New ‘Suspiria’ Image Depicts A Witchcraft Dance, Dakota Johnson Says Shooting The Sequence Was ‘Terrifying’
In just under three months, one of the most highly anticipated horror movies of 2018 will finally hit theaters, Suspiria. Dario Argento’s 1972 original is considered one of the scariest horror movies of its time, and the 2018 reimagined Suspiria looks to be even more terrifying. Directed by Luca Guadagnino, Suspiria stars Dakota Johnson, Tilda Swinton, Mia Goth, and Lutz Ebersdorf.
Johnson portrays Susie Bannion, a young dancer from Ohio who attends a prestigious dance academy in Berlin. Susie is accepted into the academy after one of their dancers disappears. A darkness surrounds the mysterious academy, as it is run by a coven of witches. Their evil will engulf the artistic director, Madame Blanc (Swinton), a psychotherapist, Dr. Jozef Klemperer (Ebersdorf), and Susie.
Recently, a new photo of Suspiria was released, and it depicts a disturbing dance scene. The dance sequence was inspired by the avant-garde expressionist dance movement of pre-World War II, and it is backed by a score from Suspiria’s composer, Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke, as Entertainment Weekly reported. The choreography is part of the witches’ grand design, and Luca Guadagnino described the scene to Entertainment Weekly.
“In Dario Argento’s film, you see mostly lessons; there is not a grand dance moment in the movie. We felt that dance needed to be part of the process of witchcraft. That performance builds towards the greater ritual that is at the core of the film.”
Give your soul to the dance. #Suspiria pic.twitter.com/EIvfDKljJ0
— The Consultant (@nowscreamingpv) August 10, 2018
Costume designer Giulia Piersanti revealed that they hand-knotted each costume in red bondage rope to give it a feeling of dripping blood. Even eerier, Dakota Johnson revealed to Entertainment Weekly the symbolism of the choreography of the witchcraft dance scene.
“We were moving on the points of a pentagram, as though the dance were casting a spell.”
neither were we when we first saw the photo
— The Consultant (@nowscreamingpv) August 10, 2018
While the movie looks absolutely terrifying, the scariest scene for Dakota Johnson had nothing to do with the horror of the sequence, but the actual act of dancing. The actor told Entertainment Weekly why she was so afraid to perform the dance scene, which was shot in front of actual audience members watching the performance.
“I trained on and off for about a year before we started filming, but I’m not a professional dancer. It was terrifying.”
Earlier this year, audiences at CinemaCon were also terrified, as they saw the first unrated footage of Suspiria. MovieWeb reports that the footage revealed a dancer’s body being torn apart, and many viewers gasped in shock as they looked away in horror. As seen above, the trailer doesn’t feature any dialogue or gore, but many fans feel that the trailer is even scarier than many recent feature-length horror movies. Fans are also curious as to what the mysterious hook is all about, and we can all find out on November 2, 2018, when one of the creepiest horror movies of the year, Suspiria, debuts.
