Popular reviews

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  Review by Patrick Willems ★★★★ 6

  Always fun to watch a movie and go “ohhhhhh THAT’s where that shot in Kill Bill comes from”

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  Review by Ian West ★★★★ 12

  Sweepingly beautiful camera work with graphically intense murderyog sequences (If you've seen the cover art for this, you know are fucked), Argento crafts a doozy of a giallo against the backdrop of an Opera production of MacBeth and the soundscape of pulsating metal. ‘Blessed Ravens, never forget’. Honestly, this is my least favorite of Argento’s popular films, but Opera really is a tense thrill fest of blood and that keyhole scene is a 10/10.

  The new Scorpion Releasing/Code Red blu (I mention both because the case says Scorpion but the disc says Code Red, Lol those crazy Olsen brothers) looks and sounds fantastic! The color correction job they spent 45 million hours doing really shows, I saw colors in this that I never knew were there! Bravo!

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  Review by claire 👁️ diane ★★★★★ 22

  This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

  distillate of heavy metals. bleached & flattened of color. an old stone staircase worn both from long use and long service in dreams as you ascend/descend again and again and again.

  they cannot be degraded or destroyed.
  they cannot be degraded or destroyed.

  ******
  "I think it's unwise to use movies as a guide to reality, don't you Inspector?"

  "Depends on what you mean by reality."
  ******

  a movie about a horror movie director making an opera made by a horror movie director making an Opera in which the Daughter rejects her Mother's appetite for causing pain.

  the inexorable orbit of CAN'T LOOK AWAY.

  ******
  "I just wanted to forget, to cancel it from my mind. Not see anything, not feel…

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  Review by Wes ★★★★½

  goodnight to absolutely no one except dario argento

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  Review by Lara Pop ★★★★ 36

  #Giallo

  Verdi's Macbeth and rock music playing to the melody of the rhythmic sprays of blood flying everywhere as the maniac killer repeatedly stabs the guy. Or is it the other way around? Do the rhythmic stabs play to the melody of the alternating rock music and Verdi's opera? Who the hell cares? It works, doesn't it?

  Opera is easily the darkest of the 3 Argentos I've seen so far. It is also the director's technical best. Having engaged in some introspection, I came to the conclusion that what I find most alluring about Argento is how he transcends most arthouse directors in terms of technicality (not kidding), but joins up his brilliance with the most anti-arthouse subject matter imaginable.…

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  Review by ELECTRICWIZARDx ★★★★ 5

  Dario Argento shows, relatively uncharacteristically, an unbridled nihilistic savagery in this ultra-visceral giallo.

  Opera gives off an unshakeable feeling of anger from Argento. The heavy metal cutting through the grandiose score of opera and classical music with pure malice as the black leather gloves stab incessantly and indiscriminately. Argento's camerawork emulates the ravens, swooping and circling and tying you into place, forcing you to take in the brutality. Absolutely vicious from Argento, who usually adorns his murder in stylish appeal.

  The anger is somewhat manifested through Ian Charleson's character, Marco. A horror director, often labelled a sadist and a one-trick pony and implied to be the murderer. The malicious ripping of flesh in the depraved acts of violence exposing blood,…

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  Review by Allison M. 🌱 ★★★½ 8

  GIALLOTHON: Film 1 of 4

  "Good luck, little snake."

  I've had Opera on my watchlist for a long time, but have never found the right circumstances to watch it. The Egyptian programmed it and they had an uncut print.

  Cristina Marsillach was great as the lead: Betty. She looked a ton like Irène Jacob that I was fascinated throughout the film, convinced that they must somehow be related.

  I could see how this highly influenced Paul Verhoeven's Elle. The cinematography from Ronnie Taylor was also gorgeous: especially the pull-away shots with Giulia the costume designer (Coralina Cataldi-Tassoni) trying to repair a dress.

  Also, I love Betty's relaxation tape that she listens to. I could definitely use it.

  All in all,…

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  Review by WraithApe ★★★★ 9

  Holy shit Dario man, this film! A whirling black raven-winged POV bullet through the back of the brain exploding onto the retina in a paroxysm of colour! I'm not gonna say it's more of a beautifully deranged nightmare than Phenomena, but it's in the same Speedballpark. There's a giddiness to the neon-lit visuals, the highly strung music (a heady mix of opera and heavy metal), badly dubbed, frequently bizarre dialogue, and the restless camera, roving and gliding and looping through complete 360s like a stoned bird, that actually makes you feel high. It had me shaking my head in disbelief and grinning for most of its run time!

  It's a giallo at heart, but in the same way a seasoned…

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  Review by {Todd} ★★★★½ 2

  "I'm exactly like my mother" - Betty, going through a mood
  2 Minutes Later
  "I'm nothing like my mother!" Betty, going through a mood

  - Dario Argento Ranked: boxd.it/30KqM
  - Daily Horror Hunt #12 (June 2019): boxd.it/2XMsk
  Day 19. Yay!! Watch a movie starring Daria Nicolodi (b. June 19, 1950).

  Thanks Argento! Now I'm scared of peepholes.

  In Opera, "A young opperata is stalked by a deranged fan bent on killing the people associated with her to claim her for himself." I just quoted the description because most of Argento's films have a basic premise and then feel like improvised horror (but good) even though I know that's not exactly how it's done.

  This movie looks great. I love how…

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  Review by braden ★★★★

  “Ravens are very vindictive. They don't forget.”

  Opera is another fantastic and clever giallo film from the master of horror Dario Argento; this time much calmer on the bright colours and arguably far more brutal. Inspired by the director’s own unsuccessful attempt at directing a stage production of Macbeth, the film uses its elegant settings to its advantage, filling them with various theatrically harsh and elaborate murder scenes, most of which are set to an out of place but highly entertaining death metal soundtrack. It’s a slightly different approach to the genre than his earlier work that may feel colder and more cruel but in a lot of ways is far more refined, delivering greatly in all the areas that matter most.

  
  Dario Argento List

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  Review by Slig001 ★★★★★ 1

  This film is Argento's last great masterpiece. An all out assault on the senses akin to earlier works such as Suspiria but also completely different. Opera is Argento doubling down on style; fluid visuals mixing it up with story ideas borrowed from Gaston Leroux and superb sound from Claudio Simonetti. The central theme of the victim having pins put under her eyes to force her to watch was apparently born from Argento's dislike of viewers looking away during his films violent moments. It is a striking image. I'm always a bit on the fence about the heavy metal during some of the deaths scenes but I do think it works in context and helps to establish the film's robust attitude…

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  Review by marcricov ★★★★★ 4

  Dare I say it - there are parts in Opera that almost surpass the technical and artistic brilliance of Suspiria.

  Purposefully excluding the saturated hues that bled through the screen of that violent fairytale, precisely a decade later, Argento’s style still remains as opulent as ever, only this time, exercising a more vicious edge to his creation through a passion for perverse torture and death metal. Side-smirkingly set in a location where drama and tragedy collide, the magic of this mystery is only heightened by the hollow acoustics that fill each dark corner of the theatre; a place where blood-curdling screams are drowned-out by the art of performance unfolding centre stage. Casting an ensemble of jet-black crows to monitor the fog-laden wings,…