Unfortunately, viewers may find that “Opus,” directed by Mark Anthony Green, is a disappointing departure from A24 horror hits. Debuting at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival, “Opus” is about a young writer who is invited to a pop star’s compound as he begins an album roll out and the twisted plan he has in store.
With A24’s previous track record of ground-breaking horror films, from “Hereditary” to “Green Room,” The Review’s expectations were high and sadly “Opus” immensely disappointed. With predictable jump scares and an overdone plot this film fails to do anything new or interesting.
“Opus” wants to be a thought-provoking film; however, in that attempt it seems to simply jumble hot button ideas together with a long exposition scene in the end to explain it all. Similar to when Bond villains explain their evil plan, the antagonist in all sincerity tells the main character that the only reason she is famous is because of the trauma he inflicted upon her. This film tries to examine how art is affected by trauma but fails to show the negative impacts of trauma. With a reductive view on the creation of art and a character who is intentionally boring to be a vessel for the trauma inflicted on her, “Opus” fails to grasp why trauma can make art.
There are kills which succeed in grossing out and shocking audiences but do not last long enough to be savored. With only a handful of interesting moments where the characters are hurt or killed, the rest of the film maintains a vague atmosphere which tries too hard to be weird. Characters with unintelligible motives act in confusing ways to make viewers surprised at the final reveal. Chock full of exposition scenes, “Opus” wants to be shocking and confusing but ends up seeming unintentionally campy and unintuitive.
Fans of A24’s previous work were likely hoping for a horror film with more substance. “Opus” unfortunately wastes all of its talented actors on a bad script and poor direction. The casting continues the cliche of having John Malkovich play a confusing yet creepy character and Ayo Edebiri playing an audience surrogate; this film continues cliches without comment. The script attempts to encapsulate this fish out of water feeling but seems to lose that theme towards the end of the film.
The shining light is the interesting and colorful set design, which is wonderfully whimsical. Mixing loud colors with muted softer tones to create a vast world full of intriguing sets. The Architecture of these sets provides exactly what this film needs for the world it tries to explore.
This film is distributed by A24 and will be released to theaters on March 14, 2025. However, The Review sadly does not recommend you see it.
