5 other Luca Guadagnino films you NEED to watch if you liked 'Challengers'

You should check out these essential Luca Guadagnino films

Luca Guadagnino's Challengers, starring Zendaya, Mike Faist, and Josh O'Connor, is officially the number one movie in America, earning $15 in its first weekend in theaters

Not only is the tennis-themed, threeway, love triangle film number one at the box office, but it is also Guadagnino's highest grossing opening weekend of his career. Many (me included) are also saying it's the best film of his career so far.

As Challengers is Guadagnino's biggest opening weekend ever, there are sure to be plenty of viewers who are seeing one of his movies for the first time. Challengers is a brilliant introduction to the Italian filmmaker, but far from his only movie worth seeing.

If you love Challengers and want to check out more of Guadagnino's oeuvre, here are five films we suggest you start with!

1. Call Me by Your Name

This 2017 coming-of-age drama is based on a novel of the same name and starred Timothée Chalamet, Armie Hammer, and Michael Stuhlbarg. Chalamet played 17 year old Elio Perlman, the son of an archeology professor (Stuhlbarg) living in Italy. One summer, he meets Oliver (Hammer), the 24-year-old graduate assistant to his father, and the two begin a whirlwind romance.

It's one of the best queer movies, romances, and coming-of-age films of the 21st century, and features a classic soundtrack by Sufjan Stevens. The film was nominated for four Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Actor, and won for its screenplay.

2. Suspiria

After Call Me by Your Name, Guadagnino directed this remake of the classic Italian horror film from Dario Argento about an American girl who joins a dance academy in Berlin that is run by a coven of witches. His version starred Dakota Johnson, Tilda Swinton, Mia Goth, and Chloë Grace Moretz.

3. Bones and All

In 2022, Guadagnino teamed up again with Call Me by Your Name star Timothée Chalamet for this romantic horror-drama about a pair of young drifters in 1980s America who go on a road trip together when they find that they are both cannibals. The film also starred Taylor Russell, Michael Stuhlbarg, and Mark Rylance.

Streaming on Amazon Prime Video.

4. A Bigger Splash

Guadagnino's film preceding Call Me by Your Name is this psychological drama starring Tilda Swinton, Matthias Schoenaerts, Ralph Fiennes, and Dakota Johnson. The film centers on a world famous rock singer (Swinton) and her filmmaker lover (Schoenaerts) as they spend a vacation in Italy when someone from both their pasts comes back into their lives and causes chaos.

5. I Am Love

Along with A Bigger Splash and Call Me by Your Name, I Am Love, released in 2009, is part of Guadagnino's self-described Desire trilogy. The film once again stars Tilda Swinton, this time as the wife of a rich Italian industrialist who has an affair with a chef.