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18 out of 19 people found the following comment useful :-
Betty is not an entirely normal girl, 24 January 2006

Author: sortofsatan from United States

I've noticed that a lot of people are taking Opera to task for the way Betty reacts to the murders. I think they are basing these complaints on how they imagine a "normal" person would react. The thing is...Betty is not a "normal" person, due to traumatic events in her childhood. She has problems way way before the movie ever even starts...and by the end of Opera...in my opinion...she has become totally unhinged.

---------------------SPOILERS--------------------------------------- You have to keep in mind that when she was a very small child she witnessed her mother's lover commit at least one brutal murder while her sadomasochist mother was getting off watching it.

She was raised by a woman who achieves sexual release tied up watching girls get hacked, slashed, and strangled to death. That does not make for a healthy home life. I think it's pretty easy to conclude that her mother would have employed all sorts of emotional manipulation and negative reinforcement to ensure that her daughter never snitched on her. It is also likely that at her impressionable age, Betty might have been deeply confused by what she saw. Is this just something that adults do, etc.

Betty obviously looks up to her mother...I mean...she's become an opera singer just like her. If mommy likes it it can't be bad, can it...mommy can't be bad, can she? She couldn't tell the police on her mommy or this mysterious hooded fellow she associates with mommy.

Betty has a lot of deep-seated emotional issues. Her mind has for years been trying to block out the memory of what she saw her mother doing...but it keeps coming to the surface, manifesting itself in the form of horrible nightmares, skull-throbbing migraines, a dependence on relaxation techniques, and sexual frigidity She associates brutal violence/bloody death with sex on a subconscious level. There's an inner struggle between the part of Betty that has confused murder/sex and the part of her which believes these things to be wrong.

After she's seen her boyfriend murdered by the hooded man...she calls the police, yet is unwilling to give her name. The part of her that thinks murder is wrong forces her to make the call, but the part that is ambivalent won't allow her to admit personal involvement. The ambivalent part of her takes control before she can go all the way. So she walks away from the phone in the rain...and when she's picked up by the director she's acting surprisingly calm, not as upset as you would think a "normal" person would be...because the part of her that's been blocking stuff since she was a child is trying its damnedest to block the horror of what she's just witnessed.

The state of affairs in her life all contribute to an impasse within Betty's psyche. Her singing career is starting to bear fruit...she's going to be a great opera singer like her mother was. But is she going to become like her mother in all ways? In the darker ways? Or will she be able to make her own path? Add this to the re-emergence of the hooded man murdering everyone around her.

It's not until the hooded man kills Daria Nicolodi's character that Betty really takes an active role in defeating the killer. Here's someone who loves Betty, who's supported her wholeheartedly in her emerging career, who is in fact a maternal figure in Betty's life now since mommy's dead. Imagine how terrible it would be to lose your real mother and then to see the woman who is the closest thing you have to a mother get shot through the eyeball.

I could go on...but I won't. The main gist of what I'm saying is that the character of Betty is a lot more complex than most of the reviewers on here have been willing to acknowledge.

Opera is one of Argento's best...and not just for the visuals alone (although they are truly magnificent) and not just for the inventive murders (although they are). There is a depth here...and attention needs to be paid.

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21 out of 33 people found the following comment useful :-
The best and worst of Argento, 1 November 2004

Author: jhb4

I understand that to truly appreciate Argento, you must check your sense of logic at the door. Suspiria and Deep Red are wonderfully inventive, creepy, frightening, etc. movies. That being said, Opera only rates a 5 in my book for what it should have been. With a better script, no inappropriate/silly heavy metal music, and a more coherent plot, Opera would be one of the greatest horror films of all time. As it stands, it is merely a good-looking misstep. The production values are superb, the camera-work and cinematography is near genius (the bullet through the door! the shots of the heroine with needles under her eyes! the sickening violence! the crows!). But the aforementioned mistakes dragged Opera down much further than the subject matter and visuals deserve.

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9 out of 11 people found the following comment useful :-
Wild Argento stuff!, 13 September 2001
Author: troy-32 from Chicago, Illinois

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).

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10 out of 13 people found the following comment useful :-
Perhaps the last of Argento's truly great films., 10 March 2006

Author: SickBoySimon from Brentwood, USA

Although many have mixed feelings about this latter day giallo thriller from Argento, it still stands as another lavish testament to the cinematic brilliance that is Argento.

A young opera singer has her first break out performance and suddenly finds herself the subject of obsession for a crazed maniac.

