StageFright (1987)

There was a moment two minutes into this movie, when a slasher like scene turned into a Cats-like play, that my mind was blown. And there was a moment halfway through where a body was torn in two that I jumped off my couch, screaming, "Soavi, I love you!"There's no other way to say it — this movie is completely crazy. Is it because of Michael Soavi's (The Sect, Cemetery Man) direction? Or the script from George Eastman (better known Nikos Karamanlis from Antropophagus and, well, kinda sorta Nikos in Absurd, a movie so brutal that it inspired a murderous black metal band)? Why ask questions? Why not just sit back and enjoy the mayhem?The entire movie takes place in a theater, where actors and a crew are creating a musical about the Night Owl, a mass murderer. Alicia (Barbara Cupisti, The Church, Cemetery Man) sprains her ankle, so she and Betty sneak out to a mental hospital to get some help. While there, they see Irving Wallace, a former actor who went on a murder spree, which has continued in the insane asylum. He uses a syringe to kill an attendant and hides in Betty's car.Because Alicia left, the director fires her while Betty is killed with a pickaxe outside. Alicia finds the body and calls the police (one of them is Soavi, who spends an extended scene asking if he looks like James Dean), who lock them inside the theater and guard the premises. Because, you know, that's the way the police handle these things.The director is inspired — the play will now be about Irving Wallace and everyone must stay the night to rehearse, even the rehired Alicia. While rehearsing the first scene, Wallace dons the killer's owl costume and strangles, then stabs one of the other actors in front of everyone.Then, Wallace cuts the phone and starts killing one person at a time. It's at this point that this movie goes off the rails and does some rails. A power drill going through someone? Yep. Hacking someone up with an axe? Yep. A woman cut in half that sprays blood all over an entire room full of people? It's got that, too. A dude getting chainsawed until the saw runs out of gas and then getting decapitated? Oh yes.Read more at https://bandsaboutmovies.com/2017/10/16/stagefright-1987/

Firstly, "Stagefright: Aquarius" is not a giallo film. Gialli were not just Italian slashers, they were murder mysteries that owed more to Agatha Christie than Wes Craven. There is literally no mystery in this movie. The identity of the killer is never revealed and isn't even treated as a question. The movie also uses that old slasher stand-by of the inescapable location. A group of people are trapped with a masked killer and have to survive long enough to find a way out. We're not surprised when inexplicably, police park outside the place and don't even try to get in.That aside, "Stagefright: Aquarius" is certainly a superior slasher. It's made with style, and even boasts a scene of actual suspense, which is more than I can say for all other slashers. It plays by the rules, as with a killer who you keep thinking might be dead but of course really isn't, but is just a lot better made than the typical US slasher movie.

(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

The flick deals with a theatre of death in which a maniacal serial killer attempts to cover his trail by joining the cast (David Brandon , Barbara Cupisti , Mary Sellers , among others) of a play about mass murder . There happens several bloody murders and gruesome executions . A troupe of struggling cast members is rehearsing for a small-town production of a play. Everything seems to be as it should until one of the stage actors appears dead. In a panic, the others attempt to get out, only to find they are now locked in the theater with the murderous. As the other players soon have more to worry about than remembering their lines . Michele Soavi's first great success is compellingly directed with startling visual content . This frightening movie is plenty of thrills, chills, high body-count and glimmer color in lurid pastel with phenomenal results . This is a classic slasher where the intrigue, tension, suspense appear threatening and lurking in every room, corridors and stage interior and exterior . Interesting screenplay was written by 'Lew Cooper', one of numerous pseudonyms that writer/actor George Eastman uses , in actuality Eastman's real name is Luigi Montefiore . The thrilling of the story is to find out which one of them committed the murder, and who will get out alive.The movie belongs to Italian Giallo genre , Mario Bava (¨Planet of vampires¨, ¨House of exorcism¨) along with Riccardo Freda (¨Secret of Dr. Hitchcock¨ , ¨Il Vampiri¨) are the fundamental creators . These Giallo movies are characterized by usual zooms and utilization of images-shock with magenta shades of ochre and overblown use of color in shining red blood , translucently pale turquoises and deep orange-red . Later on , there appears Dario Argento (¨Deep red¨, ¨Suspiria¨,¨Inferno¨), another essential filmmaker of classic Latino terror films and finally Michele Soavi . Soavi was given a chance as an assistant director by director Aristide Massaccesi (aka: Joe D'Amato). In their first film, Soavi acted in an uncredited part, and was the assistant director. Over four more films with Massaccesi, Soavi served as a bit part actor, screenwriter and personal assistant . As Soavi, wanting to get on his own, turned to his previous mentor Aristide Massaccesi to show off his work where the filmmaker offered Soavi a chance to direct his first movie, and finally made this ¨Aquarius¨ or ¨Stagefright¨(1987) , produced by the prolific Joe D'Amato , a typical low-grade terror , even his his second big film project called La Chiesa (1988) had a budget three to four times the budget of ¨Stagefright¨ , with Argento as the producer . Although ¨Aquarius¨ was a box-office flop in Italy, it was a success abroad . Despite the low budget , equivalent to under $1 million U.S. dollars, and low-production values, the picture turns out to be a passable slasher , including some exciting surprises . This genuinely mysterious story is well photographed by Tafuri, though being necessary a right remastering . Furthermore , includes a poor editing involving the soundtrack by means of synthesizer , however resulting to be sometimes atmospheric and frightening musical score composed by Simon Boswell, among others . The motion picture was well directed by Michael Soavi , remembered to this day as one of the many masters of Italian Horror cinema as a director, screenwriter, actor, and assistant director. Soavi first met writer/director Dario Argento in 1979 where the director took Soavi under his wing after learning of their same tastes with film making. Argento made Soavi the second assistant director for the movie Tenebre (1982) with Lamberto Bava as the first assistant director. Pleased with his work, Bava hired Soavi as his assistant director for the mystery-thriller A Blade in the Dark (1983) with Soavi in a supporting role. Afterwards, Argento brought back Soavi to work as his assistant director in Phenomena (1985) with Soavi acting in a small role. Argento rewarded Soavi by giving him his first assignment as director of a music video "The Valley" featuring music by Bill Wyman for the movie Phenomena, plus as director for a documentary on Argento's films. Soavi worked again for Lamberto Bava as assistant director in Demoni (1985) in which Soavi also appeared. Soavi began to look elsewhere for work where he was hired as an assistant director and cameraman for British actor/director Terry Gilliam with The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988). With new skills, Soavi returned to Argento as a supervisor for special effects in Ópera (1987) where Argento offered him to direct another film, a horror flick titled La Chiesa (1988) and filmed on location in Budapest . The international success of The Church inspired Soavi to direct another film, The Sect (1990). Soavi worked on a number of screenplays, and directed the horror-comedy Cemetery Man (1994) which was a huge hit in the USA. Afterwards, Soavi took a break from working to spend time with his wife and family. Recently, he returned to filmmaking with two made-for-Italian-TV dramas . Aquarius rating : Good, this is an imaginative and acceptable picture in which the camera stalks in sinister style throughout a story with magnificent visual skills.