Review — Stage Fright 1987

Stage Fright is a unique and surprisingly gory, artistic Italian slasher, by Michele Soavi.
The film begins with a group of actors doing a musical play about a killer in an owl mask. When one of the dancers is mildly injured, her friend takes her to the nearest hospital..which happens, actually, to be a mental institution. During their visit, they unwittingly acquire a stowaway, a psychotic serial killer by the name of Irving Wallace who has just escaped. Wallace quickly makes his first kill of the night, and the police are called. Once they confirm who they believe to be the murderer, the director has an idea. He decides to take advantage of the situation, and he makes some changes to the play. Now the killer in the owl mask will be portraying none other than Irving Wallace himself, the escaped insane murderer who actually killed a member of the cast! He’s certain it will make him rich and famous and insists, despite the night’s murder, that the main cast members stay and continue rehearsing. As a precaution a pair of bumbling officers are stationed outside in their car…too bad the killer is already inside.
Okay so, the script is bad, the acting is awful, the characters are annoying… blah blah blah, get over it. It was the 80s! <_< Now let’s move on to what was done well! I really love Stage Fright, this film has a cool concept, and brings us a different kind of slasher, even with the obvious Argento influences, which are still pretty subtle (fortunately, in my opinion, as Ive never cared much for Dario Argento). It has a bit of a slow start, but once it gets going it is well worth the wait. The use of the owl mask on the killer makes for eerily brutal kills and is just..so much creepier and more effective than it sounds! There is a fantastic scene towards the end, I won’t spoil it, but it’s amazing, somehow simultaneously relaxing and intense.. and the use of blood and feathers I just found hauntingly and horrifically beautiful.. Plus I love the comic relief of the completely oblivious cops, supposedly posted outside the theatre to keep the actors all safe! Just brilliant. Highly recommended to all horror fans who can get past annoying 80s dialogue and a lot of silly screaming, and see that there’s a lot to applaud in this interesting little gem.