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.

DEMONS

(Lamberto Bava, 1985)

Classic!
A must-see for horror fans in general. Demons is a fast-paced, candy-colored nightmare with a good dose of action, cheese, and gore.

From a stranger in a mask Cheryl (Natasha Hovey) receives two tickets to the Metropol, a gloomy church-like movie theater with walled-off rooms and perpetually leaky ceilings. She and pal Kathy decide to be naughty and go, a decision they soon regret. In the lobby we are introduced to an odd assortment of characters. First there's George and Ken (who picks these names??), who hook up with Cheryl and Kathy. We also have a bickering middle-aged couple, a young couple who mostly make out (the female half being Fiore Argento), the usher (a grown-up Nicoletta Elmi), and a blind man and his unfaithful daughter. Plus fodder. Lots of fodder. There's also switchblade-wielding pimp Tony (Bobby Rhodes) and his two favorite gals, one of whom (Rosemary) is unfortunate enough to scratch her face while trying to scare her coworker with a silver demon mask in the lobby.

The audience settles in to watch the film - a horror film, surprisingly. In it a guy tries on a demon mask found in the grave of Nostradamus(?), then becomes possessed and starts killing off his friends. Rosemary freaks out about the similar cut on her face and runs to the bathroom to check it out. There we are treated to the sloppy, gruesome sight of a giant lump bursting out of her cheek. Tony gets worried when she doesn't come back, so he sends her friend to check on her. This is where it starts to get good. Long story short, the theater is soon overrun with demons, and all of the exits have been mysteriously walled-over. I won't give the rest away, as it only gets zanier and gorier as it progresses.

The combined effort of Lamberto Bava, Dario Argento, and Dardano Sacchetti produced something truly unique and special. True, the dialogue is horrible, but that's to be expected. Also true is the complete lack of realism, but I feel this adds to the funhouse feel of the film. Once the two hookers become demons, the action never lets up. Throats are ripped open, eyes are gouged, hair is ripped out. Towards the end the motorcycle and samurai sword from the lobby are put to good use in a sequence one must see to believe. And our protagonists are saved by a VERY unlikely event that will make you skip back just to verify that they actually put it in the film!

The Verdict

Cons:
Misplaced subplot concerning a bunch of cokeheads cruising in a stolen car
Far too many pointless random occurrences: the demon bursting out of someone's back, the walled-off room, the women all standing in a circle screaming, and the highly unlikely savior at the end

Pros:
Non-stop action and energy; extremely graphic latex effects (slightly dated, but still good)
Oodles of style - it's obvious Dario had a hand in the lighting and set design
Loads of blood and bile
A fun story that's clever at times and has sympathetic lead characters
Rockin' soundtrack and original score by Claudio Simonetti

Buy It!

UNTIL DEATH aka The Changeling 2

(Lamberto Bava, 1987)

It's a pity Lamberto is known mainly for his Demons movies, as his other horror efforts are quite entertaining and underrated. His Gialli are some of the most brutal (yet stylish), his psychological horrors effective, and his slasher movies...well, you know. Until Death, originally made for Italian TV, falls into the realm of psychological horror with a dash of the supernatural.

Linda and her abusive partner Carlo murdered Linda's husband eight years ago and have been running a bed and breakfast ever since. One stormy night, a handsome young drifter named Marco stops by and asks for a room. Linda is smitten and invites him in, to Carlo's dismay. Instead of leaving the next morning, Marco stays on and helps Linda around the house to pay his keep. Though attracted to him, Linda is also repulsed and frightened as he seems to know a lot of details about her former husband. Her son, plagued routinely by nightmares of his father's rotting corpse, also takes a liking to Marco. The question is, of course, who or what is Marco, and why does he know so much about her husband? Watch and find out!

This is one of Bava's finest films, derivative as it may be. There's decent acting, effects, soundtrack by Simon Boswell, and snazzy camerawork. The tension/ violence between Carlo and Linda, as well as the sexual tension between Linda and Marco, keep things interesting and add some dimension to what would otherwise be a standard tale of ghostly revenge. The scare scenes, though incredibly tame and relatively blood-free, are still fairly effective. It's Bava's use of lighting and music to create a dreadful atmosphere that provides the real chills, and anyone who puts him down in comparison to his father Mario might do well to see this, Macabre, and A Blade in the Dark to see how deftly Lamberto manipulates these elements.

Definitely a Must-See, even for late 80s Italian horror, and available on DVD thanks to MYA Communications. Go get it!

Buy It