Very well executed

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Awesome Movie

The acting in this movie is really good.

I last saw this film several years ago on YouTube, and in less than stellar quality. At that time I was not a great admirer of Soavi, perhaps because I was hoping for Dario Argento Jr. and got something different. Since becoming a huge fan of Dellamorte Dellamore (1994), however, I've been planning to re-watch his other films, and now I'm finally getting around to it. This is Soavi's feature debut - before this he cut his teeth as assistant director to Argento, Lamberto Bava, and Joe D'Amato - and here we can see the influence of these various mentors. The flamboyant camera-work and imagery certainly bring Argento to mind, while the premise (an acting troupe gets locked inside a theater with a serial killer) is reminiscent of Bava's Demons (1985). The material isn't so similar to D'Amato's work, but we have him to thank for the film's existence (and for Soavi's directorial career, since he was perfectly content to remain an assistant director), since he produced it and hired Soavi.As a director Soavi hadn't quite found his own voice yet - he's very imitative of Argento here - but to his credit he conjures imagery worthy of the master. No one who has seen this film will forget the bizarre owl mask donned by the killer (an image that would not be out of place in Franju's Judex), and the scene of him sitting on stage with the posed bodies of his victims, tranquilly stroking a cat as feathers descend on them like snowflakes, is one of the most indelible in the whole of Italian horror. What already sets Soavi apart from Argento is his cheeky humor. The comic relief scenes in Argento's films generally come across as rather clumsy and awkward (e.g. the befuddled mailman from Four Flies on Grey Velvet), but Soavi is consistently clever. The opening scene, for instance, thwarts our expectations to great comic effect. Still Soavi knows how to stage an effective death scene, and he doesn't hold back on the red stuff, but even the most horrible scenes tend to have a touch of black humor. One bit I particularly liked involved one of the characters spilling stage-blood all over the dressing room; as their friend is drilled to death, his blood starts to drip onto the fake stuff. I can't help but wonder if this is a tongue-in-cheek criticism of the phony-looking blood in most Italian horror films.The cast is quite strong: Barbara Cupisti is a sympathetic heroine, David Brandon is brilliant as the temperamental director (perhaps Soavi was drawing on his experiences with Argento here), and Giovanni Lombardo Radice is pretty amusing as a flamboyantly gay actor. Special praise must be singled out to the actor playing the silent masked killer (IMDb claims that it's exploitation legend George Eastman), who projects great presence simply through the use of his body language - I'd favorably compare him to Lon Chaney.The experience between my first and second viewings of this little gem is truly night and day. This is not just an astoundingly good film for a first time director, but a minor masterpiece of the genre. Dario Argento must have thought so as well; Opera bears some striking similarities to it, and Argento would subsequently enlist Soavi to direct The Church (1989) and The Sect (1991).

Stage Fright Aquarius is a truly remarkable artistic giallo film from Michael Soavi. The storyline, following a group working on a stage play, made a great spooky setting. This film almost seemed like an upper-scale U.S. slasher flick. I also loved some of the camera movement techniques that created weird disorienting scenes with the addition of the unsettling music score. Scenes involving the killer owl were great, just the right amount of carnage that wasn't over the top. How can I forget the girls in the movie, they are super attractive as well, all wearing skimpy outfits for their stage performance. One aspect of the film I found pretty lousy though was Pete's character. He received bad dialog and was written questionable motives. All and all, I watched the movie in one sitting and was absolutely glued to the television screen. Stage Fright Aquarius (8/10) is tense throughout and has an amazing ending that is definitely a nice cherry on top.

Stagefright is the debut film from director Michele Soavi. Before it he had been assistant director to the likes of Dario Argento and Lamberto Bava, as well as appearing as an actor in various films. He went on to contribute three other horror films over the subsequent seven years. He was effectively the premier Italian horror director in those years and his final film in this sequence, Cemetery Man, feels like the final worthwhile Italian horror film, give or take a few Argento's in the years since. For whatever reason, Soavi has never returned to the genre since, which needless to say is extremely unfortunate. Credit has to be given to exploitation director Joe D'Amato who acted as producer for Stagefright. He seems to have given Soavi free reign to make his film, so long as it met certain commercial genre specifications. The result is a stylish effort that is not so much a giallo as an Italian-style slasher.Written by notable actor Luigi Montefiori (aka George Eastman), the story is about an escaped maniac who ends up on the loose in a theatre where a horror themed musical is being rehearsed by a drama group; in true slasher style, the killer starts picking them off one by one. The events encompass one night, where the rain lashes down constantly outside. Truthfully, the story is utterly by-the-numbers and not the selling point. What makes this one good is the considerable style and freshness Soavi brings to the well-worn slasher genre. The killer wears a large owl mask and the setting is a theatre. This gives the film a somewhat over-the-top operatic aspect, which not only ties it in with Italian culture in general but also makes it a twin of sorts to Argento's giallo Opera, also released in the same year. For a debut feature, this is very assured stuff from Soavi. There's plenty of inventive camera work, nice use of colour and some very well handled tension. Of the latter, a real standout is the scene where the heroine attempts to retrieve a key from under a feather covered stage where the maniac has arranged all his victims in a grim tableaux. Its inspired moments like this one that sets Stagefright apart from standard slasher fare. But Soavi never forgets to supply the bread and butter of this genre as well; to that end there are a plethora of varied gory murders. This mix of generic material with a distinctive and stylish approach means that Stagefright remains one of the better slasher films out there.

(Credit IMDb) A troupe of struggling stage actors is rehearsing for a small-town production of a play. Everything seems to be as it should until one of the cast members turns up dead. In a panic, the others try to get out, only to find they are now locked in the theater with the killer! Which one of them committed the murder, and who will get out alive?I was really impressed by this one. This feels like something Dario Argento would do, but i'm not surprised. There is suspense galore in this one, with some truly impressive death scenes, full of gore. The killer himself is wild-looking. He has a giant owl head for a mask, how cool is that? This isn't a true Giallo, it's more along the lines of a slasher. Even so, the genre had become stagnant at this juncture. This movie is criminally unheralded for a time where the slasher genre was dying8.3/10