undoubtedly one of his finest and stylistically gorgeous films to date. A remake announcement ruffled a few feathers of fans who held the original highly on the alter of fandom. But, rest assured that this remake is a masterpiece on its own terms using its own legs.

We are introduced to Susie Bannion (Dakota Johnson) a young student of dance who arrives at a world-renowned Tanz dance company in Germany. Much like Jessica Harper’s Bannion, she arrives with dreams and hopes intact and with hungry eyes. These two versions of Bannion are rarely ever so comparable in any other instance in this film, but it’s was nice that it starts in familiar territory.

Susie takes on the role of the student under the watchful gaze of her instructors, but begins to find more than she bargained for in both Stanz and in herself leading us down a hell of a path filled with well-choreographed dance, intense gore and twists along the way.

Suspiria takes place against conflict and unease of 1977 Berlin, and the soon to be changed face of Europe. A whole lot of connotation is placed on that timespan including the Baader-Mienhof bombings being mentioned in TV chatter, as well as the politics of the dance studio and their rank. A false democracy and power grab are at work in both arenas and it’s a really intelligent ideal to put the narrative inline with.

A ritual featuring an ousted member of the dance studio being bent, broken and violently contorted, is one of the first real reveals of how much more this film is going for the witch thing. It isn’t subtle and this sequence, edited together with a beautiful dance sequence is intensely brutal and sets the precedent of how this film is going to handle the dark magic aspects, and I couldn’t be happier with it.

Whereas Argento’s Suspiria teased the idea of what the films narrative truly was within the surreal, outside of a cringe worthy moment of Udo Kier over exposition, this one doesn’t dance around with the mystery whatsoever. You are fully aware that this is a coven, and even the idea of The Three Mothers is revealed fairly early on. It allows for exploration into other areas of interest that on some volumes are far more interesting.

Dakota Johnson and cast are a terrific ensemble and perfect to move Luca’s dark magic in new and macabre ways, taking a few twists and turns in terms of familiar character direction. A very unexpected detour of direction in particular pushes Mia Goth in new and interesting ways, further setting this version apart from Argento’s film.

Director Luca Guadagnino’s vision is years in the making and absolutely sings its own wonderful song. The film is gorgeous in its own special way, this vision focuses more on muted tones, rather than big gel lit set pieces. Guadangnino isn’t interested in big slasher set pieces either, instead he focuses on emotional resonance and the violent elements of the supernatural.

Thom Yorke’s score worked for me, carrying a grounded, haunting weight to Guadagnino’s dance. Yorke even adds a few vocal tracks into the mix, creating a chilling atmosphere right from the intro. The sounds combine hints of Radiohead with tons of synthesized queues built off of 70’s heady horror.
Suspiria is sensual, savage filmmaking sorcery. It pushes the envelope into new directions and features a finale that finalizes the love that I already felt for this film. It does exactly what a good remake has to do in order to transcend outside its predecessor’s shadow, it takes its own path, dancing and blazing the entire way.

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Another Creepy Spider Movie Hits Shudder This Month

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Good spider films are a theme this year. First, we had Sting and then there was Infested. The former is still in theaters and the latter is coming to Shudder starting April 26.

Infested has been getting some good reviews. People are saying that it’s not only a great creature feature but also a social commentary on racism in France.

According to IMDb: Writer/director Sébastien Vanicek was looking for ideas around the discrimination faced by black and Arab-looking people in France, and that led him to spiders, which are rarely welcome in homes; whenever they’re spotted, they’re swatted. As everyone in the story (people and spiders) is treated like vermin by society, the title came to him naturally.

Shudder has become the gold standard for streaming horror content. Since 2016, the service has been offering fans an expansive library of genre movies. in 2017, they began to stream exclusive content.

Since then Shudder has become a powerhouse in the film festival circuit, buying distribution rights to movies, or just producing some of their own. Just like Netflix, they give a film a short theatrical run before adding it to their library exclusively for subscribers.

Late Night With the Devil is a great example. It was released theatrically on March 22 and will begin streaming on the platform starting April 19.

While not getting the same buzz as Late Night, Infested is a festival favorite and many have said if you suffer from arachnophobia, you might want to take heed before watching it.

Infested

According to the synopsis, our main character, Kalib is turning 30 and dealing with some family issues. “He’s fighting with his sister over an inheritance and has cut ties with his best friend. Fascinated by exotic animals, he finds a venomous spider in a shop and brings it back to his apartment. It only takes a moment for the spider to escape and reproduce, turning the whole building into a dreadful web trap. The only option for Kaleb and his friends is to find a way out and survive.”

The film will be available to watch on Shudder starting April 26.

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Part Concert, Part Horror Movie M. Night Shyamalan’s ‘Trap’ Trailer Released

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In true Shyamalan form, he sets his film Trap inside a social situation where we aren’t sure what is going on. Hopefully, there is a twist at the end. Furthermore, we hope it’s better than the one in his divisive 2021 movie Old.

The trailer seemingly gives away a lot, but, as in the past, you can’t rely on his trailers because they are often red herrings and you are being gaslit to think a certain way. For instance, his movie Knock at the Cabin was completely different than what the trailer implied and if you hadn’t read the book on which the film is based it was still like going in blind.

The plot for Trap is being dubbed an “experience” and we aren’t quite sure what that means. If we were to guess based on the trailer, it’s a concert movie wrapped around a horror mystery. There are original songs performed by Saleka, who plays Lady Raven, a kind of Taylor Swift/Lady Gaga hybrid. They have even set up a Lady Raven website to further the illusion.

Here is the fresh trailer:

According to the synopsis, a father takes his daughter to one of Lady Raven’s jam-packed concerts, “where they realize they’re at the center of a dark and sinister event.”

Written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan, Trap stars Josh Hartnett, Ariel Donoghue, Saleka Shyamalan, Hayley Mills and Allison Pill. The film is produced by Ashwin Rajan, Marc Bienstock and M. Night Shyamalan. The executive producer is Steven Schneider.

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Woman Brings Corpse Into Bank To Sign Loan Papers

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Warning: This is a disturbing story.

You have to be pretty desperate for money to do what this Brazilian woman did at the bank to get a loan. She wheeled in a fresh corpse to endorse the contract and she seemingly thought the bank employees wouldn’t notice. They did.

This weird and disturbing story comes via ScreenGeek an entertainment digital publication. They write that a woman identified as Erika de Souza Vieira Nunes pushed a man she identified as her uncle into the bank pleading with him to sign loan papers for $3,400. 

If you’re squeamish or easily triggered, be aware that the video captured of the situation is disturbing. 

Latin America’s largest commercial network, TV Globo, reported on the crime, and according to ScreenGeek this is what Nunes says in Portuguese during the attempted transaction. 

“Uncle, are you paying attention? You must sign [the loan contract]. If you don’t sign, there’s no way, as I cannot sign on your behalf!”

She then adds: “Sign so you can spare me further headaches; I can’t bear it any longer.” 

At first we thought this might be a hoax, but according to Brazilian police, the uncle, 68-year-old Paulo Roberto Braga had passed away earlier that day.

 “She attempted to feign his signature for the loan. He entered the bank already deceased,” Police Chief Fábio Luiz said in an interview with TV Globo. “Our priority is to continue investigating to identify other family members and gather more information regarding this loan.”

If convicted Nunes could be facing jail time on charges of fraud, embezzlement, and desecration of a corpse.

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