Dario Argento’s “Suspiria” clocks in at a slim 98 minutes. In 2018, a film with a run-time under 2 hours is damn near unheard of. So, with that in mind, many people assumed that Luca Guadagnino’s take on “Suspiria” would probably be longer than Argento’s original. But, boy oh boy, we didn’t expect it to be this much longer.
According to the “Suspiria” Twitter account, which posted a poll asking fans how much of the film’s run-time would they be able to watch, Guadagnino’s film will come in at an epic 152 minutes. That’s over 2-and-a-half hours of horror goodness from the director of “Call Me By Your Name.” So, maybe the tweet’s question isn’t concerned by the graphic imagery of the film but more worried that fans will have to leave to go on a bathroom break in the middle.
The film follows a dancer that discovers there’s something sinister with her new dance troupe. The new “Suspiria” stars Dakota Johnson, Mia Goth, Chloe Grace Moretz, and Tilda Swinton. There’s major awards season buzz surrounding the film, and a prestigious opening at the Venice Film Festival on the horizon, so many fans are eagerly anticipating the new “Suspiria.” However, is the run-time going to scare people away from checking the film out in theaters?
If you’re not a horror film aficionado, you probably don’t realize that many movies in that genre clock in either right around 2 hours or just under. The best horror film of the year, if not the last few years, “Hereditary” is one of the longer genre offerings with a 127-minute run-time. Again, Guadagnino’s “Suspiria” will be almost an additional 30 minutes longer.
In comparison to his other films, “Suspiria’s” 152-minute length beats both “Call Me By Your Name” and “A Bigger Splash,” with their 132-minute and 125-minute run-times, respectively.
Clearly, there’s going to be a lot going on in the horror epic. Let’s just hope it doesn’t turn out to be an endurance competition for all the wrong reasons.