Opera (1987)

Directed by: Dario Argento | 107 minutes | horror, thriller | Actors: Cristina Marsillach, Ian Charleson, Urbano Barberini, Daria Nicolodi, Coralina Cataldi-Tassoni, Antonella Vitale, William McNamara, Barbara Cupisti, Antonino Iuorio, Carola Stagnaro, Francesca Cassola, Maurizio Garrone, Cristina Giachino, György Györiványi, Peter, Bjorn Hammer Pitsch, Sebastino Somma

Before releasing his miserably flopped version of ‘The Phantom of the Opera’ to the silver screen in 1998, Dario Argento made ‘Opera’, a horror film that was not a film adaptation, but paid homage to the famous novel by Gaston Leroux. The film is considered one of Argento’s last masterpieces. Beginning in the 1990s, the Italian horror legend delivered misses from which his career has still not recovered. ‘Opera’ may be his unofficial swan song as a genius, but making the film was not a pleasant experience. The filming was plagued by misfortunes large and small: actress Vanessa Redgrave withdrew, Argento’s father died, the director clashed with a supporting actress who was also his ex, and many of the ravens in the film escaped from the opera house. According to Argento, the malaise was the result of the infamous MacBeth curse, but luckily it didn’t affect the quality of the final product.

Like all horror classics, ‘Opera’ has stood the test of time well. The effects continue to be effective and the timing is perfect. Argento builds suspense like no other, speeds up and slows down the action at exactly the right moment, chooses the right timeless music for each scene (thanks to Brian Eno, among others) and handles the camera with a playful delight. Sometimes you’re like piggybacking on the back of the camera, so you see the scenes from the perspective of a killer stalking his prey. In another scene you see how a bullet bores into an eye. The inventiveness of the images alone makes the film worth watching. And although the bar for atrocities is now a lot higher, thanks to the torture porn hype, there is also enough to be horrified. A woman whose eyes are kept open with needles: you would spontaneously reach for the eye drops. Argento plays a clever game: just as the murderer makes his victim part of his gruesome murders, the director makes the viewer a voyeur. You can avert your gaze, but Argento tempts you to keep looking.