Kidskycom It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

Glucedee It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

Chirphymium It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

Catangro After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

Leofwine_draca A Grand Guignol slice of Italian madness from Dario Argento which, whilst not one of the director's best (and how could it be, with such a career resume?), is still above average for the genre. Argento creates one of his most visual movies here, with incredible crane tracking shots (in particular the "raven flight" is very well done), minute attention to detail and colouring of the sets and scenery, plus his acclaimed artistic deaths which are in abundance here. Indeed, TERROR AT THE OPERA contains some of the director's most cruel and flamboyant deaths, including the bravura death of Betty's boyfriend which is a particularly gut-churning slice of celluloid - after getting stabbed in the neck, Argento gives us a couple of shots of the knife-blade actually twisting in the boy's MOUTH before he's stabbed repeatedly, spraying arterial fluid everywhere and making a sticky mess in general. Other deaths involve coathook-impalings and, in one of Argento's cleverest - and cruellest - shots, one victim is shot through the eye whilst looking through a keyhole in a door.This is also the movie with the infamous "torture" sequences in which heroine Betty is abused by being tied up and then having needles taped to her lower eyelids, forcing her to keep her eyes open and watch the gruesome crimes as they are played out in front of her! Not once but twice this happens and it's a very macabre, "video nasty" style image which is unforgettable once you've seen it. Argento makes good use of his opera setting throughout (unlike his PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, which he made eleven years later and which is a complete mess) and the only misstep seems to be the grating heavy metal music which he infuriatingly populated his '80s movies with - what gives? TERROR AT THE OPERA is populated by the typical late '80s bunch of Italian nobodies, young up-and-coming actors who never went anywhere outside of their native Italy. Cristina Marsillach is one of Argento's less talented female leads, and her performance is merely adequate. The only character of interest is Ian Charleson, who plays Macbeth's director and is a horror fan to boot - so, sure enough, he turns out to be a sadist! Charleson has good fun with the role though and it's one of the film's more complex parts. Unfortunately, the killer is ineffectual and vacant, although the movie does allow for a nice twist ending involving his character. Watch out for favourite Argento victim Daria Nicolodi, who appears as the unfortunate aforementioned keyhole victim.

Tim Kidner "Like sticking pins in your eyes" - indeed. Whether it's teeth, testicles, fingernails or eyes, when it comes to mutilation of sensitive and delicate (& vital!) body organs, actual ones at that and not prosthetic ones, then one can feel REALLY uncomfortable!The young stand-in opera singer has pins taped to her eye sockets, if she closes them, the pins embed into her eyes. As she's watching utterly brutal acts of death and massacre, at the hands of a masked mad-man, she may really want to.From its outset, with the Moulin Rouge sort of Italian opera house theatrics and Edgar Allen Poe metaphoric ravens, that look on menacingly, the Kubrick-styled swirling camera that swishes and floats add to the Arty high of grandiosity. This is a delicious mix of superb visuals and utter shocks. Knives that skewer up through the chin and through to the roof of the mouth, YES! Ravens feasting on posh patron's eyeballs, TICK!The version I saw was on The Horror Channel and was in its original Italian, with subtitles. Subtitles aren't always such a good thing for horror as they can can take too long to read and diminish the visuals. However, the spirit and passion is maintained here by being in Italian. The sound quality was extremely good, too.I would probably have bought the DVD on the strength of how good the film was, but, frankly, I couldn't physically watch it again; an honour which must say how effective a horror it is.

lastliberal If you love Dario Argento as I do, you forgive him his faults. Don't focus on the small mistakes, just enjoy a true master of horror.Betty (Cristina Marsillach) takes over the lead in an opera after a car accident knocks out the diva. Then, the fun begins.She is forced to watch as other members of the cast and crew are horribly murdered one by one. She suspects that she will last.Then, there were the birds! A real thriller with the outcome in doubt even when you thought it was over.Marsillach was not great, but she did give a fair performance in another Argento classic.

Antonius Block Italian horror master Argento's Opera is loosely based on The Phantom of the Opera. It's set in the 'Teatro Regio' in Parma, Italy, during the performance of Verdi's Macbeth. The opera is known to bring bad luck and the production of the film was indeed plagued by misfortunes, such as the death of Argento's father, while he was filming. The director returns here to the 'giallo' genre, after his so called 'supernatural years', during which he presented us with masterpieces such as Deep Red, Suspiria and Phenomena. The lead role is played by the Spanish newcomer Christina Marsillach, who Argento defined the hardest actress he ever had to direct.The score was composed by Brian Eno and Claudio Simonetti, the latter being a regular contributor to Dario's films, and the heavy-metal music, which normally accompanies the murders in his movies, is one of the features that gained him heavy acclaim, and one of the reasons why his films have reached the status of cult. Probably, Opera is Dario Argento's last masterpiece, the following films to date revealing a mere shadow of his former glory, though still being high quality productions.Argento is known for his cinematic flair, and we are not disappointed here; scenes beautifully composed, violent murders, accentuated here by the element of voyeurism, and some shots that will remain in the memory of the viewer, such as the key-hole murder shot. However, although Argento claimed that every shot and camera point of view were justified by a certain logic, we can't help suspecting that some of the visual choices in Opera are simply dictated by bravado. Nonetheless, the results are amazingly beautiful and proportioned, and the viewer will not be let down. Just think, doesn't it titillate you to watch bloody murders being committed right in front of you, while you are tied and have needles taped under your eyes, so you must watch? Yes, I thought so...