Stage Fright (1987 film)

Stage Fright

DVD cover
Directed by Michele Soavi
Produced by Aristide Massacessi
Donatella Donati
Written by George Eastman (as Lew Cooper)
Sheila Goldberg
Starring David Brandon
Barbara Cupisti
Music by Simon Boswell
Guido Anelli
Stefano Mainetti
Cinematography Renato Tafuri
Edited by Kathleen Stratton
Production
company
DMV Distribuzione
Filmirage
Distributed by Artists Entertainment Group
Release dates
  • July 27, 1987 (1987-07-27) (Italy)
Running time
 86 minutes
Country Italy
United States
Language English
Budget $1,000,000 (estimated)

Stage Fright (stylized as StageFright, original Italian title: Deliria, alternate titles: Aquarius, StageFright: Aquarius, and Bloody Bird) is a 1987 Italian-American slasher horror film directed by Michele Soavi. The film stars Barbara Cupisti, David Brandon and Giovanni Lombardo Radice. Written by George Eastman (writing as Lew Cooper), the story combines elements of the giallo and slasher film genres. The movie follows a group of stage actors and crew rehearsing for a small town musical production. While they lock themselves in to do rehearsing, they are unaware that a psychopathic actor has escaped nearby and started a killing spree while locked inside the theater with them.

Joe D'Amato served as the film's producer. It was Soavi's first feature film as director; he had previously worked as an assistant director for Joe D'Amato, Dario Argento and Lamberto Bava and had previously directed the music video "The Valley" for Argento's Phenomena as well as the documentary Dario Argento's World of Horror.

Plot

Late at night inside a theater, a troupe of actors and crew consisted of the director Peter, Alicia, Mark, Sybil, Betty, Corrine, Laurel, Danny, Brett, and Ferrari are rehearsing a musical about a fictional mass murderer known as the Night Owl. When Alicia sprains her ankle, her and Betty sneak out of rehearsal for medical assistance, the closest being a mental hospital. When speaking to the psychiatrist, Betty notices an imprisoned patient named Irving Wallace, who was a former actor gone insane and committed a killing spree. Unbeknownst to any of them, Wallace killed one of the attendants with a syringe and sneaked out of the asylum to hide inside Betty's car. Upon returning, Peter fires Betty for leaving during the rehearsal. Outside, Betty returns to the car only to be murdered Wallace with a pickaxe. Moments later, Alicia finds her body and contacts the police, resulting the body removed and stationed two officers on the outside premises.

Meanwhile, the director creates an idea by altering the play's script; he renames the show's antagonist to Irving Wallace instead of an ambiguous killer, and insists that everyone stay the night to begin immediate rehearsals with the new material. The group reluctantly agrees to stay with promise of additional cash, and Corrine hides the theater's exit key. Unknown to the group, Wallace has donned the theater's owl costume.

Peter shoots a scene with Corrine, and Wallace appears in the costume to strange her before stabbing her to death. Without the key's whereabouts, the group begins to panic and the killer disconnects the phone lines to prevent them from contacting the officers. While the group tries to find an escape route, Ferrari is stabbed by Wallace and hangs his body upon being found by the group. While Peter and Danny leave the group inside a room and search for the killer, Laurel notices Wallace outside trying to open the door and the group barricades the door; the killer then breaks the window to grab Mark before killing him with a power drill through the door. Peter and Danny return from Mark's murder and they plan to stick together and defend themselves. While Wallace ties up Brett and puts the costume on him, Peter goes up to the upper catwalks despite Alicia being knocked out and accidentally hacks up Brett with an axe, thinking it was Wallace. Soon, Sybil is pulled down by the real killer and she is disemboweled. Danny immediately goes down and is also killed by Wallace with a chainsaw. Cornering Peter, Wallace cuts off his arm containing the axe before the chainsaw runs out of fuel. The killer takes the axe and ultimately decapitates the director.

Alicia wakes up and finds a wounded Laurel hiding in the shower room. While she hides, Wallace grabs Laurel and stabs her before dragging her body. Alicia arms herself and searches the key, only to see Wallace sitting next to the group's bodies placed around the stage and covered with feathers. Underneath the stage, she successfully finds the key defends herself against Wallace before going up to the catwalks. Just as Wallace corners her, she sprays a fire extinguisher into his face and the killer hangs onto a loose cable. After the cable is severed and the killer falls, she makes her way to the door but Wallace attacks again and she dumps a burning bin onto him, igniting him. She then escapes the theater and goes to the police about the events. The next morning, Alicia returns to the theater and finds her missing watch, just before an unmasked Wallace prepares to attack her. Willy shoots him in the head and a disturbed Alicia walks out. As the credits roll, Wallace survives from his headshot and smiles into the camera.

Cast

Critical reception

The film has received a favorable reception. AlloCiné's spectators gave at the film 3.8/5 positives critics on 87 reviews. AllMovie called the film "a good example of how style can triumph over substance in a genre effort", praising Michele Soavi's direction.[1]

References

  1. ↑ Guarisco, Donald. "Stage Fright (1987) - Review - AllMovie". AllMovie. Retrieved 20 June 2012.
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