Opera (1987)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

Director:

Dario Argento

Writers:

Dario Argento (screenplay)
Dario Argento (story)

Release Date:

19 December 1987 (Italy)

Genre:

Horror | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

obsession. murder. madness.

Plot:

A young opperata is stalked by a deranged fan bent on killing the people associated with her to claim her for himself.

Plot Keywords:

Opera | Psychopath | Killing | Cult Director | Female Rear Nudity

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Cristina Marsillach	...	Betty
Ian Charleson	...	Marco
Urbano Barberini	...	Inspector Alan Santini
Daria Nicolodi	...	Mira
Coralina Cataldi-Tassoni	...	Giulia
Antonella Vitale	...	Marion
William McNamara	...	Stefano
Barbara Cupisti	...	Signora Albertini
Antonino Iuorio	...	Baddini (as Antonio Juorio)
Carola Stagnaro	...	Alma's mother
Francesca Cassola	...	Alma
Maurizio Garrone	...	Maurizio, the raven trainer
Cristina Giachino	...	Maria, the assistant director
György Gyõriványi	...	Miro
Bjorn Hammer	...	Cop #1

Also Known As:

Terror at the Opera (USA)

Runtime:

107 min | USA:88 min (edited version)

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Italy:VM14 (re-rating) | USA:R (heavily cut) | Canada:16+ (Quebec) | Germany:18 (TV premiere) (1992) (heavily cut) | Germany:18 (video rating) (1988) (heavily cut) | New Zealand:R18 | Argentina:18 | Australia:R | Canada:R | Finland:K-18 | Italy:VM18 | Norway:18 | UK:18 | USA:Unrated | West Germany:18

Filming Locations:

Incir De Paolis Studios, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Company:

ADC Films

Trivia:

Vanessa Redgrave was attached to star, but dropped out shortly before production began.

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: In the killer's POV shot entering the costume workshop, the camera and camera dolly are seen in a mirror on the right.

Quotes:

Betty: I am nothing like my mother. Nothing like her!

Movie Connections:

Featured in Fear in the Dark (1991) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Lady Macbeth (

sometimes illogical and demented, other times cruel and misogynistic- also a lot of fun!

Dario Argento is a filmmaker I'm slowly getting into, following the iconoclastic efforts of Deep Red and Suspiria; he's not a filmmaker to always care directly about silly things like "plot". That might be his one minor (but, for me, apparent) liability: he won't let a little thing like common sense screw up his plan for his elaborate killing sequences, as his killer(s) can go through any kind of elaborate set-up of being invisible, until revealing past the point of the POV tracking shots of said psychopathic killer. But it's thrilling to see a filmmaker take chances like this anyway, of a pure Italian aesthetic making its way into the soul of a Hitchcockian warp (in fact, as a note of interest, if one has recently seen the Scorsese short film where he took three pages of an un-filmed Hitchcock film, which also took place in an Opera, Argento had it beat by almost twenty years, probably with no knowledge of the text). It's also unabashedly 80s (CD players and heavy metal and the hair, oh my!) and with an absurdity that makes it all the more palatable to swallow.

The story is simple: an opera of Macbeth is being produced, with high-stylized pyrotechnics and trained ravens. There's even a talented up-and-coming star replaced at the last minute, Betty, played by Marsillach. But a murder occurs during the premiere- interrupted not by that but by a falling light- and now the killer is after Betty! She can't go to the police (how can she let out that the opera is really cursed?), but will that matter in the face of a killer who won't let up? One has probably seen premises like this played out in other Argento films- girl being chased by a killer- but it's how Argento, like De Palma, constructs and executes his sequences, and adds a distinctive flavor of his own to add touches of bizarre humor (the breakout of the ravens to attack the killer, and the subsequent version of pointing out in the lineup), a kind of over-stylization ala Leone (the bullet through the peephole through the door probably inspired a similar shot in Kill Bill 1), and even sado-masochistic inspiration with the pins taped to Betty's eyes, more than once!

Argento puts his actress through the wringer, and she's all game for it, even when things seem to just go into 'what-the-hell' territory (I was throwing up my hands almost saying I give up when she is led down the secret passage by the little girl, as if suddenly we're in Aliens now). And through such dark genre material Argento keeps the violence thick and fresh, the suspense about as much as that with opera music coming right out of a speaker of a stereo system, and a cinematographer who may have had a few drinks (and rightfully so!) during some scenes the way they're shot and vibrate to a heart-beat. It should be considered trash, but it's elevated past any limitations of the genre by the ballsy attitude of the director, this in spite of a silly ending- sillier than anything that preceded what came before it (thanks little lizard)- and an attempt to break the Macbeth curse, which, unfortunately, didn't seem to happen in real life on the set of Opera. 8.5/10