Opera

Plot synopsis:
When Mara Cecova, the arrogant and ill-tempered star of an avant-garde production of the Verdi opera of Macbeth, is injured after getting hit by a car outside the theater after arguing and insulting the director and theater people, Cecova's young understudy, Betty, is informed of the incident and is given the coveted role of Lady Macbeth. In spite of her initial sense of foreboding, Betty is an instant success with her performance.However, an anonymous opera buff finds his way into the opera house on the opening night, watching Betty's performance from an empty box. When a meddlesome stagehand finds him watching and orders him to leave, the unseen fan murders the stagehand by impaling him to a coat-hook.After the show, Betty's boyfriend, Stefan, shows up in her dressing room to congratulate her and invites her back to his apartment for some intimate time. Afterwards, while Stefan gets up out of bed to make some tea for Betty and himself, the unseen killer breaks into the apartment where he attacks and overpowers Betty, ties her to a pillar, and forces her to watch him kill Stefan when he returns to the bedroom by stabbing him to death. The killer tapes a row of needles beneath each of her eyes so she won't shut them while he makes her watch. Afterwards, the hooded, masked killer unties Betty and then flees.Disturbed by a half-hidden childhood recollection of the same hooded killer murdering her own mother several years earlier, Betty chooses not to go to the police and instead confides in Marco, the director of Macbeth, about the incident and that the killer may know her.The next day, Inspector Alan Santini arrives at the opera house where he questions the staff about Stefan's murder as well as probes an apparent connected attack on the troubled production's pet ravens when three of them were found dead after the show. Betty arrives at the opera house for rehearsals, but choosing to avoid Inspector Santini, hides out in her dressing room where she calls her agent, the motherly Mira, for advice on what to do about this.Later that day, Betty meets with the wardrobe seamstress Giulia when her costume is found slashed to pieces. While Giulia fixes the dress, she finds a gold bracelet sewn onto it. While Betty and Giulia try to find what the faded words on the bracelet say, the killer arrives and again ties up Betty, taping needles under her eyes while he attacks Giulia to retrieve the bracelet. But Giulia puts up a fight, knocking the killer down to the floor with an iron. But Giulia makes the mistake of removing the killer's mask, which results in the unseen killer stabbing her to death. When Giulia, with her dying breath, inadvertently swallows the bracelet, the killer has to cut into her throat with scissors to retrieve it. He puts his mask back on and again unties Betty before fleeing.When Betty flees to her apartment, she is met in the lobby by Inspector Santini and tells him about the latest murder and that the killer may be after her. Santini promises to send Betty a detective to keep guard over her. A little later, while Betty struggles with her vision after applying eye drops, a man identifying himself as Inspector Soavie arrives to look after her. Some time later, Mira arrives and tells Betty that she talked with a man in the lobby claiming to be Inspector Soavie. Unsure of which one is the imposter, Betty and Mira hide while the figure claiming to be Soavie receives a phone call and leaves the apartment. While Betty tries to call the police, Mira hears a knock on the front door.Mira demands the visitor identify himself, and is not convinced when he shows police ID and a gun. As she looks the peep hole, she gets shot through the peep hole by the killer trying to gain access into the apartment. Betty is forced to hide as the killer breaks in, and she comes across the real Inspector Soavie who stumbles into the apartment after being fatally stabbed. After a game of cat-and-mouse in the apartment with the half-blind Betty trading gunshots at the hooded killer with Soavie's gun, she escapes through a ventilation shaft when a little neighbor girl helps her escape into her apartment down the hallway. The little girl's abusive single mother arrives home where she yells at the little girl for having company over and tells Betty to leave.Betty returns to the opera house and meets with Marco. He tells her that he has a plan to entrap the killer, while Betty begins to think about a further connection to the killer and her long-dead mother whom was also abusive towards her.The following night, Betty once again takes the stage as Lady Macbeth, but her performance is interrupted when Marco unleashes a flock of vengeful ravens into the audience. Recognizing the face of their attacker from the previous night, the birds swoop down on him sitting in the audience, gouging out one of his eyes. The murderer, whom is revealed to be Inspector Santini, attempts