Livestonth I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

Sharkflei Your blood may run cold, but you now find yourself pinioned to the story.

Gurlyndrobb While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Lidia Draper Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

Mr_Ectoplasma "StageFright" (released under varying titles such as "Deliria," "Aquarius," and "Bloody Bird") follows a group of stage actors who are working on an overnight rehearsal for an impending production about a serial killer. When the costume designer is killed in the parking lot that evening, the rehearsals must go on—police are enlisted to watch the building, and the cast and director lock themselves inside. Little do they know, they've also locked in a maniac who recently escaped from a mental institution.In many ways, "StageFright" is about as run-of-the-mill as it could get. The premise is not remarkably original or interesting, and the "escaped lunatic" archetype feels familiar and lazy. The set-up which contains the characters (who are themselves varied in personality) in the theater also seems a bit odd in context. In spite of this, "StageFright" is insanely fun, playfully creepy and chock full of suspenseful scenarios and clever murder sequences that are surprisingly visceral. The villain dons an oversized owl mask from the production, which is surprisingly sinister in appearance.The kills come in rapid succession until about midway through, until the final girl is left to her own accord, which makes for some of the film's most intense and clever scenes. Chase scenes through the rafters, down darkened hallways, and beneath the stage are colorful, well-shot, and well-choreographed. Accentuating the thrills is a jarring late-eighties metal score which does date the film and sound a bit silly at times, but it comes with the territory. The production values are high, which also elevates the proceedings.Overall, "StageFright" is a wildly entertaining slasher flick that is marked by well-managed suspense, brutal murder scenes, and competent direction. Original it is not, but Soavi and the cast hit their marks here. It is a generally clever, well-paced slasher flick; of the crop of them that appeared in the late eighties, it's among the best I've seen. 8/10.

hwg1957-102-265704 It may be an orthodox slasher film by a first time director and influenced obviously by Dario Argento but it is a gripping film from beginning to end. A psychopathic killer escapes a mental hospital and ends up in a theatre where a dance troupe are rehearsing their upcoming production. What follows is a heady brew of suspense and gore. It is very well shot and the music, which mainly is the strange music used in the production, adds immeasurably to the atmosphere. The killer wears a creepy owl mask and doesn't utter a word which makes him even more disturbing. It is a simple story but there are some tense scenes and the late scene with the finding of the key is immaculately staged, mixing terror with visual beauty to great effectiveness.It's difficult to assess the acting in a dubbed version but the cast were scared and hysterical and brave in the right proportion. Michele Soavi directs with an assured hand and Renato Tafuri provides splendid cinematography. One used to have great affection for owls but after watching this film I've begun to have doubts....

xposipx A troupe of struggling stage actors is rehearsing for a small-town production of a play. Everything seems to be as it should until one of the cast members turns up dead. In a panic, the others try to get out, only to find they are now locked in the theater with the owl- masked killer.The gore starts off dry for the first hour or so, but gets extremely brutal as the movie goes on. Axe through a mouth, 2 stabbings, drilled stomach, body ripped in half, chainsaw hacking x2, beheading, gun shot. At first it seems like it won't deliver any gore, but makes up for it easily in the last half hour.Barbara Cupisti played the lead Alicia pretty perfectly. She didn't really speak much but the way she acted was perfect for this type of slasher. David Brandon played the jerk director pretty flawlessly as well. The acting overall was superb, but a few bad lines here and there hurt a couple of scenes.I wish Soavi would have gone all out with the direction. Every time Soavi tried to get artsy and creative the scenes were absolutely amazing. He was an understudy of Argento and it shows throughout the film. The shots were extremely creative, and they used lots of out of focus and moving shots. The atmosphere was the main attraction for me...it was great. The score was somewhat distracting when it was really upbeat, but most of the time it was extremely effective in setting up the mood. Final Thoughts: The feel and atmosphere was really genuine and pulls the viewer into the film right away. Although it starts off pretty slow and dry, Soavi kicks it up a notch and it's action packed towards the second half. I'm not a big fan of the giallo genre, but this re-affirmed that I need to check more out before I pass judgment.

