It’s an indisputable horror classic, and one of the scariest gosh darn movies you’ll ever see. So, naturally, when the decision came to remake Dario Argento’s iconic “Suspiria,” they went to the guy best known for Southern coming-of-age stories?
“No, it doesn’t make a lick of sense,” David Gordon Green laughed with MTV News, revealing that he’s already written and hopes to direct a new version of the 1977 film. “But it’s wicked. I love it, plot holes and everything.
“‘Suspiria’ is a classic for me,” he continued. “I want to be scared. I want to be afraid.”
No genre has been more maligned in recent years than horror, particularly its seemingly ubiquitous off-shoot, the “torture porn,” of which “Suspiria” is surely a distant progenitor. The film, about an American student abroad in Germany who discovers that the dancing school she attends is actually home to a coven of Satanic witches, contains one of the most violent on-screen murders in film history – a grisly end Eli Roth on his best day couldn’t match for shock value.
But put it in the hands of an artist like Green and it suddenly becomes “some classy shiat,” the director enthused.
“It’s an opportunity to take all artistic excellence and be inspired by what was a low budget Italian 70’s gore movie,” he said. “Where the art world meets the violent and supernatural.
“I would love to get every geek that loves torture porn and every old lady in line to see ‘Phantom of the Opera’ to come and have this insane experience.”
Are you in? What do you think of Green directing a “Suspiria” remake? Sound off below.
March 5th, 2008 at 10:04 pm
Better be good.
March 6th, 2008 at 7:11 am
Sounds great…
March 6th, 2008 at 12:28 pm
This is ridiculous. The original is about as artistic as horror films get and shouldn’t be tampered with.
March 6th, 2008 at 10:35 pm
The original Suspiria is a work of art, an extreme painting on celluloid. No one could ever top it. That said, I will give this remake a shot, but I’m not expecting to like it.
March 6th, 2008 at 10:55 pm
What a horrible travesty to leave such an uneducated man at the helm of a remake of an incredibly artistic, genuinely well made film as Suspiria.
I question if he has even seen the film, or has simply had it described to him.
March 7th, 2008 at 12:39 am
Pathetic. A complete waste of time. And a American directing a remake of a classic Italian horror film. Forget it. This is a massive fail.
March 7th, 2008 at 1:48 am
WHAT THE HELL?? Suspiria is NOT and should not be TORTURE PORN!! Any remakes of this movie will suck and give Suspiria a bad name. It’s my favorite movie, I can’t believe it… this IS fail. A useless waste of time!
March 7th, 2008 at 3:45 am
Do the last three posters have brains or oatmeal in their heads? DGG is hardly ‘uneducated’ and he’s a crazy, brilliant choice to make a movie like this. We now already know that it’ll be better than anything Darren Bousman could ever do.
March 7th, 2008 at 7:47 am
DGG should be ashamed of himself. This is a ridiculous idea. Remake Suspiria? WHY? Oh! $$$
March 7th, 2008 at 9:51 am
David Gordon Green is by far the most brilliant filmmaker of his generation. He is an inspired choice for this remake. Especially since the original is a bit overrated in the first place.
March 7th, 2008 at 11:47 am
U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!
March 7th, 2008 at 5:09 pm
God please tell me this is a joke.
March 8th, 2008 at 1:03 am
Who cares if they’re good or not (and they aren’t)? Suspiria shouldn’t even be remade in the first place.
March 9th, 2008 at 8:42 pm
Regardless of his claims of “loving” the original, it sounds like he doesn’t respect the film at all. I think his comments about supposed ‘plot holes’ and about bringing art to the film is telling - Green doesn’t get the films appeal at all, and has managed to miss its every nuance.
Needless to say, this is a terrible idea, but merely the latest cash grab by cynical, revisionist hack directors and producers to cash-in on films their teen-aged target audience has never seen, but whose title they will recognize from dusty box-art in the cult and horror sections of their local rental shop.
Here’s a tip: Directors remaking genre classics are simply in it for the money, but a big tip-off is when they claim to ‘love’ the original - if that was true, why would they be tampering with it? I’ll tell you: $$$$$$$$$.
