We’ve endlessly watched the trailers. We’ve gawked over the beautiful character posters and portraits. And we’ve even cringed at the disturbing first clip. But we have yet to see Luca Guadagnino’s “Suspiria.” That being said, film fans are already hoping for a sequel.
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The 152-minute “Suspiria” is said to be jam-packed with graphic, and overall horrific, imagery, which reportedly took a toll on the cast and crew, as they endured the German shoot. Even still, filmmaker Guadagnino is not ruling out the possibility of returning to the world of “Suspiria” for a possible two more films.
“At the beginning we were going to title the movie ‘Suspiria: Part One‘ but we didn’t want to give the impression of something that couldn’t stand alone. Truthfully, I’d be interested to explore the origin of Madame Blanc and Helena Marcus and also the future of Suzy Bannion in the world. So maybe. We’ll have to see how the movie goes,” the filmmaker said in a new interview with Deadline.
As he mentions, it really does all come down to how the remake of the 1977 Dario Argento classic does at the box office, and with critics. While early buzz is the film is great (look for our review from Venice coming this weekend, after the premiere), the money-making potential seems to be a bit unknown at this time. Horror films, in general, live and die by word-of-mouth. And frankly, even with the classic have a cult-like status among genre fans, “Suspiria” is an unknown quantity to a lot of the movie-going public. Add to that the fact that the film is over 2-and-a-half hours long, and is not supposed to feature many of the jump scares and cheap gags that horror fans have grown accustomed to, it could be a tough sell.
Of course, at the end of the day, all that really matters is that Guadagnino turns in a great film, and from everything we’ve seen, it looks like he does.
A big part of any sequel will be star Tilda Swinton, that is if she’s available. But never fear, it sounds like the filmmaker and the award-winning actress have a relationship that goes beyond merely professional. “I plot adventures with Tilda on a daily basis. This could be one. We have to see how audiences react,” explained Guadagnino.
The real question is whether or not 82-year-old actor Lutz Ebersdorf will be a part of the proposed franchise. But that’s a conversation for another day.
As for his immediate future, Guadagnino is not committing to anything, whether it be “Suspiria: Part Two” or the much-talked about, but never confirmed, “Call Me By Your Name 2.” When asked what he has next on his slate, he replied, “A long holiday. I’m scribbling things for [“Call Me By Your Name 2”], yes. But I need to have a rest now.”