Anyone else feel like celebrity worship is getting a little extra creepy lately? A24 certainly seems to as we live in a world where multiple pop stars and the like are gifted near religious levels of worship that seem to edge closer to insanity with every passing month. Be it the curious fact that everyone seems to be thanking Beyoncé when they win their awards or the odd unhinged tweet of a fan who would literally sell their soul in a heartbeat if it meant that their idol would notice them, fanatical fan worship is bad enough, but what if the recipient of these mass obsessions believed the hype too?
With in mind, we get Opus, A24’s latest genre offering that sees Ayo Edebiri’s young journalist come face-to-face with John Malkovich’s reclusive pop legend; but while things soon turn notoriously cult-y, can director Mark Anthony Green manage to steer the film past the raft of similar flicks that’s dealt with such themes of celebrity, idolatry and a bunch of fucking crazy people with some radical-ass beliefs?
The world is a-buzz with excitement when word that retired pop superstar Alfred Moretti is returning back to the spotlight with his first new album in thirty years and as anticipation reaches fever pitch, the notoriously eccentric artist makes sure that he’s going to release his new opus – entitled Caesar’s Request – with the correct amount of fuss. As a result, an extraordinarily rare set of invites are sent out that include talk show host Clara, radio shock jock Bill, influencer Emily, photo snapping paparazzi Bianca and magazine editor Stan, but confounding everybody is that a sixth invite is sent to one of Stan’s more marginalised young writers, Ariel, who seems just as puzzled as everybody else.
Upon arriving at Moretti’s compound, the group are a little surprised to find that the place is a commune for a group that refer to themselves as “Levelists” and soon it becomes overwhelmingly obvious that Moretti is part of a cult who have chosen to deify him thanks to his legendary body of work.
Hoping to finally score a breakout article, Ariel finds, to her dismay, that Stan is a bit of a prick and has no intention of letting her write a single word about this unless it’s solely for the purpose of jotting down notes for the piece he intends to write. However, as the weekend stretches on and it becomes apparent that Moretti has penned another transcendent pop album, Ariel can’t help buy notice that some of the Levelists practices are creepy to the point of being genuinely unnerving. Each guest has their own personal concierge who will not allow them to leave their line of sight and there’s also a rather humiliating regime of personal hygiene which Moretti insists everyone follow. But soon Ariel’s discoveries shift from the disconcerting to the deadly and the grand masterpiece that’s been promised may stretch beyond a mere album – no matter how many genuinely banging tracks it may contain.
For a film about a pop musician that’s continually described as a singular, one of a kind artist, it’s a little bit disappointing that Opus borrows a lot of its best bits from other movies. The set up of a group of wandering into the middle of an expansive cult sings of Midsomer, the slow unravelling of a black female lead gradually discovering just how much shit she’s in invokes Blink Twice, the whole modern conspiracy thing has been a hot topic since Get Out, it also broaches the mystique of the genius like The Menu and even tackles the whole singer as a cult leader thing after it’s been riffed on before in the likes of Mandy; and at times, Opus seems less like it’s own thing and more like a cover album that can’t quite live up to its influences, even when it’s time to pull the trigger and expose what’s truly going on. Most of the time, director Mark Anthony Green seems stuck between the twin poles of trying to invoke Ari Aster levels of subtle, creeping dread or going fully for broke with the type of hard-core insanity usually unleashed by Panos Cosmatos, but unfortunately the film can’t quite manage to equal either as it struggles to find its voice. Speaking of voices, it’s obvious that Opus is trying to say something profound, but it can’t quite seem to pinpoint exactly what that is. During some moments, it’s obviously pointing a finger at celebrity worship and the sort of people who would allow themselves to be revered in such extravagant fashion as well as the people who provide the adoration. It also seems to be condemning those who would allow such a person to get away with such behavior as long as it furthers their own, self serving agenda as the other guests provide such easy targets as shallow influencers and smug chat show gossips, but at times it just feels like Opus is shooting fish in a barrel.
However, while I’ve offered quote a damning verdict on Opus thus far, if you treat the film as just another cult horror/thriller with delusions of satire, it’s actually an incredibly solid watch that holds the intrest while going in some occasionally bizarre places. In an attempt to keep you off balance once we get to Morettti’s, you’re peppered with matter of fact strangeness such as the Levelists habit of opening endless oysters with knives in order to discover pearls or that truly uncomfortable request of having pubic hair shaved to a required length that ends with the magnificently squirm inducing sight of watch shorn pubes fluttering onto the carpet.
Of course, helping this all immensely is a wonderfully deranged John Malkovich who vaults the seemingly un-vaultable hurdle of having you try and picture the dude who played John Malkovich in Being John Malkovich as a Elton John-esque pop sensation by simply living it. Merging the likes of Lady Gaga, Andy Warhol and Jim Jones into a delirious ball of malevolent eccentricity, he’s obviously chosen to embrace the chaos with his performance and just ramp it the fuck up. I have not idea what visuals 2025 with eventually bring us, but surely few will match the sight of Moretti, dressed in gold, sci-fi armour and miming sex acts on his guests while one of his new tracks (legitimate bangers, all) pulse in the background. More is Moretti, if you will.
On the flip side, Ayo Edebiri tackles final girl duties with aplomb and her wide-eyed innocent caught in the hurricane of insanity benefits massively from that grounded, constantly incredulous aspect that serves her so well when surrounded by chaos in The Bear. In fact, the actress manages to infuse her character with enough vulnerabilities and smarts to hold the film together even when it lurches into more traditional horror fare and gross out tactics. Ever wonder what would occur if every wet part of your body started to swell due to a poisoning? Opus has got your back.
While lacking the usual sharpness that a gruesome social satire from A24 would usually bring, Opus still has enough surprises, twists and weirdness to nicely see you from beginning to end and it does feature some cracking tunes from Nile Rodgers and The-Dream. However, it’s not quite as profound as it thinks it is and not even the sight of Malkovich cavorting to pop music can save Opus from lacking true replay value.
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