Opera

Rating:
Summary: Intense
Review: This is the most intense film I have ever seen. Very tense movie. Strong suspense.

Rating:
Summary: One of the greatest horror films ever made
Review: Everything about this film is great. The music, the camerawork, the direction, the story and now with the film being widescreen, in THX approved sound and in a collectible 2 disc dvd--this will be an amazing experience. Anyone who has seen great suspense films or great horror films must add this to their collection--trust me. The scene where the girl is in her apartment alone and she puts in her eyedrops so she can not see--and then the killer arrives will have you cherishing filmmaking, suspense stories and ingenous camerawork; not to mention beautiful operatic music. Perhaps Dario Argento's most moving and extrodinary film.

Rating:
Summary: OPERA is a showcase for all that's Argento.
Review: Dario Argento had been an opera lover for a long time and for a while thought about setting a movie in the world of opera. The result was this grand Argento showcase, OPERA( a.k.a TERROR AT THE OPERA). His last two movies before OPERA which were TENEBRAE(a.k.a. UNSANE) and PHENOMENA(a.k.a. CREEPERS) were a little more focused on the plot than most of Argento's films. But this time Dario strictly focuses on the style of this movie rather than the substance which is the main flaw of this movie. Had the script been more and better developed this could have turned out to be a masterpiece. But even without a great script it still manages to be a thrilling and technically speaking an imprseeive movie. It features great camera work, great special effects( not to mention gory, one example being a very graphic shot of a person being blowed away by a bullet and it going straight through the eye and out the back of the head and that's nothing!), and also some great heavy metal music if you are into that. The plot has some similarity to the plot of THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA. It's about a young opera understudy(Christina Marsillach) who's career is given a boost when the star of an opera production of Macbeth mysteriously is run over and she has to sub for her. Thereafter she is pursued by this mysterious psycho and she is forced by the murderer to watch the deaths of her many acquaintances in a cruel and unusual manner... by having needles placed under her eyelids so she can't close her eyes and she is also tied against something so she can't escape! With the help of the director of her opera show(Ian Charleson) she starts to track down the murderer and she also ends up finding out why the murderer has been commiting these sadistic acts toward her. It may not be as appealing to non Argento fans but i think his fans will not be dissappointed. It's a great showcase for Argento's grand and baroque style. It's filled with some of his signature elements: graphic violence, heavy metal music, and fancy camera work (keep an eye out for a crane shot of a bird flying around the opera house and the whole flight is seen from his eye and it's set to a pounding heavy metal song.)Some of the music was scored by Argento's frequent collaborater Claudio Simmonetti. ALso keep an eye out for Argento's girlfriend Daria Nicolodi as the manager of the young opera understudy. This was her last collaboration with Dario.

Rating:
Summary: Marvelously warped
Review: After watching Dario Argento's 1987 film "Opera," I have moved into the final phases of seeing his entire body of work. It was easy to claim ignorance of many of this Italian director's films until a few years ago because it was difficult to find them anywhere, let alone in an uncut form. Fortunately, DVD arrived on the scene and eager film fans with dollars to spend inspired numerous companies to start churning out any movie they could get their hands on. It wasn't too long before practically every Argento film arrived on store shelves, many of them in uncut, unrated formats. Unfortunately, most viewers have likely never heard of Dario Argento. These days, more people know about the director's beautiful daughter Asia than the horror maestro himself. What a shame. Argento's films, at least the ones I have seen, are masterpieces of style injected with truly cringe inducing violence. For a few years in the 1980s and 1990s, Argento drifted away from his tried and true giallo formula, only recently returning to some semblance of form with "The Stendhal Syndrome" and "Sleepless." "Opera" is one of the films bridging the gap between films like "Phenomena" and his later giallo efforts.