In a way, Opera is like a modern-day giallo take on Phantom of the Opera blended with all the glorious style and color that one would expect Dario Argento to deliver. Argento makes terrific use of inventive camera techniques, reoccurring symbols (like those ravens!), Gothic atmosphere, and truly gruesome murder sequences. One scene especially (which involves a peep hole and a gun) will knock viewers right out of their seats! Story-wise the film also manages to be gripping with some strong suspense and given great atmosphere by Claudio Simonetti's gorgeous music score.

The cast does some satisfying performances. Cristina Marsillach is good as our leading lady. The late Ian Charleson does a nice turn as the director, as does Urbano Barberini as an investigator, Daria Nicolodi as Marsillach's agent, and William McNamara as Marsillach's ill-fated lover.

Opera is terrific latter day Argento, and perhaps the last of his great works. It's sure to please his fans and even create some new ones.

**** out of ****

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7 out of 8 people found the following comment useful :-
A must for fans of eye trauma, 25 March 2006

Author: bensonmum2 from Tennessee

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Betty is an understudy for the lead in a production of Verdi's Macbeth. When a car mysteriously hits the lead, Betty is thrust into the spotlight. Opening night is a smashing success and Betty decides to leave the after-party to celebrate in private with her boyfriend. But when the boyfriend leaves the room, Betty is grabbed from behind by an unknown black-gloved, masked figure. The unknown assailant ties Betty to a column, gags her, and places needles under her eyes that will cause incredible damage and pain should Betty close them. The boyfriend returns to the room and is stunned to see Betty in such a predicament. He's even more shocked when the killer grabs him and shoves a knife through his lower jaw with such force, the tip of the knife can clearly be seen in his mouth. And Betty has been forced to watch all of this. So begins Betty's terrifying ordeal with a killer not just intent on hurting her, but also on forcing her to watch as he mutilates her friends.

Opera gets classified as a Giallo, but to me, it differs in quite a few ways from the model. Less emphasis is placed on the mystery elements of the story than in something like Argento's Tenebre or The Bird with the Crystal Plumage. The black-gloved, masked killer may be omnipresent, but the clues and red herrings normally associated with a good Giallo are absent. Instead, Opera is all about the tension of an unknown killer and making the audience uncomfortable. The focus is on the grisly death scenes, Betty's fear, and the killer's obsession with Betty.

Opera features what I think are some of Argento most artistic death scenes. When the killer grabs Betty after her boyfriend leaves the room, you're sure that Betty's had it. But the sadistic killer only wants to force Betty to watch as he brutally stabs her lover in the neck – the knife emerging in his mouth. It's a well shot and designed scene. And those needles in the eyes – brilliant. Or, take the death of the seamstress. At first her death seems like an ordinary, run-of-the-mill murder. But when the seamstress accidentally swallows the killer's locket, what started out as just another death scene turns it up a notch as the killer uses a pair of scissors to cut the girl's throat open to get his chain. Finally, there's the most famous death scene in Opera that I'm amazed with each time I see it – Mira is shot in the eye while peering through a keyhole. That scene displays a lot of what I like about Argento. It's got style to burn. As implausible as it may be, it's creative, memorable, and a blast to watch.

Argento certainly wasn't the first Italian director to concentrate on eye mutilation, but in Opera, he's taken eye trauma to a new level. Needles holding eyes open, a bullet in the eye, and ravens pecking out an eye are all part of Argento's vision (pun intended). And these scenes do have the effect that I believe Argento was going for. The first time I saw the killer putting those needles in Betty's eyes, I couldn't stop blinking. It actually had a physical effect on me. What is it about the eyes that make them such a target for abuse in Italian films?

To be fair (and not sound like such a fanboy), there are problems I have with Opera that keep me from rating it as Argento's best. One of my problems is with the air duct system running through Betty's apartment building. While I don't doubt there are air duct systems in older apartment buildings that connect the apartments, the ducts in Opera are HUGE. I'm no expert, but I sincerely doubt any building like the one in this movie would have had such mammoth air ducts. It doesn't seem practical at all. And don't you think someone would have done something about them long ago to keep criminals and nosey neighbors out of the other apartments? It's convenient for the plot, but it's not very realistic.

But I suppose my major problem with the film comes with the finale. What's up with that ending? It feels totally out of place, tacked on, and like a bad afterthought. I'm not sure what else to say other than it's horrible.

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7 out of 9 people found the following comment useful :-
Dario Argento-master of terror..., 7 February 2000

Author: BUTCHER-5 from Poland

"Opera" is one of the greatest achievements in horror genre. This masterful picture has everything what should be in the pure horror movie:good, captivating story, a lot of symbols, wonderful visuals and plenty of gore. The killings are very shocking and bloody. An unforgettable atmosphere of dread and fear. A must-see for a true Argento fan, so if you get a chance watch it.

