Man, you know what. Suspiria was not the gangbusters box office success it deserves to be (A HATE CRIME) and I lay part of the blame for that on the wonky release schedule Amazon gave it. (The rest of the blame goes to all the dum-dums who don't know a perfect movie when it's right there in front of them.) It had a staggered release schedule that did no one any favors. It would play in some theaters for maybe a weekend. The general public, aka the folks who had never seen the original and didn't know what the heck a Suspiria even is, had little to no chance to see it after it had some breathing room on the big screen. It was there and gone in a flash.
However, the pre-release posters were something special, teasing but good and getting me all riled up for this. For once, what was promised on the posters was delivered: the centering of women, the importance of the location, the importance of dance and movement, the centering of witches.
I mean, how many movie posters do you see with older actresses on them, looking like fucking bosses? Susie gets two–I revere the defiance in her posture and face as she looks right back at us in her religious farmgirl clothes, daring us to underestimate her. Blanc is judging all of us without making eye contact. The Sara poster really captures Mia Goth's wonderful Shelley Duvall-esque qualities. Tanner, resplendent in her Sabbath hairshirt. My only complaint...where's my Vendegast poster, dammit?
The location posters, too, are wonderful. I've seen this movie so many times that I feel like I know the Tanz Akademie inside and out, but these images just tell me that there are still so many secrets waiting to be discovered. Seeing these spaces like this, without the bustle and the noise, feels like trespassing.
And, of course, some are just killer art. The Sara Beck posters for Mondo, the Blanc and the Susie, are faves and I pray to them daily in my humble abode.
Finally, this South Korean poster, because it's got some images not found anywhere else. The three dresses in the upper right, from the Sabbath. Blanc's room on the upper left? Who's got that sweet carpet and sound system in the lower left?
There are so many posters for this movie, I'll likely highlight more of them later this month. Heck, I haven't even posted the regular theatrical poster; its confusing design with a big blood smear must have really been off-putting, especially for that confused general public I mentioned before. If they even saw it...it was probably only displayed for five minutes, anyway. Such a cruel world!
3 comments:
the room with the sound system and rug is a small room connected to blanc's office where she and susie can be seen dancing in in susie's dreams. in the photo of blanc's room in the upper left you can even see the sound system past the door way
As the Chief Ombudsman of Dakotastan, I approve this post.
The exact soundsystem/speaker thing is in the Lucio Fulci giallo 'Don't Torture a Duckling.' I'm thinkin Guadagnino probably knew that.
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