Wow, time sure do fly by, as it is now exactly three years (more or less) since I last visited this fun italian giallo-slasher, and that was also through my previous attempt on doing the October Horror Challenge:
October Horror Challenge - Day Twenty-three:
Stage Fright aka Deliria (1987)Aka
Stagefright aka
Bloody Bird aka
Aquarius aka
Stagefright: Aquarius and it just goes on.
I have seen it before, once back in 2006 or 2007 on a bad quality DVD region 1, where the sound was all over the place and of course no subtitles, so I was very happy when the danish film release company AWE (Anotherworldentertainment) finally did re-release this late 80s giallo/horror film along with remastered picture and sound along with scandinavian subtitles back in 2008 with a great DVD.
I remember only a few things, like a drill, an axe, a giant owl mask and that a crazy lunatic killed off a bunch of actors trapped inside a large building at night.
Somehow I had not seen it for a long time, so I decided to watch it over again, for the first time in a long while and from the very beginning this movie made no attempt on slowing things down.
It all opens with a bang followed by one crazy act after another, where we have an actor dressed up as an giant owl strangling a prostitute in some shady street surrounded by a brickwall full of huge neon signs and all of a sudden we have Marilyn Monroe blastin' out some badass saxophone melodies from a near rooftop, and then I "get it", it was all part of an upcoming stage act rehearsal set up by a megolomaniac asshole director (of course british) who is backed up by a fat italian money grabbing producer named Ferrari (of course).
On stage we have the usual italian giallo/horror stereotypes, which means not exactly a lot of "likeable" personalities, and you just know it is gonna be an upcoming bloodbath with so many assholes all wrapped up in one place, however one obvious ingredient is still missing and this one sure took its time before arriving the scene.
The film makes little attempt of trying to cover up who the killer is and we have to wait almost 40-45 minutes, but thankfully the pace of the film is not hurt by that, as there are so many ridiculous and stupid things happening all over, so time flies by and before you know it the killer finally makes a grand apperance after a little time-out at some psychiatric hosptial (which of course is located just nearby).
The killings are at times real savage and done with such power and brutality you almost feel sad for some of these people getting chopped up, drilled and choked to death by the madman wearing a giant owl mask (which by the way is real cool and does not make it seem silly).
What I liked most about the film is that it actually managed to be both cheesy and creepy at the same time.
I was surprised to learn that George Eastman wrote the movie script under the name of Lew Cooper.
The film is directed by Michele Soavi who does a fine job with what he got and while it is far away of being a great film, the entertainment value makes it up for the "lack" of "quality" but I have few complaints as I really enjoyed this crazy and bloody italian giallo/slasher horror film.
When I mentioned the lack of "quality" I meant more the usual having all these flat and stupid horror characters with no real "depth" to them, as the film is actually at times very beautiful and my favorite part was when the heroine was trapped all alone with the killer (who just happens to be an old and famous actor, well before he started chopping people up and getting himself locked inside a mental hosptial) and he then begins to surround himself on the stage with all the body parts of the people he have killed, and he just sits there with some music playing and a black cat (named Lucifer) in his lap, while the poor female that is left can do little but just watch on in sheer terror.
All in all, I really had a good time watching it again, and I think it is one of the best late 80s horror-slashers/giallo films and a real gem for those that love this kind of movies.
7/10"Eight more days 'til Halloween/ Halloween/ Halloween/ Eight more days 'til Halloween/ Silver Shamrock."
