Is There More Behind The “S” From The ‘SUSPIRIA’ 2018 Remake Teaser Poster?

Yesterday, CinemaCon attendees were given a luncheon presentation from Amazon Studios. The dessert, at least to any fans of the genre, was a clip from Italian director Luca Guadagnino’s, who is coming off of the Oscar-winning Call Me By Your Name, re-imagining of Dario Argento’s phantasmagorical classic Suspiria. After the clip was shown, many outlets (including ours) received a press release that had a teaser poster with a bloody or red spray-painted “S” on a gritty, concrete background along with an interesting tidbit. Look below for a look at the poster and how there may be more to this poster than just a teaser image.

While it may not satisfy all appetites to the curious horror fans trying to find out what the hell this new film will have in store for us, it is more than just an “S”.

What some sites seem to be skipping is verbiage that was put into the press release. Here is the verbiage that I’m talking about:

Incorporating work from legendary title artist Dan Perri (Star Wars, The Exorcist)

As someone who personally loves typography, graphic design and main title sequences, this provided more interest to me than what is on the surface. If you are not familiar with Dan Perri, he is very well known for creating some great title sequences like The Warriors, Taxi Driver and genre films like The Exorcist, A Nightmare on Elm Street, A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors and many more. In fact, not only did he create the Star Wars title logo but he suggested to George Lucas on how to do the opening crawl – which was an homage to a DeMille’s Union Pacific

Here’s a peek into Dan Perri’s workshop via The Art of the Title

While it isn’t mentioned in the press release if Dan Perri is working on the Guadagnino’s Suspiria – whether it be the main title sequence or just the logo – IMDb credits him with “Title Designer”. One thing that I thought was interesting is that the “S” looked familiar. Once I pinpointed what movie I thought it may be from, I looked at the poster of said movie and realized it was close but it looked modified/altered or it could simply just use some of the same typeface that poster used. The poster/title logo (which doesn’t appear in the title sequence of the film) I’m speaking of is Brian De Palma’s Sisters. The “S” is very similar, but not exact.

While I’m probably digging really deep into a rabbit hole, I think it is at least interesting. Especially referencing De Palma’s film with the description of the clip that was shown at yesterday’s CinemaCon.

You can read Scott Wampler’s write-up on Birth. Movies. Death. HERE but I wanted to emphasize what Scott specifically talks about in his post with the knowledge of what De Palma’s Sisters plot.

The sequence volleyed back and forth between two locations: a dance studio where a crying young woman clawed at the mirrored walls, and another studio – in some other location, and without the mirrored walls – where Tilda Swinton was overseeing the routine of another dancer, played by Dakota Johnson.

At first, the connection between these two scenes wasn’t clear, but soon enough it became evident that the routine being performed by Johnson was having an effect on the dancer in the mirrored room – as Johnson’s body swirled about the studio space, the dancer in the first room was tossed around like a rag doll.

There seems to be some connection between the two characters. While I may be reaching, could we have some telepathy at play here or at least some sort of psychic tie-in with Johnson’s character with other characters? I won’t ruin De Palma’s excellent Sisters (don’t worry, telepathy doesn’t play into it) but having knowledge of the theme of conjoined twins and what happens with Danielle & Dominque from Sisters, there may be some thematic links. One thing is for sure, this doesn’t sound like Dario Argento’s Suspiria.

We’ll just have to wait until the fall when Luca Guadagnino’s Suspiria is released! Let’s hope we get to see that clip online soon, huh?