to shoot at Betty on stage, but she evades the bullets, while Santini evades capture, and subsequently pounces on Betty as she is recovering in her dressing room.Dragging her to a far-flung corner of the building, he reveals to her the motive behind his persecution of her: Santini was once her mother's young teenage lover, cruelly murdering young women at Betty's mother's behest, by tying them up and staging the killings in front of her. But when Betty's psycho mother became increasingly greedy for sado-sexual thrills of the murders, Santini murdered her too, while Betty witnessed the event from behind a partly open door. Now, many years later, Santini's desire to kill has been rekindled by Betty's appearance, which he sees as her mother's reincarnation. Blindfolding Betty and tying her to a chair, Santini stages his own death by setting fire to the room and apparently himself. Betty manages to break free and escapes from the blaze to be comforted by Marco.Betty and Marco leave Rome, traveling to the Swiss Alps to a house that Marco owns so she can recuperate. However, when he hears a radio broadcast that the man though to have been burned alive was Santini was in fact a clothed mannequin, Marco yells for Betty to run away. Santini shows up at the house to finish what he started and urders the housekeeper. Betty flees into the nearby woods with Santini in pursuit. Marco takes on the murderous policeman only to get stabbed to death. Betty then distracts Santini by coming onto him long enough to bash him on the head with a rock, and he is then set upon and dragged away by the police. With her nightmare experience finally over, Betty wanders though an empty meadow to find solace in nature. There, Betty finds an ugly lizard trapped in the grass and releases it, telling it to "go free".

Tags: suspenseful, cruelty, murder, cult, horror, violence, atmospheric, insanity, romantic, sadist

Review:
She has problems way way before the movie ever even starts...and by the end of Opera...in my opinion...she has become totally unhinged.---------------------SPOILERS--------------------------------------- You have to keep in mind that when she was a very small child she witnessed her mother's lover commit at least one brutal murder while her sadomasochist mother was getting off watching it.She was raised by a woman who achieves sexual release tied up watching girls get hacked, slashed, and strangled to death.
The main gist of what I'm saying is that the character of Betty is a lot more complex than most of the reviewers on here have been willing to acknowledge.Opera is one of Argento's best...and not just for the visuals alone (although they are truly magnificent) and not just for the inventive murders (although they are).
He is accompanied by a fine support cast such as Ian Charleson in his last theatrical film , as he died of AIDS , Urbano Barberini , Barbara Cupisti , William McNamara , Antonella Vitale and Daria Nicolidi , director's wife , though she had ended her long-time relationship with Dario Argento two years earlier.
If you don't, then you won't.Cristina Marsillach plays Betty, a beautiful young opera understudy who is given a shot at fame (in an avant-garde production of Macbeth) when the star of the show is hit by a car.
As any thesp who has 'trod the boards' will know, Macbeth is a production that carries a curseand Betty soon discovers that the show in which she is now the star is no exception: a killer is systematically offing the staff at the theatreand poor Betty is forced to watch by the sadistic murderer (who tapes needles under her eyes to prevent her from closing them!).With the help of a little girl who crawls through her air-conditioning ducts, her director and agent, and a few ravens who have seen the murderer's face (!!!), Betty discovers the killer's identity, and the truth about her mysterious past.Let's face it...
And whilst director Dario Argento has never been one for, shall we say, conventional story lines, this particular giallo is so daft, and features so many of his trademark stylish touches (all ramped up to the max), that it's almost as if, with each successive film, he is seeing what he can get away with (at times almost parodying his earlier work).This is exactly why I find the film such fun!!!Argento's camera movements are absolutely incredible: gliding, creeping and, in one amazing scene, even swooping around the opera house above the audience; the power of Verdi's music is combined perfectly with the synth majesty of Claudio Simonetti's score, providing a suitably grandiose accompaniment to the sumptuous visuals; and several outstanding set-pieces (featuring Sergio Stivaletti's nauseating gore FX) go to prove that no-one does death better than Argento (check out one character's stunning demise, in which a bullet passes through a spy-hole in a door in slow motion, and straight into their eye!).7.5 out of 10, rounded up to 8 for IMDb..
