Da Suspiria (1977) a Suspiria (2018). L'identità in transito del cinema horror italiano

Our paper investigates the ways in which Suspiria (2018) has shifted the understanding and definitions that international audiences have of Italian horror cinema as a genre. Unlike Call Me by Your Name, Guadagnino’s Suspiria elicited a variety of polarized reactions. Thus, we suggest that both the praises and criticism that this film received, reveal particular aspects of the identity of Italian cinema and its transnationality. Specifically, the paper analyzes the circulation and distribution of Suspiria (2018), examines the British and North American reception of the film, and investigates the ways in which it contributed to reviving the interest in Argento’s Suspiria (1967). Against this backdrop, the paper contributes to the study of the circulation of Italian horror film genera abroad on two levels. Firstly, it adopts a comparative digital ethnography approach to collect and analyze the data. Secondly, it develops an innovative framework for the study of the transnational reception of cultural products by shifting the attention from a geographical to a temporal dimension to track their circulation.