Betty (Cristina Marsillach) is an understudy who must step onto the stage after an accident leaves the opera's star in the hospital. The theater is staging a version of Verdi's "MacBeth," an opera often considered by artistic types to carry a curse for those who work on it. Despite these concerns, Betty knocks 'em dead on her first night in the lead role. Theatergoers laud her performance, as does the director Marco (Ian Charleson), since she overcame several obstacles. A lighting fixture crashed to the floor and the live ravens used as stage props acted up, but Betty kept on hitting the high notes. Mira (Dario Nicolodi), Betty's pushy agent, raves about her and begins mentally tabulating future opportunities. Marsillach's character shrugs all the compliments off with a sort of aw shucks sensibility. Besides, she soon has a lot more to worry about than her singing career. You see, yet another one of Argento's black-gloved lunatics is slicing and dicing his way through the theater troupe. For some reason, the killer takes a liking to Betty. He follows her home, ties her to a pillar in her house, sticks pieces of tape with needles on it under her eyes to force her to pay attention, and makes her watch him dispatch her boyfriend.

This same situation plays itself out over and over again-the killer sneaks up on Betty, forces her to keep her eyes open with the tape and needle prop, and dispatches a friend or colleague. The gore in these incidents reaches heights of over the top insanity, even for Argento. You get an incredible knifing from an intriguing point of view, a scene with a pair of scissors that will leave you gasping for breath, and an incident involving Mira's character that is probably the best murder scene ever invented by Argento. A bullet through the keyhole, through the eye, through the head, and into a telephone had me standing up and cheering. And like all of Argento's films, the violence onscreen is shot in extreme close up. Moreover, it goes on and on for what feels like hours. He's one of the few directors who can actually make me avert my eyes because the carnage becomes too much to watch. While there may not be much in the way of plot, acting, or a decent script in the film, the gore will keep you coming back for more. This is brutal stuff.

Of course, the gore isn't the only attraction here. Once again, the usual Argento style is in full display. The point of view shots come fast and furious, with the unfolding proceedings seen, at various times, through the eyes of the ravens flying about the opera house or through eyes clouded by eye drops. Camera tricks look great, too. At the start of the film, we see the opera house reflected in the eyes of one of the ravens. We sometimes see an image of the killer's throbbing brain, accompanied by a heartbeat, seconds before he preys on his latest victim. The real trick in "Opera," as it is in all of Argento's films, is to try and figure out who the madman is. Is it Marco? Mira? The odd Inspector Alan Santini (Urbano Barberini), a cop assigned to the case that shows up to investigate each of the crimes? You will suspect each of these people, along with a few others, at various times during the film. No matter. The end of the movie sets it all straight. Expect the usual multileveled twists and turns before the truth outs in the end. The conclusion has taken some flack from fans that think it has a tacked on feel. I agree, although that does not mean it fails to work in the context of the film as a whole.

More annoying is another issue others pointed out, namely the heavy metal music that swells as the violence unfolds. Argento should have stuck to classical music and the creepy Claudio Simonetti music score instead. As for the "Opera" DVD, it gives us the obligatory Dario Argento biography, a music video, a widescreen transfer, and a fascinating discussion about the film called "Conducting Dario Argento's Opera." In this thirty-minute documentary, Argento discusses locations, the violence, the cast, and the difficulties in making the film. He explains in minute detail how they rigged up a camera to create the bird's eye point of view shot in the theater. The only drawback to the documentary is Daria Nicolodi whining about her failed relationship with Dario and the difficulties of staging that keyhole effect. Argento fans must pick up "Opera" immediately. It's one of his better films.

Rating:
Summary: Truly Beautiful and Breathtaking
Review: I'm almost at a loss for words... Like others, I didn't think anything could top "Suspiria" but in my opinion, this one does. The two-disc (DVD and soundtrack CD) is another wonderful Anchor Bay package.

First of all, the picture is WONDERFUL. Although a 1987 film, it looks like it is a contemporary brand-new picture. It's the cleanest DVD for the Dario Argento films. The sound is very engaging and has total clarity. The fidelity on the soundtrack CD is a bit dated, but is clear and is an added bonus.

I'm not going to dwell on what happens in this movie, but be assured that there are so many weird elements in it and they are photographed in style. Only a genius could think of and blend these elements together the way Argento did. The camera angles are superb!

Argento usually has a nice-looking female lead in his pictures although they are plain rather than stunningly beautiful. Christina Marsillach is a total beauty, so if you like watching a beautiful woman in a horror film you won't find anyone better.

