STAGEFRIGHT aka AQUARIUS is a very stylish chiller from Michele Soavi, whose critical reputation rests on this film and the later CEMETERY MAN.
Certainly the film is derivative, and fans of this subgenre will surely comment that they have seen it all before; however, Soavi, like his mentor Dario Argento, is astute when he chooses the likes of ENNIO MORRICONE; GOBLIN, and now SIMON BOSWELL to score his films.
Boswell's compositions together with the opening and end titles written by Stefano Mainetti propel the film along, and provide an aural edge to the onscreen visuals. And if their contributions were not enough, the inspired, and uncredited use of Dmitri Shostakovich's 8th symphony, 3rd movement ("allegro non troppo"), reflects the imaginative touches that distinguish this film from many others.
The play/film within a film works quite well, especially as the cinema is acknowledged to be the art of illusion; indeed this conceit looks ahead to the two DEMONS films, set in a cinema, where the audience are overwhelmed with illusion become reality.
The acting is more than sufficient as the characters are written as types, and set up as victims, just as the heroine has a personality that sets her apart. Her final scenes with the killer are very effective indeed; her fearfulness make her vulnerable, her vulnerability draws us to her, and in drawing us to her, we submit to the relentless onslaught the killer pursues.
This is a film where the viewer/audience surely knows the outcome, but the satisfaction comes from the execution - literally - of the route that the filmmaker takes.
I now have this film on a budget UK DVD which reveals little - I am playing it back on a 16:9 TV, and am very pleased with the quality of the sound (mono) and the visuals, plus some of the unusual, though rare basic extras.
