Shudder Saturday: Opera (1987)

It's been a while since I've seen Opera. It's been a while since I have watched, or rewatched (more often than not), ANY Dario Argento movie. I was moved to revisit this particular feature after mentioning it to someone who was just starting to explore Argento's filmography. I have always had a soft spot for it, although I was initially confused when I once thought I was revisiting it before pressing play on Dario Argento's The Phantom Of The Opera (a film made a decade later, and one that isn't half as good as this).

This IS a riff on the classic Gaston Leroux tale, considering it's all about a mysterious figure who takes an unhealthy interest in a stage starlet (Betty, played by Cristina Marsillach). Not content with watching her from the wings though, this "phantom" likes to catch Betty, use some needles and tape to ensure she cannot close her eyes, and make her watch as he kills various people in front of her. You get deadly set-pieces, a killer who stays hidden for most of the runtime, and an absolute overdose of style. Peak Argento giallo, in other words.

As well as directing, Argento is also credited here for co-writing the screenplay with Franco Ferrini. It may not be the best screenplay, but it's also far from the worst, especially in comparison to other giallo and slasher films of this era. It's just a shame that Argento tries to give characters emotionally-loaded dialogue to match his swooping and gliding camerawork when the ideal approach would be a near-silent tale told through the gorgeous visuals.

Marsillach is fine in the role of Betty, and this is a cast that also has room for Daria Nicolodi (a friend named Mira), Coralina Cataldi Tassoni (a costumier named Giulia), Ian Charleson, Urbano Barberini, and Antonella Vitale, all potential victims or a potential killer, as well as a fun cameo from Michele Soavi (uncredited), but the real pleasure comes from Argento setting up one audacious sequence after another in a way that blends the traditional with the modern more effectively than some of his other work.

Even compared to other Argento delights, and I'm sure some will argue with me on this point, Opera feels dizzying and dazzling in a way that underlines his mastery of fluid camera movement, inventive and gory deaths, and the seriously macabre juxtaposed alongside entertaining absurdity. While not his very best film, I would nominate Opera as his best technical work. And I know it has some stiff competition.

If you haven't seen this one by now then do make it a priority. Okay, start elsewhere if you're completely new to Argento (Deep Red is always a winner, even if it's arguably the high point of his career), but you don't need to be an expert in his filmography to recognise his tricks and flourishes packed into every main scene here. 

9/10

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Shudder Saturday: Dark Glasses (2022)

Ilenia Pastorelli stars as Diana, an Italian escort who ends up losing her sight when she is attacked by a serial killer. She then meets Rita (Asia Argento), someone aiming to help her adjust to her life without sight, and enlists the help of a small child, Chin (Andrea Zhang), to be her eyes for her. The killer wants to finish what they started though, and it seems inevitable that Diana will lose more than her sight.

When this movie was first announced, horror fans were excited. Dario Argento, a once-great master of cinema, was seemingly returning to the giallo style of movie that had so often given us his best work. Hopes were high that this could banish the memory of the last film he directed a decade ago, the abysmal Dracula 3D. I even started to hear positive reviews from people who saw this at festival screenings. 

Those people lied!

Okay, admittedly, some will just like this more than others, and it is much better than his Dracula movie. But that is like saying cholera is better than the plague. The world would be better off without either. And maybe it is time for Argento to hang up his hat. We all have to accept that he’s probably not going to deliver another classic that would make a perfect end to his directorial career (although his involvement in the powerful and heart-breaking Vortex show that he could maybe collaborate with others in a way that would be beneficial to everyone).

Dark Glasses feels like on of those scripts you sometimes see created by AI. Everything is present and correct, in terms of the tropes that Argento has worked with throughout his career, but nothing feels quite right. Events unfold, but don’t always feel naturally connected to one another. There are occasional bursts of violence, but they feel unimpressive and lacking in any energy. It is, overall, impossible to care about anything, or anyone, in the film.

Pastorelli and Zhang have some good moments together, Asia Argento gives a performance that actually works well (a pleasant surprise), and there is supporting work from Andrea Gherpelli and Mario Pirrello, as well as one or two others, that adds to the potential for a lot of fun. Sadly, that potential is never realised.

It all boils down to the fact that Argento seems to have lost his way, forgotten how he made moments of cinema that were so impactful, that made such an indelible impression on so many viewers. There is no point in criticising the script, co-written by Argento and Franco Ferrini, because these movies aren’t usually focused on the writing. The technical side of things (including the score by Arnaud Rebotini) is all competent. But competent is not what you expect, or want, from Dario Argento. 

I didn’t expect this to be on the same level as his best work, that would be a tall order indeed, but I was hoping to see one or two scenes that contained flashes of brilliance, breadcrumbs rewarding those who keep hoping that an immense talent hasn’t entirely disappeared. There was nothing here. You could even say that something so lacklustre MIGHT make you admire the craziness of his Dracula movie a bit more. I won’t ever say that, but you could.

3/10

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The Church (1989)

Directed by Michele Soavi, The Church is, allegedly, an official sequel to the Demons movies. I'm not sure who decided that, considering that it bears very little resemblance to those other films, beyond the superficial similarities (e.g. some people in a building, and some demons causing problems).

The plot is much more reminiscent of Prince Of Darkness, dealing with a group of people in a church who are unfortunate enough to witness something truly evil arising. Perhaps. There's a priest (Hugh Quarshie) who might be able to help good triumph over any demonic attack, a couple of scholarly, but not old and dull, folks (Tomas Arana and Barbara Cupisti) who might also be able to help, if they're not too busy making eyes at one another and putting themselves in potential danger, and there's a young girl (Asia Argento) who knows a secret way in and out of the church that might just prove useful at some point.

The strangest thing about The Church is that it feels so dull, despite the fact that so much wonderful imagery is thrown around in the second half of the movie. There's a decent amount of gore, some real nastiness, and an air of sleaziness that fans of Italian horror should enjoy. This is the sort of movie in which you can feel the clammy presence oozing from every dark crevice of the featured building while also feeling the hot, uncomfortable looks that certain characters give to others as they come under the influence of evil.

Quarshie is pretty solid in his role, while Arana and Cupisti both make for decent potential leads until they're somewhat sidelined in the third act. Argento doesn't have to stretch herself, and is just fine, while genre fave Giovanni Lombardo Radice also joins in with the fun, accompanied by Feodor Chaliapin Jr, Antonella Vitale and Robert Caruso, among others.

Soavi's direction is as fluid and stylish as usual, and the screenplay (by Dario Argento, Franco Ferrini, and Soavi, as well as a few other helpers) tries to set everything up seriously, but makes the whole thing just that little bit absurd. The opening sequence alone feels like an outtake from Monty Python And The Holy Grail, and that's before you get to the scenes that show people talking about the history of the church and what discoveries might be made there AKA the laughably clumsy exposition moments.

But there's gore, death, lust, a score that uses Goblin, Philip Glass, Keith Emerson and Fabio Pignatelli, and some memorable imagery. Which is often all you need from these movies.

6/10

http://www.amazon.com/Church-Hugh-Quarshie/dp/B000TZJCMS/ref=sr_1_1?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1411850939&sr=1-1&keywords=the+church