Opera Review
Italian horror director Dario_Argento's shocker Opera features a strong display of the filmmaker's signature styles in terms of inventive visuals and fantastic murder set pieces, but the film lacks the story cohesion it needs to fall into the category of his classic genre films. Inspired by +Phantom of the Opera (which Argento remade in 1999), Opera tells the story of a young understudy (Christina_Marsillach) who gets her chance to sing thanks to a deranged madman whose connection to the singer doesn't become clear until the ending. In the meantime, he torments her in a most devious way -- by taping needles under her eyes so that she is forced to witness his excruciating murders. For gore fans, these sequences mark the film's finest moments. These include a brutal stabbing in which the victim is hacked in the throat and hands, a gut-wrenching tracheotomy, and a shot of the killer having his eye plucked out by a crow. The showstopper is a close-up of a bullet being fired through a door peephole and into Daria_Nicolodi's head. The excellent special makeup effects by Sergio_Stivaletti are complemented by a high-voltage selection of heavy metal tunes (an Argento signature) and a great score that features contributions by Claudio_Simonetti and former Rolling_Stone Bill_Wyman. The screenplay by Argento and Franco_Ferrini starts with a good premise and an intriguing setting (the opera). However, the characters are rather one-dimensional (not to mention poorly acted) and the story's "surprise" revelation is less than spectacular. On the plus side, the film features one final shock sequence that ends things on a bizarre and disturbing note. Overall, the final result is a decent, fairly typical Argento film that is worth watching primarily for its above-average murder sequences. Patrick Legare, Rovi
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