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5 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :-
OPERA (1987), 17 October 2004
Author: MARIO GAUCI (marrod@melita.com) from Naxxar, Malta

Yesterday, I watched a recording of Dario Argento's OPERA (1987) taken from Anchor Bay's R1 DVD, and I must say I agree with many of you here that the film was pretty good (if a bit heavy on flamboyant camera moves) for the first 90 minutes - but then went completely bonkers towards the end. The ending is mystifying, to say the least (the bug-loving scene most of all), and horribly executed to boot! The heavy-metal soundbites were a pain too; actually, I felt that the entire music score was relatively subpar for an Argento film. As usual, the hideous dubbing was another major drawback.

There seems to be some disagreement about Cristina Marsillach's contribution: for me, she's very nearly Argento's best leading lady, quite in the same class as Jessica Harper in SUSPIRIA (1976) and Jennifer Connelly in PHENOMENA (1984).

The hectic backstage activity and the masked killer reminded me a lot of Mario Bava's BLOOD AND BLACK LACE (1964), though comparisons with that landmark film only helps to bring out more OPERA's shortcomings. The elaborately staged murders were rather hit-or-miss as well: the butchering of the stage manager and Daria Nicolodi's legendary death scene, at least, were classic Argento. The big scene with the ravens, ingenious in itself, was too protracted for maximum impact.

All in all, it's not one of Argento's best but then, apart from DEEP RED (1975) and SUSPIRIA, all his films leave a lot to be desired – though I'm sure everyone here has his or her own personal favorite.

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2 out of 2 people found the following comment useful :-
Do you like Argento?, 6 April 2008

Author: BA_Harrison from Hampshire, England

If you're OK with the outlandish work of Italy's premier horror director—able to accept his outrageous story lines and flamboyant style—then you should have a great time with Opera. If you don't, then you won't.

Cristina Marsillach plays Betty, a beautiful young opera understudy who is given a shot at fame (in an avant-garde production of Macbeth) when the star of the show is hit by a car. As any thesp who has 'trod the boards' will know, Macbeth is a production that carries a curse—and Betty soon discovers that the show in which she is now the star is no exception: a killer is systematically offing the staff at the theatre—and poor Betty is forced to watch by the sadistic murderer (who tapes needles under her eyes to prevent her from closing them!).

With the help of a little girl who crawls through her air-conditioning ducts, her director and agent, and a few ravens who have seen the murderer's face (!!!), Betty discovers the killer's identity, and the truth about her mysterious past.

Let's face it... Opera is one crazy film, with its preposterous plot-turns, convoluted death scenes, and an ending that beggars belief. And whilst director Dario Argento has never been one for, shall we say, conventional story lines, this particular giallo is so daft, and features so many of his trademark stylish touches (all ramped up to the max), that it's almost as if, with each successive film, he is seeing what he can get away with (at times almost parodying his earlier work).

This is exactly why I find the film such fun!!!

Argento's camera movements are absolutely incredible: gliding, creeping and, in one amazing scene, even swooping around the opera house above the audience; the power of Verdi's music is combined perfectly with the synth majesty of Claudio Simonetti's score, providing a suitably grandiose accompaniment to the sumptuous visuals; and several outstanding set-pieces (featuring Sergio Stivaletti's nauseating gore FX) go to prove that no-one does death better than Argento (check out one character's stunning demise, in which a bullet passes through a spy-hole in a door in slow motion, and straight into their eye!).

7.5 out of 10, rounded up to 8 for IMDb.

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4 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :-
Argento's most terrifying achievement to this date !!, 13 December 2003

Author: Coventry from the Draconian Swamp of Unholy Souls

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

I finally managed to get myself a copy of Dario Argento's Opera, and I tell you ... that was about time !! It was the last Argento movie I had yet to see and I'm a fan of most of his work. I reckon that most of his work is extremely important for the genre of horror but some of his movies tend to disappoint ( like Phenomena ). But the plot idea of Opera always appealed to me and it turns out I was right !! I enjoyed every shot in Opera and I was fascinated by this movie for the first minute till the last. Out of all the Argento movies, Opera went straight to the number one spot and I hope I can encourage as many people as possible to see this one as well.