By the way, the Anchor Bay DVD's do not play well on older DVD players. I now own several Anchor Bays, mostly Dario Argento films, and since getting a newer 16x I can play them all.

Rating:
Summary: My first Dario Argento Film Viewed.
Review: This was the very first movie directed by Dario Argento that I viewed. I must say I enjoyed watching it quite a lot. The music is done very well and fits in with the film. The murder scenes are very....scary..they are extremely graphic, which is good for a horror movie.
The acting was done well. I don't know if it was due to the dubbing or not but the character of the "police officer" was badly acted in my opinion. Otherwise it was well done.
When I last saw this movie it was around a week or two ago so writing this review is a bit tough. I know I enjoyed the movie but only watch it if you are a huge fan of Dario Argento. I'm not saying you won't enjoy it otherwise but not everyone will like it.

Rating:
Summary: Great Argento
Review: This seems to be the least loved Argento film of his prime era(1975-87) other than Phenomena. I'm afraid I've gotta dissent and say that I think this is his best film other than Suspiria. The plot/characters aren't too exciting, but it's got by far the most impressive camerawork of those films, and the most interesting set design and staging of the giallo/quasi-giallo films from that era. All in all, this is a fantastic horror/thriller with endless style, great setpieces and breathless pacing. Definitely a must see for anyone interested in such things.

The setup involves the injury of the star of a staging of Verdi's Macbeth, which leads to previously unknown Betty starring in the production. She's praised, but attracts the attention of a crazed killer, who murders people while forcing her to watch. (He ties her up and forces her to watch by taping needles directly in front of her eyes, so they'll cut her she closes them.) All in all this is not the most fascinating plot in the world. I'm told that this is a reworking of Phantom of the Opera, but I wouldn't know, as I've never seen that. (Well, I did read Phantom of the Auditorium years back...) The characters are quite flat and the acting is somewhat uneven. Most of it is decent, but Cristina Marsillich isn't so great as Betty. Actually, the main problem is the way she is characterized: As pathetic and simpering, which makes her a bit obnoxious at times. Also, the killer's identity is almost painfully obvious, and his motivation is... odd. Fortunately, the plot tends not to matter much in Argento's films, and they waste particularly little screen time with it here. We have a fair bit of exposition explaining pretty much what I wrote before, then 3 horror pieces with only brief interludes between them, a brief plot point where they decide how they'll identify the killer, and then the extended climax.

As usual, style is the real star of this film, and it shines here. It has lots of beautiful but cold upscale European architecture, with a bit a ominous colored lighting now and then, a la Supiria/Inferno. The camera moves constantly with ominous prowling and dreamy, ethereal steadicam shots, as well as some nice, strangely angled and decidedly off-kilter shots. Naturally, all this visual finesse is used to create some startling horror setpieces. Though the film is fairly interesting through out, it's the middle 2/3 or so that really standout. The 3 major horror pieces here are outstanding. Though the goriness of Argento's films tends to be overstated, the knifing in Opera, the first of these 3 scenes, is simply brutal, as the killer jams a nasty, triangular knife up underneath the victims jaw so that the tip of the blade comes up the back of his mouth. And the rest of the scene, while not as graphic, really portrays the brutality and horror that would come along a stabbing murder, as the killer repeatedly tries to get at the victim through his flailing arms. In this and the next scene the killing is interspliced with numerous shots of Betty's face as she witnesses the killing. The whole needle-eye thing seemed a bit weird to me when I first heard about it, but it creates a striking image, particularly when there's a single stream of blood coming down her face, like a tear. This juxtaposition really works, and makes the scenes a lot more effective. The scene backstage is the weakest of the three, but it's still very good. Early on it shows a rather large pair of scissors fall off a table to the ground, in slow motion. This isn't the most subtle bit of foreshadowing you'll ever see, but man does it work. Very ominous. And the most disturbing part of the film comes at the end of this scene, as the killer needs to retrieve a little locket, which the victim swallowed. First he pries open her mouth with the scissors, which is disturbing enough, and then has to perform an amateur tracheotomy on the corpse. You don't actually see much of anything, as it focuses on the backend of the scissors, but that's enough, particularly when combined with the hideous sound effects. The next horror piece, in Betty's apartment, is the absolute standout. It generates some real tension, as Betty and her Agent hide in the kitchen, and then search for a safe escape route, and also contains the much famed slow motion bullet-through-the-peephole-through-the-head-into-the-phone killing. Suffice to say it is worthy of it's reputation. Though brief, it is a perfectly constructed piece, and oddly beautiful in it's way. (Most notably in the final shot, as the corpse and shattered phone fall to the ground in unison)

