Suspiria
Amazon Studios | Release Date: October 26, 2018 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
64
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 56 Critic Reviews
Positive:
33
Mixed:
16
Negative:
7
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
ScreenCrushBritt HayesSep 24, 2018
It is impossible to discuss the rapturous, experiential masterpiece that is Guadagnino’s Suspiria without dedicating this much space to its thematic density. It’s not a film one considers, but excavates, continually finding additional symbols and meaning within the deceptively simple setting. Read full review
100
New York Magazine (Vulture)Emily YoshidaSep 1, 2018
Suspiria is a gorgeous, hideous, uncompromising film, and while it seeks to do many things, settling our minds about the brutality of the past and human nature is not one of them. Read full review
100
Time OutJoshua RothkopfSep 1, 2018
It’s only hours afterward that Guadagnino’s film will cohere for you and yield its buried treasures: the bonds of secret sorority, the strength of a line of dancers moving like a single organism, the present rippling with the muscle memory of the past. It’s so good, it’s scary. Read full review
100
The TelegraphRobbie CollinSep 1, 2018
Dispassionate engagement won't fly here. You either stagger out early or plunge in up to your elbows. Read full review
91
The VergeBryan BishopNov 2, 2018
The result is unlikely to be as influential as Argento’s movie, and it will test some viewers’ patience, but it’s still a bold, hypnotic work, an example of the richness that today’s generation of filmmakers are bringing to the horror genre. Read full review
91
ConsequenceDan CaffreySep 25, 2018
By the time we finally do get to the blood and guts, the filmmakers have laid such an artful foundation that the viscera is just another part of Suspiria‘s hypnotic modern dance. Read full review
91
The PlaylistJessica KiangSep 1, 2018
It’s a long, deliriously filmic, primal banshee-howl of macabre imagination that leaves us hormonal and drunk on delusion: the beautiful, thrilling, lurid lie of cinema. Read full review
91
IndieWireDavid EhrlichSep 1, 2018
Guadagnino dredges up the dead with such crazed purpose that his magnum opus is able to dance through its rough spots and make good on its foreboding promise. Read full review
90
Arizona RepublicGarrett MitchellOct 31, 2018
It takes the charred bones and ash of Argento's witches and roots them in a reality entirely familiar to our own. Read full review
90
L.A. WeeklyApril WolfeOct 25, 2018
I’m happy to report that I have no idea what’s going on in Luca Guadagnino’s Suspiria remake, and that’s wonderful. The two Suspirias function more as companion pieces than as mirrored twins. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesJustin ChangOct 24, 2018
By the time the phantasmagorical finale arrives, you are flooded with blood and viscera, yes, but also something even more unsettling — a sudden onrush of feeling, a deep, overpowering melancholy. Read full review
90
The AtlanticDavid SimsOct 23, 2018
Above all else, it lodges itself into one’s brain and seems primed to reward repeat viewings. The biggest compliment I can give Guadagnino is that he’s made a Suspiria that appears destined for the long-lasting cult status already enjoyed by the original. Read full review
89
Austin ChronicleJenny NulfOct 31, 2018
Suspiria is not a movie that will gel with everyone. It will awaken the sickest, most twisted parts of your mind if you allow it. Read full review
88
USA TodayBrian TruittOct 25, 2018
An ambitious love letter to the original. It's also as polarizing a picture as last year’s “mother!” – which shares a commitment to blood and insanely audacious climaxes – and thoughtfully explores feminine strength amid the proudly self-possessed carnage. Read full review
88
New York PostSara StewartOct 24, 2018
Director Luca Guadagnino pirouettes far from the easy-living, Italian-countryside romance of last year’s masterpiece “Call Me By Your Name” for an arthouse-meets-Grand Guignol reboot of one of the freakiest horror movies to come out of the 1970s. And he pulls it off in delicious, gut-punching style. Read full review
85
Vanity FairRichard LawsonNov 1, 2018
The shivery crazy moments land, and a surprisingly emotional beat at the close of the film does, too. As nutty and off-the-wall as Suspiria is, it has a firm sense of control and proportion. It’s a loose and rambly thing that’s also tightly made, somehow. Read full review
83
The A.V. ClubKatie RifeSep 24, 2018
As bold (and potentially alienating) as Guadagnino’s take on Suspiria might be, it’s also extremely precise, and he places each sweeping caftan and gurgling sound effect with the focus and intention of an haute cuisine chef fussing over garnishes. Prepare your palate accordingly. Read full review
83
The Film StageRory O'ConnorSep 1, 2018
It is a film of surfaces, admittedly, but one made by perhaps our era’s best director of surfaces. Read full review
81
Paste MagazineNov 1, 2018
