Review of Opera

I've enjoyed a lot Italian director Dario Argento's early films mainly "The Bird with the Cristal Plumage" and "Deep Red" and a step below "The Cat with Nine Tails" and "Four Flies on Grey Velvet". No doubt the man showed real talent for horror thrillers in those ones with his own scripts (aided by his then wife actress Daria Nicolodi) all based on more realistic plots than those of his later works such as "Suspiria" or "Phenomena" that included supernatural assets like witches or persons communicating with insects. In his later works Argento seems to have lost his "touch" for those creative and original plots (though not his masterful handling of cameras); he focuses instead in most truculent and blood splashing issues as a way to capture the viewers attention ("Tenebbre" is also an example).

"Opera" delivers the director's unmatched shooting style, a correct atmosphere and some good moments (Cristina Marsillac tied up and gagged with pins in her eyes to force her to watch the brutal murders by a sadistic unknown killer, being an example), but the story is weak and lacks the imagination and surprise of Argento's early products. In fact all suspects are murdered one by one until just one of them stays alive and so you can't miss who he/she is.

The acting in "Opera" is average or below, but Argento never cared much about it; the performances were always a secondary issue for him always confident in his most skillful and truly original camera handling.

If you are an Argento fan you probably will not be very disappointed with "Opera" but the director is not as his best here.