I don't know what to say, maybe my love for this movie is as irrational as the whole Italian horror canon, as the dream-like way in which they shot the films, but as far as going on pure feeling goes, my gut tells me to follow this one, and you should too.
This is not Argento's best film by far, but if you are a fan of the director, or just a fan of the horror genre in general, this movie is worth a watch.
In fact, there was so much eye rolling when I watched this movie that's it's pointless to write a fantastically elaborate critique when Dario didn't even bother coming up with anything but a sloppy movie.When the crows start flying in the theater, the movie suddenly becomes The Birds (it's obvious by now that Dario really loves Hitchcock' s The Birds, which is one of my favorite movies ever), with POW shots of the crows flying over the audience and then the crows start attacking the police officer who, in turn, starts shooting the crows, accidently killing people all around.
I don't ever write reviews but this movie was so atrociously bad, I actually have to go out of my way to write one just so I can help some poor soul who happens upon it.Everything, from the cheesy and irritatingly predictable plot to the horrendous sound direction that makes everyone sound like they were dubbed over by themselves (if they actually weren't, that is), to the wooden or exaggerated acting (there really is no in-between) only further solidifies this as one of the worse movies I've ever begrudgingly sat through hoping it would lead somewhere at some point for some reason.
He gets his kicks out of tying Betty up, putting needles under her eyes (so she cant close them) and murdering members of the opera company before her very eyes."Opera" is certainly one of Argento's more ambitious films, like mixing it up with Shakesphere's Macbeth there is of course the fact that the opera performed in the film is Giuseppe Verdi's version of Macbeth but also Argento, just like Shakespeare uses ravens as an omen of death and misfortune.
It's just a typical Argento masterstroke, and with it he gives this otherwise quite basic thriller a vivid hue of Gothic mystique.Although this movie does have it downsides like the heavl metal soundtrack just doesn't fit in with this movie and the final scenes in this movie are a bit strange.All in all "Opera" is something of a flawed masterpiece but still good..
Title: Opera (1987) Director: Dario Argento Cast: Cristina Masillach, Ian Charleson, Urbano Barberini, Daria Nicolodi Review: The only other Argento movie I had seen was Suspiria and that one blew me away with its style, colors and spooky story line.
Too bad for her there's a psycho after her who makes her watch the brutal murders of her friends and co-workers.Wow, Id heard good things about this here flick, but I wasn't prepared for the level of greatness to which this film would take me.
It does have lots in colors in certain scenes (like the masterful kitchen/living room sequence) where Argento fills the screen with lush greens and blues, but for the most part the film has a grayish, black tone to it all through out and I liked that it had its own distinctive look.The real stars of this show are the incredibly well orchestrated death sequences.
Anyhows, Tarantino references aside, this movie has some amazing camera shots, like those scenes of the crows flying through the crowd in the opera house...great stuff.
And a main reason why Argentos becoming one of my favorites.The acting from most of the cast was alright, but the best by far was Cristina Marsillach as the tortured young opera singer Betty.
And Daria Nicolodi is fantastic as always, even in her relatively brief role (watch the making of featurette on the DVD for a hilarious interview with Nicolodi about her role -- clearly brash and resentful over the end of her relationship with Argento!) Fans of Stage Fright (another excellent 1987 giallo, directed by Michele Soavi, who served as the second unit director for Opera) will barely recognize the final girl from that film, Barbara Cupisti, as a stage manager here (I think it's the glasses that do it).With me, it's often the little things that matter, and Argento's fascination/obsession with solitary nightmarish images makes him my ideal filmmaker.