Much of Guadagnino’s Suspiria feels beholden to nothing, indulgent and overwrought, existing only for itself. Art should never have to justify its own existence, but also: Why does this exist? What motivations conceived this film that seems to want very little—to maybe even dislike—the movie on which it’s based? And yet, it’s unforgettable. Read full review
80
CineVueDaniel GreenNov 28, 2018
The good news for those not enamoured with Suspiria (2018) is that they’ll always have the original. The even better news for those who do go with this daring, uncompromised reimagining of Argento’s occult opus is that it now has a sleek, satisfying sibling. Read full review
80
VoxAlissa WilkinsonOct 23, 2018
By its enigmatic end, Suspiria is troubling and grim and yet strangely mirthful, having opened wounds without much interest in closing them. This is not a film you untangle; it’s a movie you feel. That will drive some mad. For others, it will feel something like ecstasy. Read full review
80
CineVueJohn BleasdaleSep 1, 2018
Everything builds to a brilliantly over the top finale that becomes almost mesmeric with its use of colour, music, movement and panting. Read full review
80
Screen DailyTim GriersonSep 1, 2018
Suffice to say, Suspiria tries to do much, culminating in a finale that’s almost laughably over-the-top. But the passion of Guadagnino’s messy vision — the swirl of emotions he conjures on this grand canvas — has a forcefulness that mostly transcends its sizable flaws. Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comChristy LemireOct 25, 2018
Suspiria is as striking and severe as the director’s “Call Me by Your Name,” the best film of 2017, was warm and welcoming. Read full review
70
The New YorkerAnthony LaneOct 22, 2018
The first time I saw Guadagnino’s Suspiria, I came out pretty much covered in gore, and confounded by the surfeit of stories. Can a splash be so big that it drowns the senses? How does such a film cohere? The second time around, I followed the flow, and found that what it led to was not terror, or disgust, but an unexpected sadness. Read full review
70
We Got This CoveredMatt DonatoOct 1, 2018
Luca Guadagnino’s Suspiria will divide fans of the original and those excited for something fresh as a testament to long-form (2+ hour) filmmaking that holds together impressively well. Read full review
70
VarietyOwen GleibermanSep 1, 2018
Suspiria has been made with enough skill to get inside your head, but enough ominous pretension to leave you scratching it. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneySep 1, 2018
The remake is never uninteresting. But it begets the question of whether the slender thread of story about a coven of witches operating out of a famed Berlin dance academy can withstand all the narrative detail, social context and cumbersome subplots heaped onto it. Read full review
67
Film Journal InternationalMaitland McDonaghOct 25, 2018
It’s a smart reimagining, but not a particularly compelling one, which is the problem overall. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyChris NashawatyOct 23, 2018
It’s likely to be enjoyed more by audiences unfamiliar with the original. Read full review
64
IGNWilliam BibbianiOct 25, 2018
Luca Guadagnino’s Suspiria is an interesting intellectual exercise, too ambitious to be ignored yet too overbearing to be enjoyed. Despite moments of genuine terror the film is less interesting in being scary than it is in humanizing what scares us, but once we know more about the witches in Suspiria, the less intriguing they are. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeTy BurrOct 31, 2018
When art-minded film directors stoop to genre-minded filmmaking, it’s generally a good idea to duck. Despite sequences that may lodge in your memory forever, Luca Guadagnino’s Suspiria is no exception to this rule. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Barry HertzOct 31, 2018
There are a lot of words that come to mind when watching Luca Guadagnino’s remake of Suspiria: beautiful, gross, overwhelming, frustrating, disturbing, powerful, long, gross, audacious, baffling, explicit, extravagant and did I mention gross? Read full review
60
The Observer (UK)Mark KermodeNov 29, 2018
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. Read full review
60
EmpireKim NewmanNov 12, 2018
This isn’t an atrocity on the level of, say, Rob Zombie’s Halloween — but it is a horror designed to test your patience rather than your nerves. Read full review
60
Rolling StonePeter TraversOct 24, 2018
Polarizing is too tame a word to describe reactions to Luca Guadagnino’s radical rethinking of Suspiria. Either you’ll dig in or bolt for the exit — no in between. Read full review
60
Film ThreatNorman GidneyOct 24, 2018
The art direction finds a new identity, the music by Radiohead’s Thom Yorke could easily be held up against the predecessor’s soundtrack by Goblin, the story makes sense, the performances are all on point, yet, without the glorious murder set pieces, we wonder why we are watching, to begin with. Read full review
60
The GuardianPeter BradshawSep 1, 2018
There are smart moments of fear and subliminal shivers of disquiet, the dance sequences are good and of course Guadagnino could never be anything other than an intelligent film-maker. But this is a weirdly passionless film. Read full review
