{"id":11468,"date":"2025-03-15T19:46:49","date_gmt":"2025-03-15T23:46:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=11468"},"modified":"2025-03-22T19:18:04","modified_gmt":"2025-03-22T23:18:04","slug":"opus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2025\/03\/15\/opus\/","title":{"rendered":"Opus"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Opus<\/strong> (2025)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 A24\/Horror-Thriller\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 104 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (violent content including a grisly image, language, sexual material, brief graphic nudity)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Mark Anthony Green\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Mark Anthony Green\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Danny Bensi, Saunder Jurriaans, Nile Rodgers and The-Dream\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Tommy Maddox-Upshaw\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: March 14, 2025 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Ayo Edebiri, John Malkovich, Juliette Lewis, Murray Bartlett, Melissa Chambers, Stephanie Suganami, Mark Sivertsen, Amber Midthunder, Tatanka Means, Tony Hale, Tamera Tomakili, Young Mazino, Peter Diseth, Aspen Martinez.<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: ** \u00bd<\/p>\n

\u00a0Only A24 could come up with something as wacko as Opus<\/strong>, a horror-thriller about a young journalist trapped at a remote compound by a religious cult led by a 90s \u00a0pop star who disappeared at the height of his fame. Said pop star Alfred Moretti is played by John Malkovich (In the Line of Fire) in a performance worthy of Nicolas Cage. He delivers a wonderfully loopy turn in the role. He takes OTT to the next level. If only the rest of Opus<\/strong> was that great.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Written and directed by Mark Anthony Green (in his feature film debut), Opus<\/strong> centers on Ariel (Edebiri, The Bear), a rookie writer for a music magazine. She\u2019s a gifted writer, but nobody really cares what she has to say. She\u2019s often dismissed by her boss Stan (Bartlett, The White Lotus). Even her boyfriend (Mazino, Beef) says she has no substance. As such, she\u2019s shocked to receive an invitation (along with her boss) to attend a listening party for Moretti\u2019s first album in 30 years. Stan brings her along with the understanding that he\u2019ll write the article and she\u2019ll take all the notes. They\u2019re joined by four other journalists- talk show host Clara (Lewis, Natural Born Killers), paparazzi Bianca (Chambers, Mayfair Witches), social media influencer Emily (Suganami, Power Book II: Ghost) and shock jock Bill (Sivertsen, The Last Stand).<\/p>\n

\u00a0It should be apparent to anybody that Moretti is running a cult. The guests\u2019 phones and laptops are confiscated immediately upon arrival at the compound located in the middle of freaking nowhere. Each one is assigned their own \u201cpersonal concierge\u201d there to keep an eye on their every movement. The residents (called \u201cLevelists\u201d) all wear identical blue uniform and display behaviors that could be seen as threatening. One of their rituals is for everybody at dinner to take a bite from the same loaf of bread. It\u2019s gets pretty grody by the time it reaches Ariel. Yeah, this bunch has cult written all over it. When Ariel expresses her concerns to Stan, he just brushes her off. He\u2019s not even swayed when he\u2019s \u201caccidentally\u201d shot by an arrow.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Then there\u2019s Moretti. This guy is a class-A whack job. I\u2019m talking a bona fide coo-coo for Cocoa Puffs, bat-crap crazy loony toon. He was supposedly big news in the 90s, a musical genius on par with Prince or Elton John. People still love and worship him. Besides his loyal followers, avid fans wait outside the gate of the compound hoping to catch a glimpse of the reclusive artist. Behind the music, he\u2019s a force of malevolence. He has a diabolical reason for luring these people to his compound. Sure enough, they start dying which sends Ariel into self-protection mode looking for a way to escape.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Opus<\/strong> has something to say about celebrity culture and the journalists who making a living from it. It also tries to make a statement about the insidious nature of fame. Unfortunately, none of it really comes through due to the superficial way Green handles the themes. My takeaway is that (1) he doesn\u2019t see either group (preening celebs and parasitic journalists) in a positive light and (2) fame is a corrupting force. Okay, so what? Haven\u2019t we heard this all before? Opus<\/strong> would have more effective if Green had a clearer idea of what he wanted to say and stronger terms to put it in.<\/p>\n

\u00a0As a horror movie, Opus<\/strong> is more bizarre than scary. It has some unsettling violence and creepy characters like the personal concierge (Midthunder, Prey) assigned to Ariel. The actress, who can also be seen on screens in the new action rom-com Novocaine, quietly oozes evil and menace with her dark unflinching stare. She never lets her charge out of her sight not even during her morning jog. Then there\u2019s the little girl (newcomer Aspen Martinez) who takes an immediate liking to Ariel. This kid is manipulative as F.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Probably the craziest scene in Opus<\/strong> is when Moretti does a live performance of one of his new songs for his guests. This is where you see the level of Malkovich\u2019s commitment to his role. He goes all in, singing and dancing, pulling the ladies into his immediate orbit. He doesn\u2019t appear the least bit self-conscious. John sells it like the pro that he is. He is the film\u2019s true MVP.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Edebiri is okay as Ariel. It\u2019s the script that underserves her by not fleshing out her character more fully. She\u2019s the young professional looking to prove herself in her chosen field. She needs to find her voice and use it without fear. That\u2019s it. We get nothing in the way of a backstory. What besides fear motivates her? Her journey to probable Final Girl is a foregone conclusion. The other guests don\u2019t get much in the way of development either. They\u2019re just there for one reason.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Opus<\/strong> reminds me a lot of Midsommar, an apt comparison seeing that both films were released by A24. It\u2019s weird and unsettling, but not in a lasting way. It\u2019s not going to stay with you. It\u2019s one of those entertaining at the moment deals. To its credit, it\u2019s not entirely forgettable. Malkovich sees to that. I don\u2019t think Cage could have done it any better.\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Opus (2025)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 A24\/Horror-Thriller\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 104 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (violent content including a grisly image, language, sexual material, brief graphic nudity)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Mark Anthony Green\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Mark Anthony Green\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Danny Bensi, Saunder Jurriaans, Nile Rodgers and The-Dream\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Tommy Maddox-Upshaw\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: March 14, 2025 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Ayo Edebiri, John Malkovich, Juliette Lewis, Murray Bartlett, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11480,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11468","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-horror"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Opus-POSTER.jpg?fit=620%2C915&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11468","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11468"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11468\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11482,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11468\/revisions\/11482"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11480"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11468"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}