Yesterday, I watched a recording of Dario Argento's OPERA (1987) taken from Anchor Bay's R1 DVD, and I must say I agree with many of you here that the film was pretty good (if a bit heavy on flamboyant camera moves) for the first 90 minutes - but then went completely bonkers towards the end.
As usual, the hideous dubbing was another major drawback.There seems to be some disagreement about Cristina Marsillach's contribution: for me, she's very nearly Argento's best leading lady, quite in the same class as Jessica Harper in SUSPIRIA (1976) and Jennifer Connelly in PHENOMENA (1984).The hectic backstage activity and the masked killer reminded me a lot of Mario Bava's BLOOD AND BLACK LACE (1964), though comparisons with that landmark film only helps to bring out more OPERA's shortcomings.
The big scene with the ravens, ingenious in itself, was too protracted for maximum impact.All in all, it's not one of Argento's best but then, apart from DEEP RED (1975) and SUSPIRIA, all his films leave a lot to be desired  though I'm sure everyone here has his or her own personal favorite..
The idea being a psycho punishes an aspiring opera singer (played by the gorgeous Cristina Marsillach) by tying her up, placing needles under her eyes so she cannot look away, and forcing her to watch him dispatch her colleagues in increasingly gruesome and inventive ways.
Of course, OPERA is a Dario Argento film, so Betty has more than performance jitters to worry about, since a black-gloved killer begins haunting her and the opera house, causing bodies to pile up.
Dario Argento's movie about a young opera star that gets stalked by an obsessive fan, who might have a link to her past and more specifically to her mother.What's great about Opera is its visual effects, its passion for the craft of making movies.
It's hard to get invested in a movie where the lead character is dispassionately portrayed and barely registers as a character worth the audience's time, with Argento clearly more interested in the murder scenes and elaborate shots, all making for an inconsistent albeit watchable giallo..
***Spoiler***The classic scene in which Betty is forced to keep her eyes open or have then ripped by a set of sharp needles attached to her lids; the mouth stabbing episode, the eye being shot through the peep-hole are all images that have engrossed the catalog of horror/thriller display tactics, having become true objects of a cult.***End Spoiler***The soundtrack is also quite effective although I would have used a lot more classical references, but I admit I am partial on this matter.
The killer ties Marsillach up and makes her watch him murder her friends by taping straight pins under her eyelids (try not to squirm watching these scenes!)  It's not too hard figuring out who the killer is, but the movie still works, with trademark Argento flourishes all over the place (including a bewildering final scene and an amazing shot from a raven's P.O.V. as it spirals down in dizzying circles from the ceiling of the opera house).
I think of "Opera" as a masterpiece with flaws, and while the writing gets sillier every time I watch, Argento's direction just looks more brilliant.
The movie had an interesting plot that fail as soon as you start watching the film, the acting was bad and it was definitely obvious who was the killer, I wanted them to trick me, to lie to me, but NO, it was just too obvious that I had to lower two points in my ranking just for that.
The film "Opera" is a good Italian slasher/thriller by writer/director Dario Argento but nowhere as good as it could have been if he didn't try to pad it up and make it far more complicated and convoluted that it really was.The movie after what you thought was the ending just goes on and on with the killer coming back to torment Betty ,not once but twice, in the last fifteen minutes.
In 'Opera' on the other hand this is heightened to a very decent level.There are of course plot holes, incoherences, flaws and illogical behaviour which many complain about, but if you didn't expect that to happen in a giallo I don't know what movies of the genre (or director) you have seen before.
Using an opera as backdrop is not a bad idea actually, as the directing style, the camera work, lighting and sets are quite grandiose and dramatic by itself.Killing scenes are so sadistic and brutal that I would prefer them to be little shorter, but if squirming is your thing then this is for you.
Opera may not be Dario Argento's most important or most loved film - but all things considered, I have no doubt that it is his best.
