evil bill
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OPERA 1987
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OPERA 1987
When a young opera singer Betty(Cristina Marsillach)takes over the leading role in an avant-garde presentation of Machberth,after the leading Diva breaks her leg.She unknownly triggers the madness of a crazed fan,who repeatedly forces young Betty to watch the brutal Murders of her loved ones.Will Betty's nightmare come to a bloody end of her life,or maybe she holds the key to identity the psychopath,could this be her last opera.
First as usual with Argento movies on close scrutiny notting stands up,lots of plot holes,the story is just there for this visual treat to get moving.The true star of this movie is the camera,as seems to be with Argento's best movies,and this is one great classic Italian horror movie.The closest movie he has done to this one is Inferno,with the use of colour,it's sureal feel and even the opera setting harks back to the classic Inferno.The cinematography by Ronnie Taylor(Barry Lyndon 1975,Cry Freedom 1987,Star Wars 1977,Sea Of Love 1989 to name but a few.)is just breathtakingly beautiful,eye poping and sureal.There are no limits to what angle or view point this camera can get into,it's just up there with Argento's best work.As for the set piece murders they are given the added twist of Betty the young Diva being forced to watch,with pins tape to her eye lids.This is Sadism with captials,as we to watch as the horror unfolds caught in Argento's sick wraped mind on full steam ahead.Like an usher in the first 15 or so minties is impaled on a coat hook,and thats just for starters,and anther victim having a knife pushed up throught a screaming mouth and tounge.Yes here we get the full 5 courses in this movie,and the ending is sheer cinema magic,as a flock of birds is released into the opera audience,and the lead raven circles,then dives down to peck out the killers eye.The camera follows the bird from start to gore filled finish,it's just stunning Argento on top form,it will not fail to impress any horror fan.The movie has it all,the black gloves from Suspiria,the crawl space from Inferno and so many more nods to Deep Red,Tenebrae,Phenomena etc,plus just like Inferno every frame is a work of art.This is techincial a great achievement in movie making,with Argento's attention to every visual detail,yes it's flawed script wise but so what.Repeated viewings only reduce the shock impact,but like again Inferno the imagery is mesmerising full of that Italian style we love,sheer brillant a must see for all Argento fans.
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