Quentin Tarantino, as we all surely must know at this point, is a weird dude, and sometimes his weirdness expresses itself in questionable and occasionally even downright dangerous ways. But for our part, at least, the thought of the Oscar-winning director breaking down in tears at a reportedly really fucked-up movie about witches at a ballet school is—kind of great? Here’s what Suspiria 2.0 director Luca Guadagnino told the Italian publication La Repubblica (as translated by /Film):
I showed it to Quentin Tarantino. We’ve been friends since our jury duty at the Venice Film Festival. I was nervous but eager to hear his advice. We saw it at his place and his reaction warmed me. He was enthusiastic about it, in the end he was crying and hugged me. Because it’s a horror movie but also a melodrama, my goal was to make you look at the horror without being able to take [your eyes off the screen] because you’re captivated by the characters. Amazon is very happy.
The “horror movie but also a melodrama” bit is interesting, as you could describe A24's recent Hereditary—an extremely divisive film that was also the subject of intense hype before its release—in similar terms. Similarly, co-star Chloë Grace Moretz has described Suspiria as “the closest to modern Stanley Kubrick I’ve ever seen,” comparing it to The Shining in the way that it “encompasse[s] a filmmaker’s brain and you’re just implanted in there.”
We’ll find out if this is the rare horror film that’s able to please critics and everyday fans alike (based on the aesthetic of the teaser trailer alone, we’re guessing it probably won’t be) when Suspiria hits theaters on November 2.