I also liked the way that the film features quotes from Gothic master Edgar Allen Poe, as well as obvious nods towards the classic poem 'The Raven'.Perhaps the most important thing about any Argento movie is the violence - and this one certainly doesn't disappoint in that respect.
In his later works Argento seems to have lost his "touch" for those creative and original plots (though not his masterful handling of cameras); he focuses instead in most truculent and blood splashing issues as a way to capture the viewers attention ("Tenebbre" is also an example)."Opera" delivers the director's unmatched shooting style, a correct atmosphere and some good moments (Cristina Marsillac tied up and gagged with pins in her eyes to force her to watch the brutal murders by a sadistic unknown killer, being an example), but the story is weak and lacks the imagination and surprise of Argento's early products.
The set piece where the killer is exposed is just as contrived, taking place in front of hundreds of people with no real indication that the killer would be at the scene.Then there is the ending, totally out of joint with the rest of the film, where for a moment we get the hope of something original, ala the book version of Hannibal, but no, once again we are presented with brain numbing absurdity.While the Anchor Bay DVD is beautiful, and we have a nice documentary about the making of the film, I think Argento says it best when he states that "After the movie he went to India for a while, because he thought he had made a bad movie."  The documentary ends on that note, as does this review..
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!
Here's yet another good film from the Italian master but if you're familiar with the work of Dario Argento then you already know that he doesn't waste time on silly things.
In fact, I'd be willing to bet that the entire story by Argento really didn't go anywhere past the idea of putting needles under the eyes of our hero, which is the one way that the killer can force her to watch him kill.
The lead role is played by the Spanish newcomer Christina Marsillach, who Argento defined the hardest actress he ever had to direct.The score was composed by Brian Eno and Claudio Simonetti, the latter being a regular contributor to Dario's films, and the heavy-metal music, which normally accompanies the murders in his movies, is one of the features that gained him heavy acclaim, and one of the reasons why his films have reached the status of cult.
When she's tired of running, she and Marco devise a way to finally catch the killer.The Good News: As one of the more impressive Argento films, this features a lot to like.
The story is original and will keep you wondering who the killer is, which is typical for an Argento film, and why the person is killing everyone around one opera singer.
An opera premiere, a young female singer gets - accidentally - the chance to sing the main part, and gets in focus of a weirdo, who just loves to bondage her and killing people right in front of her eyes.After a shocking start the movie turns out to be a "who done it" - and even if the plot sometimes puts suspense in front of credibility - it really stays thrilling.The murder is identified by blackbirds - after that the last twenty minutes are pure showdown - Argento at his best.
...But isnt that what ALL of Argentos' movies are about?....It just never ends....these dumb Italian gore flicks....Oh my....look at those ravens find the killer and peck his eyeball out...now watch the one bird eat it!
Grab your barf bags and motion sickness pills, everyone, Argento is behind the camera!Of all the powerful shocks in Opera, perhaps the one that means the most to the viewer is that we share Betty's torture - she's repeatedly gagged, tied up and forced to watch the killer at work again and again as he tapes needles under her eyes.
There's was also a thought to another ending where Betty would fall in love with the killer.Your enjoyment of this film really comes down to how much you like shocking amounts of bloodshed and Argento's arty side.
After pushing the envelope with films such as Bird With The Crystal Plumage, Profondo Rosso, Suspiria and Tenebrae, he once again demonstrates his ability to deliver fresh style, virtuosity and craft to the giallo.Unfortunately the intricate plot set around the performance of Verdi's opera, Macbeth and the killer's motive this time around are more preposterous than vintage Argento.
Opera opens with a very close-up shot of a bird's ever-watching eye and thus begins one of Argento's most bizarre, and enjoyable, features (my second favorite in fact, behind Deep Red).
With a long list of suspects & a growing list of victims Betty is convinced she will be next...This Italian production was co-written, produced & directed by Dario Argento, Opera is my personal favourite Giallo he has made & is probably the last great film he has to date.