The script and plot-idea of Opera is rather simple. Especially compared to Argento's previous movie Phenomena that had too many ideas in it, and ended up being a mess. The plot of Opera is creepy and chilling but at the same time it's an excellent satiric comment - almost a spoof - towards the opponents of explicit violence. ***SPOILERS*** A young opera singer ( the gorgeous Cristina Marsillach ) is being stalked by a horribly sadistic murderer. During every massacre he commits, he forces Betty to watch his actions with her eyes wide open. There are needles attached to her eyelids and when she closes them, they're getting torn apart. ***END SPOILERS***. To this simple - yet effective - idea, Argento adds a lot of horrific elements like ravens, the classic piece ( and curse ) of MacBeth and the whole atmospheric location of the opera building and the music. Especially the presence of the creepy ravens are and extra value. Ancient masters like Edgar Allen Poe already knew these black birds have a lot of mystery hanging around them, and Dario Argento knows it as well.

The violence and gore is very well presented in Opera and that's what makes this a true Argento picture. His best in my opinion with Profondo Rosso as a close second. I surely hope to recommend this movie to a lot of people among you. Especially for fans of the ( Italian ) horror business, this is an absolute must ! Favorite "Rewind"-scene : Argento shows his visual talent the best in the scene where Betty's friend is getting shot in the eye while she's trying to see who's in front of the door.

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1 out of 1 people found the following comment useful :-
Opera, 17 May 2008

Author: Scarecrow-88 from United States

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

A young theater actress reluctantly accepts her first major part in a staged play as Lady Macbeth thanks to the mishap of the production's diva falling in front of a moving car. A success winning her accolades, Betty(Christina Marsillach)finds instead horror as the one responsible for getting her to this point terrorizes her in cruel ways.

First her stage manager boyfriend, Stefano(William McNamara)is viciously stabbed with a knife while she has to watch, rope-tied to a pillar in his uncle's vast mansion, keeping her eyes from closing thanks to needles scotch-taped under her eyes, with pricking a result if she blinks. Allowing her to escape, Betty again finds herself in this unfortunate position, when a specific gold chain is found on her Lady Macbeth wardrobe that had been torn to shreds by the madman after killing a series of crows which escaped from their cage in the equipment room, by the clothing designer who is first knocked to the floor by an iron and subsequently stabbed heinously by a pair of scissors(..to cap off this nasty scene, the chain falls into her throat with the killer having to cut open her throat to find it; while not specifically elaborating this act, Dario uses the ripping sound of the scissors for optimum effect with the camera often retreating back to the victim's dead face). Having nowhere to turn, Inspector Alan Santini(Urbano Barberini, playing him cold and bland at Dario's request)promises to catch the psycho as Betty relies on her few remaining friends for comfort, the theater director Marco(Ian Charleson, of GHANDI & CHARIOTS OF FIRE who would later die of AIDS;A sad footnote, Dario revealed in an interview that Charleson informed him at the end of the shoot that he was HIV positive)attempting the stage after a successful horror movie career despite being rejected by critics, and pal Mira(Daria Nicolodi, Dario's former squeeze), her agent and confident. But, the serial killer is quite driven and a showdown between them will, of course, occur in the theater as Marco has added an interesting change to the production using the crows at his disposal.

I think this is Dario at his most savage & nihilistic. Although he has certainly made later gruesome films(..such as his Masters of Horror entries and SLEEPLESS would suggest), this film really ups the ante in pure violence towards the victims of the psychopath. His method of forcing Betty to watch was admittedly a gag by Dario regarding the type of audience who like to look away from the more horrific parts of horror movies. I found myself rubbing my eyes every time she just has to blink(..brilliantly, Dario shoots the pricking from point-of-view achieving a tormenting effect from our perspective as if we were the ones with the scotch taped needles holding our eyes open). I like how Dario will show the widened eyes of Betty, horrified at what she's being forced into watching, as little blood tears down the needles when she has no choice but blink. The photographic work of Ronnie Taylor is impeccable, such as the crow's point-of-view shot in the theater at the end as it searches for the killer. Or, when the camera "travels" through rooms in the theater following the killer who wishes to see his muse from a box seat. Or, the dream sequence where we are taken into Betty's memory of an event regarding her mother's death by a certain killer, donning the same mask and gloves as the one causing her trauma at present. The highlight, in my opinion, is the peephole bullet-fire sequence, masterly staged by all involved as the camera follows a bullet which shoots through the eye of a victim, exploding from the back of her head, going through a telephone Betty planned to use to call for help. We even get a crow pecking the eyeball from the killer(..to add to this vicious scene, the crow is shown with the eyeball rolling around in it's beak). Only aspect I didn't care for, often pointed out by naysayers of the film, is the "final" ending which I personally felt was a bit unnecessary, but I guess Dario wanted to point out that Betty was indeed not like her mother, a woman with sadomasochistic tendencies which, in a twist, relate to why the killer torments our heroine. The rock music used during the violent scenes didn't bother me, because I felt that those moments of wicked graphic attacks needed a jarring thud which heavy metal can often provide.

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