*Blog post started on July 27, 2020.
I
must be placing too much pressure on myself to be something worthwhile.
To make sure I had new content for today's post, Amazon Prime was
activated as was my drinking habit. It started with "StageFright
Aquarius" to determine whether "Screen Drafts's"
number three giallo film of all time was actually part of the genre (As
it turns out, I did not need to write this blog till Wednesday). Two
drinks were not enough after the film concluded, so I thought it made
sense to wrap up the first season of "The Boys".
The
conclusion to the first run of episodes ran a little longer than
anticipated. Drunk quesadilla grilling and toast with remnants of
Domino's garlic sauce caused a couple of pauses. Deciding that I needed
to get a back bump in for old time sake led to a delay in the viewing.
Skimble even put a stop to the broadcast when I went to pet Eva after I
lectured him about being codependent towards me. Perhaps I need to be
afraid of his need to love me because his accurate pounce on the Apple
TV remote to return to the main menu was impressive. This one-eared
fluffy monster must have been a rodent killer at some point.
I
apologize for being stressed and depressed my feline friend. There are
just times I need to register that and receive fewer boops. Reading my
old Adrian Tomine journal led to me realizing how my life SEEMS about
the same as 10 years ago, sans my stripper friends to distract me. At
least my alcoholism has improved. How drunk did I get at the defunct
Peoria Theater for the "Drunken Zombie Double Feature"? Was my five
hours in front of the TV triggered by my decade old scribbles? Glory
days?
The
read on this experience is tough. Am I getting better with my structure
or am I still practicing fruitless acts? I can still segue though
because I am feeling a bit like a desperate actor trapped overnight with
an owl-masked serial killer.
StageFright (1987, 90 minutes)
Everyone
is desperate to make this new musical about a serial killer work. With
rent coming due, each performer and the director, Peter, need a hit. The
problem with the production is primarily Peter. Insistent that his
vision be realized, he excepts no excuses for any shortcomings, even
injury. This includes his lead actress Alicia who can barely walk let
alone dance.
The
play's wardrobe woman Betty decides it is best that she get Alicia's
injury looked at, so she sneaks her off to the closest hospital for
relief. Any doctor should be able to handle a bum ankle, so who cares
that it is a mental institution? It is only fitting because a fellow
actor is residing there, Irving Wallace. Wallace is responsible for 16
murders and he is awaiting a psychological evaluation before he goes to
trial. Relief for her injury or not, Alicia will have an interesting
story when she returns to the set.
Things
become interesting back at the soundstage because Betty and Alicia had
inadvertently provided Wallace a chance to escape and a ride to a place
he knows very well. It does not take long for him to go back to his most
recent practice as he dispatches Betty within minutes of arriving. The
authorities and the press are quick to the scene, and just as quickly,
Peter and the producer, Ferrari, have a plan to capitalize on this very
recent event.
They
decide that as long as the police will be stationed outside the sound
stage, the script can be retooled and rehearsed all night. Their
retooling is incorporating the fresh on the public's minds killings of
Irvin Wallace. There is one problem. The actor portraying Wallace can
not find his owl-headed costume. When the rehearsal resume, the scene
has the villain ready for to perform, but why does he have a knife when
it calls for strangulation?
It
is apparent that Wallace is out to kill the cast and crew, and his most
recent victim was told by Peter to hide the keys to the soundstage so
everyone has to stick around to get this play ready for opening night.
The cops cannot hear the going on inside, so it will be up to the crew
to decide to fight a prolific and ingenious murder or find some other
way to escape. No one will come to open the stage for 10 hours. Can they
last that long?
The
length of "StageFright's" plot synopsis would seem appropriate for a
dime store yellow-novel (a giallo in Italy that inspired the name for
the Italian horror/mystery genre), not a slasher movie. This feature
lacks the mystery to be anything but a slasher, but when you take
inspiration from Dario Argento when it comes to the kills, you are going
to have a unique cinematic experience.
"StageFright"
left me pondering if Darren Lynn Bousman was inspired by this film when
he created "Repo: The Genetic Opera". Music plays a great supporting
character in this film and all of the set pieces are fun. Director
Michele Soavi has some difficulty with the wider shots, but what is
going on in the shot keeps the audience amused. All the kills are up
close and personal, and serve as the perfect, brutal reward for the
viewer's patience.
This
may be one of the most brutal slasher movies before the end of the
century. I do not want to spoil anything, but we do have a pregnant
couple featured in the film. Slasher movies tended to be a little more
shy (or were forced by the MPAA) when it came to presenting brutal death
when compared to giallo. Because the Italian director is a product of
the latter genre, he stretches out the length of the murders with strong
camera cuts and close ups. It is trickier than it sounds since we get
some powertool kills, the seemingly most efficient weaponry in slashers.
Nothing is off limits in terms of violence, so every murder finds a fun
new way to present discomfort.
This
perfect merging of giallo style and slasher formula only suffers from
budget hinderances. The film is literally filmed on a sound stage, when a
theater would have been appropriate. Nothing is done to look like an
opera house or even a college theater, so no thought is put into placing
the audience in the right atmosphere. In a sense, it feels like a knock
off of Dario Argento's "Opera". When I take that into consideration,
the lack of intensity through out pushes it further from being
considered an example of giallo.
Intensity
only comes with action, so that space between the premise establishment
and the kills is void of emotion. It leads you to wish something tragic
to our expecting couple or our antagonist lets us in on his lore to
start pulling on some heart strings. The writers must have been aware of
this because you get one of those.
"StageFright"
is a slasher movie that delivers because of its unique approach.
Besides inspiring ridiculously-premised films like "Repo: The Genetic
Opera" and the "The Wizard of Gore (featuring the Suicide Girls), the
stylized approach to violence can be seen in most European horror that
came at the turn of the century. This film is what "Friday the 13th" if
it was handled by an adored indie director.
"StageFright" has vision and gore. Who could ask for anything more? Well, perhaps trained dancer. It could use some rhythm.
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