MARIO GAUCI Director Soavi, whose debut this was, is the last of the Italian maestros of Horror to arrive upon the scene – by which time Mario Bava, the greatest among them, was dead and virtually all the rest were already past their prime! For this reason, perhaps, his work has been given slightly more than its due attention: with this I mean that, while the film under review is miles ahead of what was being churned out during the last gasp of "Euro-Cult", it does not really elicit the same level of trashy fun that the Giallo subgenre was well capable of during its heyday (despite the fact that Soavi immediately showed his clout with expert use of the Steadicam throughout, not to mention a clever opening which has a suspenseful murder being revealed as merely part of the show, the relentless and loud synthesizer-based score – which places this firmly in the bland 1980s – is positively annoying)! Still, being the third of his efforts that I have watched (with THE SECT {1991} coming up), I can say that I was only really let down by THE CHURCH (1990) – while his bizarre take on the zombie subgenre CEMETERY MAN (1994) remains, by far, his most sustained outing. Anyway, the film has a gazillion alternate titles – such as BLOODY BIRD and SOUND STAGE MASSACRE but also two in Italian, namely AQUARIUS and DELIRIA; besides, having recently mentioned the 2 differing versions of THE NIGHT CHILD (1975) in my review of that picture, this one has too – with the English-language edition (the one I acquired) being the "Director's Cut", while the Italian release print was actually overseen by Soavi's prolific and versatile mentor i.e. cult figure Joe D'Amato!The movie is basically a retread of Pete Walker's average THE FLESH AND BLOOD SHOW (1972) – complete with a deranged actor (named Irving Wallace!) behind the killing spree; convicted, he escapes from the asylum where he was incarcerated – the far-fetched premise being that the leading lady of a theatrical troupe went to a mental hospital to treat a sprained ankle, and the maniac chose just that moment to bolt (hiding in her car throughout the journey back to the venue where rehearsals are under way)! The first (and most outrageously disposed-of) victim, in fact, is the girl's companion who was somehow delayed in joining the others and summarily receives a pick-axe blow to the mouth! Typically, the atmosphere behind-the-scenes was already tense but, with the murder, things naturally escalate to fever-pitch: besides, the ruthless director (David Brandon) even takes advantage of the morbid situation by deciding to open earlier than expected since the public would flock to see a show from which a principal participant (even if the girl was nothing more than a wardrobe assistant!) had been offed! Soon, strange happenings inside the theater make it blatantly clear that someone else is in there with the troupe: by the way, another manipulative touch by the director of the musical being staged is to have the monster (a man in an owl suit seemingly derived from the incredible opening sequence of Georges Franju's JUDEX {1963}) in the show no longer be anonymous but is christened by the name of the real serial-killer…so that the director of the movie obviously has him actually assume that role by abducting – he turns up behind the victim mimicking a celebrated scene from Dario Argento's TENEBRE (1982) – and hiding the body of the actor (Giovanni Lombardo Radice, from PHANTOM OF DEATH {1988}) playing him! The stage is thus set for a bloodbath, with the troupe at the mercy of a maniac who, even if clearly outnumbered, always has the upper hand until the extended climax: one man is found tied upside down from the ceiling; another is perforated via a door and right though his chest with a driller (surely among the Horror genre's most popular killing tools!); about four different people are chopped-up with a chainsaw (ditto) – with Brandon having one arm torn off with it and then beheaded with an axe!; Radice is copped by the members of the troupe itself when, attired just like the killer, they mistake him for their pursuer! It is left to the very same girl (she had been left for dead by an envious colleague, whose own demise the heroine later witnesses) that 'liberated' him to eventually supply the murderer's come-uppance: while he is placing all the victims on the proscenium, with himself presiding over them, she is underneath them all trying to retrieve the all-important key to the main door (a Police car stationed outside, then, is completely oblivious to the massacre, thanks also to the pouring rain!). Anyway, he goes after her, she escapes atop a scaffolding and, when he tries to climb himself, she cuts the thick wire with an axe, dropping him to the ground. However, he rises again (incidentally, the killer remains very much a cipher throughout, in the mould of Michael Myers from the "Halloween" franchise) and is engulfed in flames…but he is still not through as, when the heroine returns to the scene of the carnage, he attacks her one more time (why his body should have been left there, when all the others had been removed, is anybody's guess), only now she is saved by the timely intervention of the theatre's gun-toting black caretaker.