Movie Review: “Stagefright” (1987) 4K Restoration
Michele Soavi’s directorial debut Stagefright (AKA Aquarius; Italy, 1987) is already well known as one of the craziest entries in the slasher genre, and now it looks super thanks to Shameless Films’ terrific 4K restoration. The film combines giallo elements with the slasher approach and — a stage musical! Alicia (Barbara Cupisti of Soavi’s later directorial features The Church and Cemetery Man) is an actress in a destined-to-bomb musical called The Night Owl, which is about a murdered prostitute who comes back to life to rape the man who killed her. Things only get more lurid from here, so hang on as the musical’s director Peter (David Brandon) goes off on a megalomaniacal trip after Alicia sneaks off to a nearby hospital to have her sore ankle checked with wardrobe mistress Betty (Ulrike Schwerk) — it’s a psychiatric hospital, and the young ladies unknowingly bring back to the theater Irving Wallace (Clain Parker), a psychotic former actor who has killed
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