Bloody Bird

While rehearsing a musical play in a theater, the dancer Alicia (Barbara Cupisti) twists her ankle and the costume designer Betty (Ulrike Schwerk) drives her to a nearby hospital. However, the place is a mental institution but a doctor treats Alicia's ankle. They return to the theater but the dangerous psychopath Irving Wallace (Clain Parker) escapes hidden in Betty's car. He kills Betty outside the theater and Alicia finds her body. They summon the police and the director Peter (David Brandon) decides to promote the play using the press and supported by the producer Ferrari (Piero Vida). He rewrites the screenplay and casts six actors and actresses to immediately rehearse to the opening night, promising additional payment. He asks the actress Corinne (Lori Parrel) to lock the theater and hide the keys. But Irving Wallace has sneaked in the theater and starts a crime spree. Will anyone survive the serial-killer?

"Deliria", a.k.a. "StageFright: Aquarius", is a claustrophobic Italian giallo by Michele Soavi. The direction keeps the tension until the last moment. The screenplay is very well written without the usual flaws that we find in this genre. The performances are good and supported by great cinematography and use of lighting. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "O Pássaro Sangrento" ("The Bloody Bird")

Note: On 05 Jun 2022, I saw this film again.

I recently acquired Italian horror director Michele Soavis Cemetery Man which was released recently for the first time on DVD. I had seen it before, but somehow now it became one of my favorite horror films. It has a style, beauty and grace that many horror films seem to miss nowadays. So naturally I set my eyes on seeing all of Michele Soavis horror films. I had already seen two of them The Church and Cemetery Man, and The Sect isn't out on DVD so I decided to see his only other movie on DVD which is Stagefright. This was Michele Soavis directorial debut, so I didn't really know what to expect. A flawed film made by an at the time rookie? A promising film with glimpses of greatness here and there?

The story is about this group of actors that are putting up a play. They have very little time to practice some of the dance moves and songs so they are all under a lot of pressure. A psycho killer finds his way to the theater and locks everybody inside with absolutely no way out. Then he begins to systematically kill all the actors on the play in some really gruesome ways.

Well its no secret that Soavi was Argentos pupil and I think that out of all of Soavis horror films that I have seen Stagefright is the one in which this is most evident. There's the killers point of view, some strange and interesting camera angles and even an animal themed killer. But thats not a bad thing in my book because eventually Soavi found his own voice and style as evidenced by his last horror film Cemetery Man. Still, Stagefright has a great style and look. What I love the most about Soavis films is that they deal with all these horrible killings, yet the film has a class and a finesse about it that kind of elevates the sleaziness of the slasher genre to a high that it rarely reaches.

Don't get me wrong here, this movie may be artsy and classy, but its still very very much a slasher film. There's some truly brutal deaths here! After the movie sets up its premise the ball gets rolling really fast! Thats one of the things I liked the most about this movie it had a fast pace and wasn't boring in the least! Once the killer puts on that cool as hell Owls Head mask on his noggin things get really gory and interesting. From people being cut in half with chainsaws (great scene man!) to some cool decapitations this movie had me cheering for more! So slasher fans and fiends, you wont be disappointed!

Another excellent thing about this movie was that it wasn't an incoherent mess. I've seen a lot of Lucio Fulci films, a lot of Dario Argento films and a few other Italian directors and they all suffer from the same illness. They cant seem to bring together a story and tell it in a coherent understandable fashion. Not so with Soavis Stagefright. I was surprised at how smoothly the story flowed and I was surprised that I was actually understanding it without any extreme effort. In a sense I would say that Soavi took everything that Argento and Fulci did wrong and did it right. He learned from their mistakes and therefore he is a better filmmaker for it. He is the next step in the evolutionary ladder as far as Italian Horror goes. This might also be why Soavi is heralded as the savior of Italian Horror by many a horror connoisseurs.

So in conclusion, Stagefright is a solidly well directed slasher. One that showed promise for what is one of horrordoms best directors,even though his body of work is comprised of only four movies. I hope Soavi wakes up from that dream soon and delivers us with something as good or better then what he has already done. Soavi you the man! Rating: 5 out of 5

Stageright is possibly one of the greatest slasher/horror films virtually no one has ever seen, which is why I so strongly reccomend you do some searching for a copy. Stagefright tells a simplistic tale (one which verges on cliche, but fortunately manages to avoid the pratfalls of the formulaic slasher film) of a group of thespians whom are currently working on a theatrical production, a musical about a serial murderer. As this occurs, so does the escape of a crazed actor/murderer from the local insane asylum whom happened to brutally kill his co-star several years back in the same theater. He returns to wreak his vengeance upon the cavernous rehearsal hall's new inhabitants, donning an owl mask and weilding a variety of lethal impliments of destruction.

As you can see, there really isn't much to Stagefright in terms of plot, but this aspect does not work against Stagefright, it proves to be an asset. Due to the lack of contrived subplots and red herrings, director Michele Soavi (this film was his debut, proving just how strong of a director he is) can concentrate on the magnificent atmosphere and carnage that ensues. Speaking of carnage, Stagefright not only offers some marvelous suspense/tension , but some great gore. The score only helps to accenutate the mood of the movie and while the characters may be two-dimensional, the aformentioned aspects of Stagefright surpass them. Stagefright is recommended definitively.

Grade: A

'Stage Fright' is an impressive directorial debut from Dario Argento collaborator Michele Soavi. Like most Italian horror the plot, characters and dialogue are nothing to write home about, the movie is really an excuse for some inventive and visually striking murders. Soavi shows he has learnt a lot stylistically from Argento, and I actually enjoyed this more than many of the latters post 'Tenebre' efforts. Soavi manages to give a refreshing twist on the often tired slasher genre, which is no mean feat, and something that hasn't been able to be achieved in the post-'Scream' slasher revival. While I liked 'Stage Fright', and recommend it, Soavi found his true voice later on with the superb zombie movie 'Dellamorte Dellamore', and the profoundly weird Satanic thriller 'The Sect' (co-written with his mentor Argento). 'Stage Fright' is above average but doesn't compare to the originality of those two.

STAGEFRIGHT aka AQUARIUS is a very stylish chiller from Michele Soavi, whose critical reputation rests on this film and the later CEMETERY MAN.

Certainly the film is derivative, and fans of this subgenre will surely comment that they have seen it all before; however, Soavi, like his mentor Dario Argento, is astute when he chooses the likes of ENNIO MORRICONE; GOBLIN, and now SIMON BOSWELL to score his films.

Boswell's compositions together with the opening and end titles written by Stefano Mainetti propel the film along, and provide an aural edge to the onscreen visuals. And if their contributions were not enough, the inspired, and uncredited use of Dmitri Shostakovich's 8th symphony, 3rd movement ("allegro non troppo"), reflects the imaginative touches that distinguish this film from many others.

The play/film within a film works quite well, especially as the cinema is acknowledged to be the art of illusion; indeed this conceit looks ahead to the two DEMONS films, set in a cinema, where the audience are overwhelmed with illusion become reality.

The acting is more than sufficient as the characters are written as types, and set up as victims, just as the heroine has a personality that sets her apart. Her final scenes with the killer are very effective indeed; her fearfulness make her vulnerable, her vulnerability draws us to her, and in drawing us to her, we submit to the relentless onslaught the killer pursues.

This is a film where the viewer/audience surely knows the outcome, but the satisfaction comes from the execution - literally - of the route that the filmmaker takes.

I now have this film on a budget UK DVD which reveals little - I am playing it back on a 16:9 TV, and am very pleased with the quality of the sound (mono) and the visuals, plus some of the unusual, though rare basic extras.