As usual, I’m late to the game, fiends, but I finally watched Suspiria 2018 last night. You know what? I loved it. If I’d seen it last year, it would have really fought hard with Hereditary in my heart for a place in my top 5 films of the year. I don’t think it could ever eclipse the original, for me, emotionally, because I really love the original, but I think it did what a good remake should do: take the basic skeleton on the original picture and surprise you at every turn. It’s why Carpenter’s The Thing and Cronenberg’s The Fly are masterpieces and, less of a masterpiece, but still amazing, the 1988 The Blob did it too. Tilda Swinton is a national treasure. There, I said it. All three of her roles in Suspiria are played to great effect. Dakota Johnston, who I am unfamiliar with, brought a whole new vibe to the role of Susie Bannion, which completely works. I loved the layers, how the story slowly unfolded, and where it eventually led. I have no problem with any of the changes, and the third act was very cool. Suspiria is currently streaming on Amazon and is available on Blu-ray and DVD.
Now let’s dig into what’s current.
Yellow Veil Pictures has two new films on the way, one of which, Starfish, by AT White, had its market debut last night. The premise is Lovecraftian science fiction, with a young woman seemingly the last person on earth. Below you can see a 27 second teaser, but I saw an extended, full trailer, which is password protected, so I can’t share it with you yet, but my god, get excited now. 2019 is looking to be quite a full year for horror and we cannot let a smaller film like Starfish slip through the cracks among the Pet Sematarys and Prodigys. As soon as I’m allowed, we will be talking more about Starfish. For now, enjoy the teaser…
Yellow Veil’s second film has been picked up for US distribution to theaters by IFC Midnight. “I Trapped The Devil the slowburn, psychological horror debut of writer/director Josh Lobo, stars AJ Bowen (You’re Next), Jocelin Donahue (House of the Devil), Chris Sullivan (This Is Us), and Scott Poythress (The Signal). A man descends into paranoia after trapping what he believes to be the devil in his basement, but things take a dark turn when his family unexpectedly arrives for Christmas.” Unfortunately, I can’t find a trailer/teaser to share, but it’s safe to say I Trapped the Devil is going to be another one to watch out for. With these two films along with last year’s Luz and this year’s Harpoon, Yellow Veil is quickly carving a name for themselves! I Trapped The Devil hits theaters and VOD on April 26th.
Should we talk about that new Pet Sematary trailer, or just post it and slowly back out of the room? I don’t know if I’ve ever A) seen a trailer so boldly give away a huge spoiler and rub it all in the audiences’ faces or B) seen a remake take such a strong story point and flip it on its head. And, if the trailer is giving all of this away, what the hell is being held back for the film? Pet Sematary is being made by the duo that brought us Starry Eyes, which I really loved, so I’m going to choose to trust them on this one. Look, the film, based on the trailer, has me invested. The book is one of my favorites, and one of the few books that ever really scared me. The original film is something else I deeply love, so I’m keeping an open mind, despite agreeing with a lot of the outrage about how damn much is given away in this trailer! (Proceed with caution.) Side note, the young lady who plays Ellie, Jete Laurence, can be seen as young Chelsea in Jenn Wexler’s (Happy Cake Day, Jenn!) The Ranger, which is available on Blu-ray, DVD, and should be hitting Shudder soon!
