Critics were divided on it—although we loved it, for the record—but Luca Guadagnino’s Suspiria remake is definitely an experience; the Call Me By Your Name director pulled no punches in his first descent into horror, ensuring that his spin on Dario Argento’s classic had its fair share of truly fucked-up imagery. The great thing about all the practical effects on display in a horror film, though, is that some studious, thoughtful person had to actually craft all the dislocated jaws, carapace-like flesh, and shattered bones on display, and in Suspiria’s case, that guy was prosthetic designer Mark Coulier.
Coulier—whose other credits include the Harry Potter movies and less fantastical projects like the biopic The Iron Lady—filmed a pretty cool little making-of feature for the movie’s home releases, revealing how, say, the bit where Dakota Johnson psychically ballets another student (Barbara Magnolfi) to death in gruesome, visually intricate fashion was pulled off. We also get some insight into the film’s more monstrous designs, which might serve as a nice reminder to audiences that all those hideous witches the film loves to give loving looks of are the product of hours upon hours of intricate, exacting, and visually inspiring work.
And sure: Were we hoping that Coulier would talk a little bit about that prosthetic penis he supposedly made for Tilda Swinton for when she was playing her character Dr. Josef Klemperer? Sure, but that’s only because we’re puerile children. We’ll just have to settle for beautiful disembowelments and murder ballets instead.