Stage Fright

Today, we are five decades removed from the strong emergence of the slasher film as a staple sub-genre of horror in cinema. It's fair to assume that the pool of ideas had been running thin if one considers the abundance of remakes from classic franchises which already had more than a handful of sequels under their belts. Where does this leave us and the slasher film today, in 2014? It puts us in the theater, for a musical, in Stage Fright. Combining the behind the scenes process of what it takes to put on such a production within the narrative arc of the overarching movie which is also a musical, there are some clever dance and song numbers…that's really not what I was expecting to be complimenting this movie on before I watched it, but credit must be given where credit is due. Dancing and cleverness aside, this movie shines its brightest when it's at its darkest. A Kabuki mask-wearing hair metal-singing psycho is out to spoil the show, and in doing so he may very well be giving us a new slasher icon. The brilliance of this movie is how quickly and smoothly it brings the story between hilarity and tension, sometimes even merging the two. The musical aspects of the movie are excellently done. Each character or setting has a theme, which get intermingled and blended at appropriate times. Singing was really excellent where it needed to be, and intentionally sub-par or bad when called for as well. Best of all was the contrasting punch between the cheery musical score and the 80's power-chord heavy metal screaming that beefs up all the grisly gory shreddin' fun from our killer.