Sadly, the film falters a bit towards the end. (Spoilers ahead) It's got a double climax, and neither of them is anywhere near as good as the 3 major horror pieces just prior to it. Still, I don't dislike the second climax as much as most people. The only thing that really bothers me is the explanation of how he got away. (the police mistook a dummy for his corpse) I once watched a documentary on spontaneous combustion, and that's far more than I need to know about flaming corpses to tell one apart from a plastic dummy.

I'm about outta space, so I'll close by saying I really like the soundtrack. Some of the actual opera music is annoying, but the rest is good, varying from electronic music, to pseudo-operatic stuff to heavy metal. Unlike most, I think the heavy metal works pretty well. It's generally used after the killing is already underway, so it doesn't destroy tension, and I think it actually adds intensity to the scenes.

Buy it


Rating:
Summary: 3.5 stars / Impressive visuals, interesting story
Review: There is a killer in every one of Argento's films. And anyone who knows Argento, sees that he is apparently fascinated by killers. He even insists on acting out all the shots we see in his movies of the hands of the killer wearing black gloves, doing dirty deeds. I would guess that this is Argento's take on the classic Phantom of the Opera story, though it had been made into a movie at least three times before this film. One starring Lon Chaney, and another starred Claude Rains. I don't know the original story very well. So there are probably similarities that I don't recognize which are there.

This film features a killer who seems to be hiding, maintaining a secret identity. Who stalks a lovely young opera understudy who suddenly gets her big break when the star of the show is hit by a car. But this film also features subplots that I'm not sure existed in the Phantom story. The understudy is nervous of things, and feels cursed. Several characters remark that there is bad luck to anyone who tries to adapt Verdi's "MacBeth" for the opera stage. And it just so happens that the opera going into production is MacBeth. But murder is never caused by bad luck, so the characters help the understudy try to figure out who the killer is.

It's also a recurring theme in Argento's films that there is a deep, dark secret that the main character has or a mystery they have to solve. This is Argento's most interesting film in that respect. He just fails to ever reveal why the secret is a secret or why it has any bearing on the story at all. I guess that it just has to do with the characters, that Argento is a smarter man than he's given credit for, and he knows something that simply doesn't translate to the film. That's an attractive enough quality for a film like this to have. Makes it more mysterious, and a lot of people are allured by that. I have to admit sometimes, I'm one too.

And lastly, this film is one heck of a show in terms of effects and camerawork. You'd have to see it for yourself to get what I'm saying. But let me tell you that it's impressive to say the least. If you think The Blair Witch Project was a ride- you haven't seen anything yet. The camera zooms and races around, spins in circles, rushes through rooms at the speed of sound, and makes you feel like you're on a rollercoaster. If Argento is using the camera here to tell the parts of the story we can't learn by paying attention to the dialogue and character action, than there's a lot we aren't picking up on.

My advice is, if you have the opportunity- see this movie as quickly as you can.

Rating:
Summary: Holy Steady-cam batman!
Review: This movie is pretty rockin'. Nice gore cool soundtrack. At first the main character was wierd and flighty but i believe that was the intention of Dario's after watching the documentary. Not my favorite but still a great Argento effort.

