Opera (1987)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

Director:

Dario Argento

Writers:

Dario Argento (screenplay)
Dario Argento (story)

Release Date:

19 December 1987 (Italy)

Genre:

Horror | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

obsession. murder. madness.

Plot:

A young opperata is stalked by a deranged fan bent on killing the people associated with her to claim her for himself.

Plot Keywords:

Opera | Psychopath | Killing | Mass Destruction | Telephone Call

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Cristina Marsillach	...	Betty
Ian Charleson	...	Marco
Urbano Barberini	...	Inspector Alan Santini
Daria Nicolodi	...	Mira
Coralina Cataldi-Tassoni	...	Giulia
Antonella Vitale	...	Marion
William McNamara	...	Stefano
Barbara Cupisti	...	Signora Albertini
Antonino Iuorio	...	Baddini (as Antonio Juorio)
Carola Stagnaro	...	Alma's mother
Francesca Cassola	...	Alma
Maurizio Garrone	...	Maurizio, the raven trainer
Cristina Giachino	...	Maria, the assistant director
György Gyõriványi	...	Miro
Bjorn Hammer	...	Cop #1

Also Known As:

Terror at the Opera (USA)
Im Zeichen des Raben (West Germany) [de]
Opera (Sweden) [sv]
Terreur à l'opéra (France) [fr]
Terror en la ópera (Argentina) [es]
Terror in der Oper (West Germany) [de]
Terror na Ópera (Brazil) [pt]
Terror na Opera (Portugal) [pt]
Tromos stin opera (Greece) [el]

Runtime:

107 min | USA:88 min (edited version)

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Italy:VM14 (re-rating) | USA:R (heavily cut) | Canada:16+ (Quebec) | Germany:18 (video rating) (1988) (heavily cut) | Germany:18 (TV premiere) (1992) (heavily cut) | New Zealand:R18 | Argentina:18 | Australia:R | Canada:R | Finland:K-18 | Italy:VM18 | Norway:18 | UK:18 | USA:Unrated | West Germany:18

Filming Locations:

Lugano, Canton Ticino, Switzerland

Company:

ADC Films

Trivia:

The ending of the movie is inspired by the ending of Thomas Harris's book "Red Dragon". In an interview in Luca M. Palmerini's book "Spaghetti Nightmares", Dario Argento states that he did not like Michael Mann's Manhunter (1986), the first film adaptation of "Red Dragon" which used a completely different ending from the one in the novel, but is a fan of Harris's novel. (Ted Tally's screenplay for Red Dragon (2002) later adapted this ending more faithfully.)

Quotes:

Betty: I am nothing like my mother. Nothing like her!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Gawi (2000)

Soundtrack:

Knights of the Night

Wild Argento stuff!

I loved "Opera" - sure, there are flaws, but only the typical ones... Mostly inconsistencies, and they are mentioned quite a bit at the IMDB comment site. To me, these kinds of things can't be important if you know anything about his work and are looking forward to seeing his next movie. If you love Dario Argento, then you learn to treasure these idiosyncrasies (plot holes, odd motives, clumsy or tacked-on endings, bad female performances, blah, blah, blah) as part of the auteur's clumsy charm. And if you love Argento, it is because of his spectacular, flaming imagination and his confidence and skill in bringing all of it to the screen. Pins under eyelids? The retrieval of the gold bracelet? The bullet gliding gracefully down the long corridor? The little girl's rescuing of the heroine and the ensuing air duct chase? These all come straight from the director's imagination and they come out of nowhere, or better yet, from the subconcious. Dario's best stuff is always vivid and excessive, dreamlike and unprecedented. I am almost afraid to watch the newer stuff as I hear the director's outlook on making horror films has weakened in some way. Still, "Deep Red" (1975) all the way to this outing in 1987 can provide huge amounts of original pleasures. Oh, and the means of revealing the killer to both audiences is just too clever, truly operatic (no pun intended).