The theatre of death.
StageFright -Aquarius- (a.k.a.
Deliria,
Aquarius and
Stage Fright) is an Italian
slasher movie with
giallo elements from the year 1987. It is the first feature film directed by Michele Soavi, who also did
Cemetery Man seven years later.
The film opens with our main characters rehearsing the play by the name of
The Night Owl. Alicia, one of the actors, slips away briefly with Betty to get some treatment for her sprained ankle. They visit the local psychiatric hospital, where Alicia runs to Irving Wallace, an actor who recently went crazy and gruesomely killed and mutilated 16 people. Irving manages to escape from the hospital and hitches a ride with the women to the theatre. He then kills Betty just outside the theatre. After Alicia finds her body, the police are quickly called to the scene.
After the police and the press leave, Peter the director convinces the main funder Ferrari and the cast to keep on practising the play, as the murder can get them more attention. To ensure the show going on, he locks up the doors, not knowing that Irving is with them and about to start hacking them up in various ways.
Tropes within the film:
- Accidental Murder
- All Part of the Show: When Irving kills Corinne, Peter's first reaction is to wonder why is he using a knife.
- Alliterative Name: Alicia Alvarez.
- Ax Crazy: Irving.
- An Axe to Grind
- Barrier-Busting Blow
- Bedlam House: St. Mary's Psychiatric Hospital, where Irving escapes from.
- Big Applesauce
- Big "NO!"
- Blood from the Mouth
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: At the very end, supposedly dead Irving smirks at the camera. According to Soavi, it's a Lampshade Hanging on how the killer is always alive at the end.
- Bury Your Gays
- California Doubling: The film is set in New York, but it directed in Italy.
- Camp Gay: Brett.
- Cat Scare: Willy's cat Lucifer provides one to Betty.
- Chainsaw Good
- Closed Circle
- Cool Mask: The owl's head.
- Covers Always Lie: Some posters depict Irving smashing a fish tank. A fish tank does appear, but it doesn't get destroyed.
- Death by Materialism: Ferrari.
- Death by Mocking: Brett, who according to the characters is fond of pranks.
- Dirty Old Man: Ferrari, according to the cast.
- Donut Mess with a Cop
- Drama-Preserving Handicap: Averted as only thing that Alicia's sprained ankle manages to cause is a justified Let's Split Up, Gang.
- Eye Scream
- Final Girl: Alicia
- Foot Focus: We got couple close-up shots of ladies feet.
- Glasses Girl: Corinne.
- Half the Man He Used to Be
- Heroic BSOD: Willy gets one when he shoots Irving..
Willy: I... I just went to get the gun, trying to show you how to put a bullet in the chamber. See that? I got him right between the eyes! Just like I said... Right between the eyes! Damn... You see that Ally? Right betw... right between the eyes! Just like I said. Between... between the eyes. Got him... etc.
- Homage: The Mirror Scare scene is a homage to Dario Argento's Tenebre.
- A House Divided: Averted, as whe the remaining cast starts to crack in the dressing room, Alicia quickly tells them off.
- Hysterical Woman: Sybil
- Implacable Man
- Jerkass: Peter.
- Jump Scare
- Kick the Dog: Peter pushing Laurel at Irving when he is approaching the two.
- Knife Nut
- Mad Artist: Irving seems to be one. After he thinks that he has killed everyone, he organizes the bodies bizarrely on the stage. Dialogue exchange earlier in the film reveals that he did the same thing during his last slayings.
- Man on Fire
- Mirror Scare
- Morning Sickness: Sybil is pregnant and suffers from this throughout the film.
- Mysterious Past: We're not told why Irving went insane and why exactly he arranges his victims bodies the way he does.
- Never Split the Party: When the cast realizes that they can't get out the building, Peter suggests that they stay together and retreat to the dressing room. However, due to Alicia's sprained ankle they all can't go to get the spare keys together. This leads Peter and Danny justifiable splitting up with others temporarily to go look for them.
- No Such Thing As Bad Publicity: In-universe, Mark decides to uses Betty's murder to get some extra publicity for their play.
- Not Quite Dead
- Off with His Head!
- One-Woman Wail: On the soundtrack.
- Peek-A-Boo Corpse
- Pet the Dog: Peter gets such moment when he openly admits his faults.
- Screaming Woman
- The Show Must Go On: Peter convinces the cast to keep on practicing after Betty's murder, because now they have change for some recognition.
- Show Within a Show: The Night Owl, a sleaze-filled dance play featuring sex and murder. Has it's own tropes:
- Silent Antagonist: Irving.
- Similarly Named Works: There are several movies titled Stage Fright, most famous one being the Alfred Hitchcock film.
- Symbolic Blood: The red paint jar that Sybil drops at one point.
- This Is a Drill: Mark is killed with one.
- Those Two Guys: The two cops stationed outside the theater, who provide little Comic Relief.
- Token Minority: Willy.
- Vomit Indiscretion Shot
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