Betty (Cristina Marsillach) is a young opera singer at the Parma Opera House in Parma, Italy. Betty is the understudy of diva Mara Czekova. When Mara is injured in a car accident, Betty is promoted and given the role of Lady Macbeth in an avant-garde production of Macbeth. During the performance a shadowy figure secretly watching from one of the boxes is confronted by a stagehand. The mysterious figure kills the stagehand.
Later that night Betty is visiting her boyfriend, Stefano (William McNamara). The mysterious killer ties up Betty and forces her to watch as he kills Stefano. He then releases Betty from her bonds and disappears. At the opera house the killer takes a knife to Betty’s costume. While trying to destroy the garment he loses a gold bracelet. He is then attacked by some ravens being used as a prop in the opera. He manages to kill three of them before being chased out of the wardrobe room by the remaining birds pecking at him.
The next day the opera house is swarming with police. Inspector Alan Santini (Urbano Barberini) is in charge of the investigation. The damage to the dress is discovered. A wardrobe seamstress, Giulia (Coralina Cataldi-Tassoni) tries to fix the damage and discovers the gold bracelet. She shows it to Betty. While trying to read the faded etching on the bracelet the killer once again ties up Betty and forces her to watch as he kills Giulia and retrieves the bracelet.
The killer continues to stalk Betty and kill anyone who tries to help her. As the tension builds, Betty begins having flashbacks concerning a traumatic event from her past, an event that the killer was part of. Betty relies on the play’s director, Marco (Ian Charleson), to help her identify the killer and attempt to bring him to justice.
“Opera” AKA “Terror at the Opera” was released in 1987 and was directed by Dario Argento. It is an Italian slasher horror thriller and a giallo.
Opera paired with heavy metal are strange bedfellows but somehow, they mix nicely when meshed together in a slasher film. The music and the method of forcing Betty to watch each murder are the highlights of the film. The plot is your basic “Phantom of the Opera” style scenario, but the presentation of the various murders is stark and the combination of the music genres strident. Together they make the plot’s normally pedestrian look a shocking event and they add a lot of creep factor to the movie. It’s not the best Dario Argento film, but it is certainly compelling to watch.
Apparently, raven wrangling was a problem on set. Approximately 140 ravens were used but only 60 or so of them were still on hand by the time the film was completed. Over half of them managed to escape during shooting.