Here comes another masterpiece written and directed by the horror-thriller master Dario Argento. With several artistic death scenes (it is neither SAW nor Hostel) of beautiful women, and if you are an admirer of Argento’s genre and style of film making, you are bound to enjoy this thrilling Italian movie experience.

Opera (English Title: Terror at the Opera) basically revolves around the play Macbeth. Betty (Cristina Marsillach), the opera singer gets lucky to perform in Macbeth after the lead met with a mysterious road accident just outside the opera. After a very unexpected, yet successful debut night, Betty leaves the after party with her boyfriend to a private place. The very next morning, a man wearing mask and gloves (typical Argento style) brutally murders Betty’s boyfriend in front of her eyes. Betty is forced to watch the deadly murder as the killer has put few needles in front of her eyes (you need to watch this in order to understand it). It is quite clear that the killer not only wants to terrify Betty, but wants her to witness the mutilation of her near and dear ones.

Comparing to Argento’s earlier flicks like Uccell Dalle Piume Di Cristallo, L and Tenebre, Opera has a little less amount of mystery in it. The presence of the masked- gloved killer definitely creates a good feeling of mystery and is able to put the audiences through an uncomfortable situation, which in turn fulfils the intention of Dario Argento.  The obsession of the killer for Betty, the hatred towards people who are closely associated with her, the murder scenes, tortures, the needle in the eyes scenes go very well with Opera. The murder scenes, especially the murder of Betty’s boyfriend in front of her eyes is quite gruesome. The sadistic serial killer stabs her boyfriend’s throat with a knife and once stabbed the knife becomes visible through the mouth. Awesome scene! And the clever usage of those birds is kind of creepy. Even the 2-3 minutes point of view shots from the bird’s eyes is quite unsettling.  Cristina Marsillach as Betty did a good job as a terrified opera singer haunted by an unknown serial killer. Even the other characters are quite comfortable in their respective roles. With bright and massive sets, Dario Argento has finally presented us something good. However, the climax to me seems quite unrealistic and could have been handled in a far better way. It looks like Opera ended in a hurry during the last couple of minutes. Still Opera is quite a recommendable Italian thriller.

Watch the trailer of Opera

My Rating – 6/10
Learn more about the movie on IMDB.

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