Rating:
Summary: Marvelously warped
Review: After watching Dario Argento's 1987 film "Opera," I have moved into the final phases of seeing his entire body of work. It was easy to claim ignorance of many of this Italian director's films until a few years ago because it was difficult to find them anywhere, let alone in an uncut form. Fortunately, DVD arrived on the scene and eager film fans with dollars to spend inspired numerous companies to start churning out any movie they could get their hands on. It wasn't too long before practically every Argento film arrived on store shelves, many of them in uncut, unrated formats. Unfortunately, most viewers have likely never heard of Dario Argento. These days, more people know about the director's beautiful daughter Asia than the horror maestro himself. What a shame. Argento's films, at least the ones I have seen, are masterpieces of style injected with truly cringe inducing violence. For a few years in the 1980s and 1990s, Argento drifted away from his tried and true giallo formula, only recently returning to some semblance of form with "The Stendhal Syndrome" and "Sleepless." "Opera" is one of the films bridging the gap between films like "Phenomena" and his later giallo efforts.

Betty (Cristina Marsillach) is an understudy who must step onto the stage after an accident leaves the opera's star in the hospital. The theater is staging a version of Verdi's "MacBeth," an opera often considered by artistic types to carry a curse for those who work on it. Despite these concerns, Betty knocks 'em dead on her first night in the lead role. Theatergoers laud her performance, as does the director Marco (Ian Charleson), since she overcame several obstacles. A lighting fixture crashed to the floor and the live ravens used as stage props acted up, but Betty kept on hitting the high notes. Mira (Dario Nicolodi), Betty's pushy agent, raves about her and begins mentally tabulating future opportunities. Marsillach's character shrugs all the compliments off with a sort of aw shucks sensibility. Besides, she soon has a lot more to worry about than her singing career. You see, yet another one of Argento's black-gloved lunatics is slicing and dicing his way through the theater troupe. For some reason, the killer takes a liking to Betty. He follows her home, ties her to a pillar in her house, sticks pieces of tape with needles on it under her eyes to force her to pay attention, and makes her watch him dispatch her boyfriend.

This same situation plays itself out over and over again-the killer sneaks up on Betty, forces her to keep her eyes open with the tape and needle prop, and dispatches a friend or colleague. The gore in these incidents reaches heights of over the top insanity, even for Argento. You get an incredible knifing from an intriguing point of view, a scene with a pair of scissors that will leave you gasping for breath, and an incident involving Mira's character that is probably the best murder scene ever invented by Argento. A bullet through the keyhole, through the eye, through the head, and into a telephone had me standing up and cheering. And like all of Argento's films, the violence onscreen is shot in extreme close up. Moreover, it goes on and on for what feels like hours. He's one of the few directors who can actually make me avert my eyes because the carnage becomes too much to watch. While there may not be much in the way of plot, acting, or a decent script in the film, the gore will keep you coming back for more. This is brutal stuff.

Of course, the gore isn't the only attraction here. Once again, the usual Argento style is in full display. The point of view shots come fast and furious, with the unfolding proceedings seen, at various times, through the eyes of the ravens flying about the opera house or through eyes clouded by eye drops. Camera tricks look great, too. At the start of the film, we see the opera house reflected in the eyes of one of the ravens. We sometimes see an image of the killer's throbbing brain, accompanied by a heartbeat, seconds before he preys on his latest victim. The real trick in "Opera," as it is in all of Argento's films, is to try and figure out who the madman is. Is it Marco? Mira? The odd Inspector Alan Santini (Urbano Barberini), a cop assigned to the case that shows up to investigate each of the crimes? You will suspect each of these people, along with a few others, at various times during the film. No matter. The end of the movie sets it all straight. Expect the usual multileveled twists and turns before the truth outs in the end. The conclusion has taken some flack from fans that think it has a tacked on feel. I agree, although that does not mean it fails to work in the context of the film as a whole.

More annoying is another issue others pointed out, namely the heavy metal music that swells as the violence unfolds. Argento should have stuck to classical music and the creepy Claudio Simonetti music score instead. As for the "Opera" DVD, it gives us the obligatory Dario Argento biography, a music video, a widescreen transfer, and a fascinating discussion about the film called "Conducting Dario Argento's Opera." In this thirty-minute documentary, Argento discusses locations, the violence, the cast, and the difficulties in making the film. He explains in minute detail how they rigged up a camera to create the bird's eye point of view shot in the theater. The only drawback to the documentary is Daria Nicolodi whining about her failed relationship with Dario and the difficulties of staging that keyhole effect. Argento fans must pick up "Opera" immediately. It's one of his better films.