STAGE FRIGHT (1987)
Starring David Brandon and Barbara Cupitsi
Also released under the much cooler title "Deliria," "Stage Fright" was the directorial debut of "Cemetery Man" filmmaker Soavi, who would become a protégé of Dario Argento. The script of this was reportedly written by Joe D`Amato, under a psyeudonym. D`Amato, it should be remembered, directed one of the few horror XXX porn films: "Porno Holocaust."
"Stage Fright" is also Soavi's second best film (the first being "Cemetery Man"). The flick owes a lot to the Argento-produced "Demons," which shared a similar theme: People trapped in a theater while being chased by some kind of evil force.
In this case, the evil force is a serial killer. The play the theater troupe was working on, another story about a serial killer, takes on new life when a real murder takes place. Rather than close up shop, the troupe decides to go forward, hoping the killing will make their play an instant success.
Naturally, they wind up trapped in the theater, and are knocked off one by one by the murderer, who now dons an owl mask like the one the fictitious killer in the play wore.
Soavi delivers plenty of style to an already suspenseful screenplay, which, as I said
earlier, borrows a lot from "Demons." Released on video in the U.S. in the late
`80s, the film drifted out of print and it`s unlikely it`ll ever emerge as a release
again. Still, if you run into this in an old video store, be sure to rent (or buy) it. Not
a masterpiece, "Stage Fright" is nonetheless a fantastic first offering from the
man who brought us one of the best horror films of all time, "Cemetery Man."