stage fright

Italian horror director Michele Soavi is a third generation copy, the recipient of a symbolic torch passed from Mario Bava (Black Sunday) to Dario Argento (Suspiria) to himself. So it’s not necessarily his fault if the torch was getting a little dim by this point. Italian horror itself had run the giallo into the ground and been trumped by the profuse amount of copycat American slashers. Soavi, an actor who worked his way behind the camera, gleaned just enough from his mentors to make Stage Fright (1987) a cut above similar titles of the day…but not enough to top the films that inspired him.

Set amongst a bickering troupe of stage actors rehearsing for an upcoming show, the murder of a crewmember changes the course of the production, with the dictatorial director locking the cast inside for an all-night rewrite session. Unfortunately, the killer is locked inside with them; a psychotic actor with 16 deaths already on his resume who dons an oversized owl mask and starts making some cuts of his own.

Stage Fright, unlike a lot of the Italian horrors of the era, is surprisingly competent. That might not sound like high praise, but many filmmakers of the era (Argento included) couldn’t seem to follow a narrative thread even if they were wrapped in a sweater. Soavi, on the other hand, establishes the situation rather skillfully then lets the murders play out in stylish fashion.

Visually he almost always gets it right. From the supersaturated colors to the clever camera angles and convincingly charismatic performances (another common Italian flaw), Stage Fright feels like a greatest hits package of giallos past. But that’s also part of its undoing; a predictability that just never rises above the material at hand. That…and the killer wears an owl mask the size of a NCAA mascot.

Soavi’s film hit home video at just the right time in the late ‘80s, when horror fans were embracing product from abroad to make up for a lack of intensity in the States. It’s been available on various formats for quite a while, but none as impressive as Blue Underground’s new hi-def release. The transfer is a big improvement on Blu-ray, but the extras are an even bigger bump. Five separate and lengthy interview packages gather comments from the actors, director, composer and make-up artist along with a still gallery and theatrical trailer.