50
Philadelphia Daily NewsGary ThompsonNov 6, 2018
The movie seems even longer – replacing Argento's splashy colors with dull, chilly greys, and lengthening the story (Argento clocked in at 96 minutes) with layers that feel over overwrought and overthought. Read full review
50
The Seattle TimesMoira MacdonaldNov 4, 2018
You don’t really watch Suspiria, you endure it. Read full review
50
Original-CinLiam LaceyNov 1, 2018
Pretentious, which might be defined as a showing an excess of ambition, is a modifier that clings to Luca Guadagnino’s Suspiria — a remake of Dario Argento’s 1977 Day-Glo horror classic — like a wet leotard. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperNov 1, 2018
Despite some interesting performances and impressive art direction, director Luca Guadagnino’s take on the 1977, cult-favorite, supernatural horror film by Dario Argento is an arduous, overstuffed, convoluted and trashy piece — bloated and graphically blood-soaked, guaranteed to make you cringe at times, but not the least bit chilling or haunting. Read full review
50
LarsenOnFilmJosh LarsenOct 31, 2018
The first Suspiria is a psychedelic sensory experience, but it didn’t really mean much. The remake, written by David Kajganich and directed by Luca Guadagnino (Call Me by Your Name), tries to bring too much meaning to its horror conceit. Read full review
50
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanOct 31, 2018
It takes every resource available to a recently minted Oscar nominee — but does almost nothing with it. Read full review
50
SlateDana StevensOct 28, 2018
What was it trying to do? Did it succeed on its own terms? Why did I find myself admiring nearly every external element of the film — performances, lighting, editing, costuming — and yet find Guadagnino’s extremely aesthetically pleasing assemblage of these same elements into a whole somehow drab? Read full review
40
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottOct 31, 2018
An effort to spin high art out of a guilty-pleasure cult classic, this new Suspiria is -- like the original -- off-the-charts bonkers. But it’s also off-the-charts unpleasant, a cold, hard-to-embrace slog made up of mostly of stomach-turning moments of body horror interrupted by long stretches of stylish but mind-numbing pretension. Read full review
40
The New York TimesManohla DargisOct 24, 2018
As the first hour of Suspiria grinds into the second and beyond (the movie runs 152 minutes), it grows ever more distended and yet more hollow. Unlike Argento, who seemed content to deliver a nastily updated fairy tale in 90 or so minutes, Guadagnino continues casting about for meaning, which perhaps explains why he keeps adding more stuff, more mayhem, more dances. Read full review
40
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinOct 23, 2018
An interesting take. The problem is that Guadagnino can’t cast a decent spell. Read full review
40
TimeStephanie ZacharekSep 1, 2018
This new Suspiria is bland, grisly, boring and silly. There is nothing poetic or erotic about it. Read full review
38
Movie NationRoger MooreNov 7, 2018
Luca Guadagnino (“Call Me By Your Name,” “I Am Love”) gives us a challenging puzzle of an indulgence that rattles on and on, like a hearse with blown shocks, well past its point of resolution. Read full review
38
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliOct 28, 2018
If I wanted to be kind, I’d call Luca Guadagnino’s Suspiria remake “visually striking” and “stylish.” If I wanted to be brutally honest, I’d call it “tedious”, “pretentious”, and even “painful” (although not in a good way). Read full review
38
Slant MagazineGreg CwikOct 21, 2018
Luca Guadagnino's Suspiria is a funereal pseudo-realist drama about political upheaval and the violence of systems that's at odds with itself. Read full review
35
TheWrapAlonso DuraldeSep 1, 2018
So what does Guadagnino’s version convey? Boredom, mostly, with confusion and a dollop of disappointment and irritation. Read full review
25
ObserverOliver JonesOct 25, 2018
Some of the visual horror will no doubt be of interest to genre fans, but even there the appeal is limited. In an age when we are awash in efficient and involving horror movies — from "Halloween" to "A Quiet Place" to even "The Nun" (which is not that great but is at least short) — Suspiria comes off as bloated and disconnected. Read full review
20
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternOct 25, 2018
The whole thing devolves into such highfalutin silliness that it’s impossible to care what happens to whom. In Mr. Guadagnino’s previous film, “Call Me By Your Name,” the tone was romantic, and sustained to the very end. In Suspiria, style stomps fun into submission. Read full review
0
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleOct 31, 2018
Suspiria is not just a movie unworthy of your time. It’s an experience one should reflexively recoil from, up there with things like fire, pain, humiliation and embarrassment. Easily, it’s one of the worst movies of 2018. Read full review
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