OPERA

(Dario Argento, 1987)

Things aren't looking up for opera singer Betty (Christina Marsillach), an understudy who has just been given the lead role in MacBeth after the original diva had an unfortunate accident (the first of many to come!). An insane fan of Betty's lurks in the wings, waiting until she's alone to tie her up and tape needles under her eyes so that she can't shut them as he mutilates her friends in front of her. Sadism's the name of the game though, and he releases Betty after each killing...

Opera may just be Argento's last great thriller before he Americanized and lost his identity. The plot's a familiar one, but here Dario inserts a little commentary and black humour, no small feat considering his humour normally falls flat on it's face. In Opera he also continues with his fairy tale theme, presenting Betty, like Jennifer in Phenomena or Suzy in Suspiria, as a girl drawn suddenly into an unfamiliar nightmare world. This is again reinforced through camera angles and set design. Another theme further explored is his love of animals, in this case crows, and the uncanny abilities they supposedly possess. Still don't get it, but meh...

Visually speaking, Opera is just as vivid and memorable as Dario's prior efforts. He throws in a couple of new tricks here, creating swooping bird's POV shots, and even a slow-mo closeup of a bullet passing through a peephole. He also managed to insert his/ Mario Bava's trademark coloured lighting. Other than the weak acting and story (used to it by now!), my chief complaint, as in Phenomena, was the juxtaposition of dreamy opera with thrashy metal in the soundtrack. I can see how it might be appropriate in the gore scenes, but it makes the film feel a bit disjointed.

On the plus side, however, there's an abundance of blood and kink onboard, and a cast of familiar Italian horror players, including Barbara Cupisti, Coralina Cataldi Tassoni, Urbano Barberini, Daria Nicolodi, and others too numerous to mention. Definitely worth a watch.

THE CHURCH

(Michele Soavi, 1989)



We open on a fantastic medieval sequence wherein a group of crusaders massacre a village full of witches. The bodies are interred in a mass grave, and a church is built over the site.



We then fast forward to the church in the late 80's, where we are introduced to a variety of characters. There's Evan, the new librarian. Lisa is there restoring a large fresco that depicts Hell. There's the Sacristan and his family. A young Asia Argento plays both their daughter Lotte and a witch killed in the opening. There's also the bishop, Father Gus, and the reverend.



Work with a jackhammer in the cellar of the church has caused large cracks in the walls. While investigating the cracks, Lisa discovers an ancient parchment inside. It piques Evans interest, so he goes to the cellar. A giant cross embedded in the floor falls away, revealing a bottomless black abyss below. Evan is soon possessed, and proceeds to infect (or at least creep out) the rest of the cast.



We are then introduced to an ENTIRELY NEW CAST who are in the church. This time there's a dotty old couple, a teacher and some students, a bridal photographer and his models, and a young couple. Another jackhammer incident in the cellar (a much gorier one, haw!) sets off the church's self-containment mechanism by means of gears, levers, and pulleys. It seems the crusaders knew how to plan ahead! The rest of the film follows each character's attempt to escape possession by varied means, and the inevitable destruction of the church.



The only complaint I have with The Church is the (given) corny dialogue. Everything else about it is right on. To start with, Soavi has created some of the most beautiful and memorable images I've seen, and this film is choc full of them. He used paintings by the great masters and medieval religious art as references for the look of the film, and it paid off. We even catch fleeting glimpses of demons right out the fresco in the church. The creature effects, though a little dated, are still fantastic. Forever stuck with me is the image of Evan as a large winged devil caressing one of the girls and gliding backwards in complete silence. The film may be a little slow at times, but builds beautifully to one of the most awe-inspiring effects: a massive, horned beast made of corpses rising out of the bowels of the church!



Michele Soavi's second directorial effort is one of the best examples of Italian horror. It embodies all that is great within that realm: fantastic imagery with artful flourishes, a soundtrack by Goblin, Keith Emerson, and Philip Glass, and gore galore. Though it was originally intended to be a third entry in the Demons series, Soavi took the film in a completely different direction. Highly recommended.

Buy It

STAGEFRIGHT aka Aquarius aka Deliria

(Michele Soavi, 1987)



Here we have a true horror classic, Italian or otherwise. Produced by Joe D'Amato, partly written by George Eastman, directed by Michele Soavi, and starring Barbara Cupisti, David Brandon, and Giovanni Lombardo Radice...can't go wrong!



The story goes something like this: A group of youngish actor/dancers are rehearsing for an amateur production (and by amateur I mean...just watch the opening dance number!) The leading lady (Cupisti) sprains her ankle and sneaks out with the wardrobe mistress to get it looked at...which takes them to a psych ward, the nearest medical facility. A particularly deranged inmate escapes, hitches a ride back to the theater with them, and kills the wardrobe girl. Her body is discovered, and after the police have left the troupe are coerced into continuing with the play in an effort to cash in on the murder. The coked-out director (Brandon) gets a notion that no one should leave the theater until the morning, and has one actress lock the doors and hide the key. Guess which actress is the next to be murdered?



The film doesn't get going until well into the second third, but when it does, it doesn't let up. The poor crew get stabbed, chainsawed, drilled, cut in two, and beheaded by our owl-masked friend! One unfortunate soul gets a pick-axe through the mouth! So what makes this a more effective film than say, Friday the 13th (any of them)? For one, the characters aren't just two-dimensional fodder. Care was taken to create realistic, sympathetic individuals. That's not to say that they are all likeable, though! They actually think too, and take care to arm themselves and stick together. It's a pity it doesn't work out for them.



The other thing I really appreciate about Stagefright, or any of Soavi's films, is the photography and editing. His films are slick and frightening at the same time, and there are genuinely tense scenes that will leave you holding your breath. He, like his mentor Dario Argento, has the ability to make death a thing of beauty. There are a few rather tongue-in-cheek scenes, my favorite being when one character is being drilled through a door. A bottle of bright red stage blood shatters on the floor, creating a pool of artificial gore onto which drips the much darker real thing. Also humorous is the ending, but I won't give that much away. I highly recommend this as one of the first films you should watch if debating whether Italian horror is for you.



Buy It

HELL'S GATE aka Le Porte Dell'Inferno

(Umberto Lenzi, 1989)

(description from IMDB user review)
"A man who has recently broken the world isolation record in a labyrinthine cave encounters seven ghostly monks who, seven hundred years after their execution during the inquisition, attempt to free themselves from damnation by killing seven heretics—the record-breaker and his would-be rescuers."
And that about sums it up!

Lenzi must have been absolutely exhausted when he made this, having just done House of Lost Souls, House of Witchcraft, Ghosthouse, and Hitcher In The Dark... his heart just isn't in it...not that he put THAT much into his movies, but he's really stretched thin here! We have the usual stock horror images of cobwebbed skulls, tarantula attacks, bleeding pictures, and walls of fire. Heads are crushed and eyes are gouged, but it almost feels like a "Best Of" compilation, with images and deaths lifted from Ghosthouse, House of Lost Souls, and Lucio Fulci's The Beyond.

I am a bit of a softie for Umberto, so I can't say Hell's Gate is a complete write-off. The underground location works, Barbara Cupisti is always a welcome face, and I really dig them Batman-style camera angles. Also, love it or leave it, Lenzi's films do have a rather unique style. And randomly exploding electronics and glass jars. Either way, it's recommended. I have yet to find an copy with English subs, and as far as I know, this hasn't been released in N America at all. Best of luck with the downloads!