Opera (1987)

... aka: Dario Argento's Opera
... aka: Terror at the Opera

Directed by:
Dario Argento

There are a lot of differing opinions about this film and just what it meant for Argento's career. Many believe this is his last really good film and that it's all downhill from here. Others believe the film itself is substandard and was the beginning of the director's downward spiral. And then there are those super-fans who both love this film (I've even seen “masterpiece” volleyed around a bit) and continue to love many of Argento's later offerings. In my humble opinion, nothing Argento has made after this point would be quite as good, though that doesn't mean this is quite on par with some of his better earlier offerings either. Still, who wouldn't take something creative, well-made / produced, delightfully bonkers and boasting some of the most inventive camerawork of the entire decade over the vast majority of comparably unimaginative slasher flicks and endless sequels that dominated this decade? I know I sure would. Despite having a fair amount of issues with the narrative, this is still a good notch or two above the norm any way you slice it.

Things center around an operatic theater version of Giuseppe Verdi's Macbeth that's being staged by famous blood n' guts horror film director Mark (Ian Charleson). Bitchy star diva Mara Czekova is accidentally (maybe) struck down by a car while storming out of the opera house due to the director's insistence on using real ravens and other such annoyances with the avant-garde production. Wide-eyed understudy Betty (cute Spanish model Cristina Marsillach), whose mother was also a famous singer, is then drafted to take her place. Knowing that the opera is rumored to be cursed and to bring back luck, Betty is apprehensive about taking on the lead Lady Macbeth role but relents due to optimistic pressure from her agent, Mira (Daria Nicolodi), and the show's producer (Antonino Iuorio). Successfully overcoming her jitters, Betty's debut performance ends up being a smashing success. Unfortunately, a stage hand is murdered upstairs while the performance is underway and Betty appears to have somehow already managed to pique the interest of an obsessive fan / stalker. This man also may be somehow tied into her past.

The horrors continue for poor Betty whenever the psycho starts terrorizing her over the phone, sneaks into the theater to slash up her costume and a few of the ravens (who apparently have really good memories and a taste for vengeance!) and then forces her to take part in his vicious slayings. He accomplishes the latter by ambushing her, tying her up, gagging her and then taping a line of needles beneath her eyes so if she tries to close them she'll rip her eyelids apart; thus forcing her to witness each of his bloody crimes. After he dispatches Betty's would-be stage manager lover Stefano (William McNamara), she calls the police to report the murder but, curiously enough, hangs up the phone whenever they ask for her name. She does however confide in Mark (who also doesn't bother involving he cops) and confesses that it all seems to tie in with a recurring nightmare she's had since childhood, which centers around a man wearing a black hood, a distinctive-looking dagger, a dilapidated building, kinky sex, pulsating brain matter and murder-voyeurism. An investigation led by Inspector Alan Santini (Urbano Barberini) is soon underway.

During an excellent sequence, Betty again finds herself tied up and forced to watch as brassy wardrobe mistress Giulia (Coralina Cataldi Tassoni) is strangled, stabbed and then has her throat cut open to retrieve a piece of evidence she accidentally swallowed. This time Betty is confronted by Inspector Santini on the way back to her apartment and spills the beans. He tells her to lock her door and wait for his assistant, Daniele Soave (second unit director Michele Soavi in an uncredited cameo), to show up. Agent Mira stops by long enough for another great scene where she's shot through a peephole, with the bullet shown traveling through the hole, shattering glass, flying through Mira's head and then destroying the telephone behind her in slow motion.

Mark and animal trainer Maurizio (Maurizio Garrone) then devise a "genius" (i.e. utterly absurd!) plan to weed out the killer, with all of the red herrings and the actual killer all in attendance at another Macbeth performance. That results in a raven pecking out an eyeball, followed by a blazing fire that burns down part of the opera house. Then, in a very polarizing second climax, the film retreats to the Swiss Alps for a handful of admittedly amusing PHENOMENA (1985) in-jokes and another appearance by the psycho. How he managed to pull the wool over the investigator's eyes, fake his own death and escape the opera house is, for lack of a better word, dumb. But, hey, at least the scenery is great.

Aside from a handful of showstopper murder set pieces, smooth scene transitions (especially a shot disappearing into the darkness of an air vent and then emerging in an orchestra pit) and some fantastic camerawork (like a raven POV circling way above the audience and then swooping down upon them), this also boasts a soundtrack that has no qualms going from opera to ambient (Brian Eno and Roger Eno) to bursts of metal from obscure acts like the Italian band Gow (who use the alias "Steel Grave" in the credits) and the Swedish group Norden Light ("No Escape") during the more horrific moments. There are also contributions from Bill Wyman and Goblin's Claudio Simonetti. Viewers will either love this eclectic mix or be completely turned off by it but that's par for the course with Argento.

Despite doing some truly head-scratchingly-stupid things at times, the main character provides a somewhat interesting focal point. Betty is an aloof, tentative young woman sabotaged on both a personal and professional level by insecurities brought on by her traumatic past. She's a self-proclaimed "disaster in bed," recoils from touch, seems incapable of having a real romantic relationship and almost spoils her own chances at success by trying to back out of a star-making role. So, in a way, the core of this film is really about her character overcoming her past to reclaim her life. One of the final images at the finale is of her freeing a trapped lizard. The last line is "Go free."

Though Marsillach is serviceable in the lead here, Argento apparently hated working with her and originally wanted Phenomena star Jennifer Connelly to play this part instead. Vanessa Redgrave was also originally cast as the bitchy opera star but backed out at the last minute so her role was reduced to POV shots and a voice-over done by another actress. Antonella Vitale (THE CHURCH), who has a small role as Mark's model lover, was Argento's real-life girlfriend at the time. He also gave her the lead in his short-lived series Turno di notte before the two split up. Also appearing in small roles are Barbara Cupisti (STAGE FRIGHT) as the producer's assistant, Carola Stagnaro (TENEBRAE) as Betty's tarty neighbor, Peter Pitsch and Karl Zinny (both from DEMONS, along with Barberini) and real-life conductor / Hungarian opera director György Gyõriványi.

The director of photography was Ronnie Taylor, a Brit who'd won an Oscar just a few years earlier for shooting Gandhi (1982), which also featured the late Charleson (an acclaimed theater actor, though you'd never guess that here). Taylor went on to shoot Argento's rather crappy Phantom of the Opera re-do in 1998 and the giallo Sleepless in 2001.

With an 8 million dollar budget, Opera was Argento's most expensive film to date. Though it was fairly successful in Italy, release in other countries was delayed, sometimes by years. It wouldn't show up on VHS here in America until 1991 when Southgate released two separate videos: an R-rated cut and an unrated / uncut version. The former had 11 minutes removed. Naturally the subsequent DVD and Blu-ray releases from companies like Anchor Bay, Scorpion Releasing and Blue Underground have all been the uncut 107 minute version.

★★★