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Opera
List Price: $14.95
Available from Amazon
$10.99
on 12-7-2008
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Features
Actors: Cristina Marsillach, Ian Charleson, Urbano Barberini, William McNamara, Daria Nicolodi
Directors: Dario Argento
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, NTSC
Language: English
Region: All Regions
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Number of discs: 1
Rating: 
Studio: Blue Underground
DVD Release Date: September 25, 2007
Run Time: 107 minutes
Average Customer Review:
  (71 customer reviews)
Reader Reviews
This review is from: Opera : Limited Numbered Edition (3000) (DVD)
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. And hey, I like heavy metal. Buy it
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Opera
List Price: $14.95
Available from Amazon
Price: $10.99
Updated on 12-7-2008.
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