March 10th, 2008 at 10:34 am
Well I’ve read some crap about a movie before but this really is ridiculous. Have the people involved ever actually SEEN Suspiria??? Torture Porn??? The most grisly on screen death in movies???? It’s as people have said as close to art in horror as you can get. Sure it’s got gore but to say it’s some kind of original torture porn is not only wrong but a damn INSULT to the movie and Dario Argento. This writer should put down the keyboard. Take a step back and start writing an ORIGINAL movie. If he loves the original so much, how about he leave it alone. For someone who loves the original he sounds like he’s never seen the thing judging by the crap he’s coming out with about it. He seems to have NO respect for the original and whoever wrote this piece about it should go watch it first before describing it.
March 14th, 2008 at 12:19 am
Do you go into the museum and mess with Van Goh’s Starry Night, or is there a copy of it hanging next to it? No, Argento’s early movies are works of art, The only comparison in lighting and set color layout would be the work of Mario Bava, a big influence for Argento. Did Argento remake Bava’s Blood and Black Lace? No , He wrote his own movies, and even got Bava to do some set deseign on Inferno, the sequel to Suspiria. But hey, everyone slows down on the highway to look at an accident, im sure people will look at this wreck.
March 15th, 2008 at 10:37 pm
There is absolutely nothing in Argento’s film that even hints at “torture porn.” Frankly I’m ashamed that a major news source like MTV would make such a silly mistake.
As for David Gordon Green… while he may be an “inspired” choice to remake this film, his attitude based on these few comments in the posted article do nothing but exude an air of condescension, which is insulting both to Argento’s artistry, and those who are capable of appreciating it.
MTV, you have clearly failed to research Suspiria at all. As if that isn’t bad enough, it seems that the director chosen to helm this remake knows absolutely nothing of Argento’s work, Suspiria, or the artistry behind the lineage of films from which Suspiria is derived.
March 15th, 2008 at 11:51 pm
“No, it doesn’t make a lick of sense.”
Neither do nightmares. That’s what Suspiria is. It’s one big nightmare. It’s bizzare, it’s surreal and it’s scary. It isn’t story-driven or what have you. Apparently he missed the whole point of the movie when he watched it. D’OH.
Has he even seen any other Italian horror films, or any other Argento films for that matter?
He’s probably just doing it because he wants people to know who he is. He doesn’t really sound like he’s actually a big fan of it.
March 16th, 2008 at 1:50 pm
Has Argento even signed off on this fiasco? This hack has absolutely no concept of what makes a good horor film. One can only hope that this garbage gets sent to the lowest circle of “development hell”! And as far as the comparison to Torture Porn? What a ridiculous statement! He would’t know Torture Porn if it was peeling off his skin! For that matter, neither does that other hack, Eli Roth. They should see something like ‘Guinea Pig’, and then get back to me…
March 16th, 2008 at 1:59 pm
I think this idiot director deserves to star as the victim in the first real torture porn movie that uses no special effects. What a pompous, ignorant, moronic piece of crap. You are no fan of classic horror. Go back to directing maxi-pad commercials, you hack. Do that and stop trying to line your pockets by stealing the name sake of movies you are not even smart enough to understand.
March 24th, 2008 at 7:52 pm
One of the best horror films movies ever made!!!! It’s so surreal and errie, even my kids like it (they’re old enought to get by the pg13 rating) and just the sound track sends chills up their spins–and mine. Love it, love it love it. dumb american filmmaker just wants to make money and in process ruin a classic.
March 27th, 2008 at 8:11 am
Great movie…I love it…!
March 27th, 2008 at 1:50 pm
Hmmmm, SUSPIRIRA remake? MTV Networks is involved? Could it have something to do with the recent cult movie name-dropping of Argento’s SUSPIRIA (in comparison with H.G. Lewis’ WIZARD OF GORE) in the recent nerd-fest JUNO, which also happens to be an MTV Networks film? Some uninformed MTV production goon thought this one up… and adding insult to injury… Eli Roth’s name shouldn’t even be mentioned in the same breath as Argento’s. But… that’s entertainment… for jackasses.
April 1st, 2008 at 1:51 am
No doubt this remake will make the Black Christmas remake look like a classic.
April 8th, 2008 at 10:43 pm
NO REMAKE!!! STOP THIS MADNESS!!!