★★★ out of ★★★★★ Intensity: 🩸🩸 out of 🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸 Place famously eccentric actor, John Malkovich into a story about a messianic pop star leading a death cult commune, under the A24 umbrella and you have the makings of an art house classic, right? Almost. It's a combination of The Menu, Midsommar, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. This A24 production falls a bit shy of its incredible promise. The post Opus (2025): Review appeared first on The Scariest Things.
Intensity: 
out of
Written and Directed by Mark Anthony Green
Opus arrived at the Sundance Film Festival with a deep well of anticipation and expectations. Conceptually, this movie about the return of a ’90s genius pop star as a reclusive cult leader created plenty of early buzz. The film features the presence of rising star Ayo Edebiri (The Bear) and legendary eccentric thespian John Malkovich, along with the promise of original music by Nile Rodgers. Add to that the A24-crafted pedigree, and this movie should have been a showstopper. Only, it wasn’t. At least, not often enough to satisfy expectations.
Charismatic cult figures make for great stories. Think back to the eighties and nineties. In my part of the world, in Oregon, we had the Baghwan Shri Rajneesh, a wealthy guru with sycophantic followers who dressed in red, carried machine guns in the open, and poisoned the neighboring town of The Dalles. Nice. There was, of course, Jim Jones and the poisoned Kool-Aid in Guyana. And in Waco, Texas, in the early nineties, David Koresh burned down his compound with himself and his followers inside to avoid capture by the ATF. These madmen thought themselves to be demigods, and their crazed devotees were willing to feed that ego. It never ends well.
The cult members in this movie call themselves Levelers, taken from their semi-sacred text written by their cult leader, “Meditations of Level.” This would draw reference from the Heaven’s Gate UFO death cult from the nineties, who also called themselves “levelers” because they believed that they would transcend this existence and level up. Video game opportunities, no doubt. They all died, including their leader, Marshall Applewhite, when the Hale-Bopp comet crossed the heavens, where they all committed mass suicide to reach the next level.
Other References
There is some rich material to be mined here. There are a couple of other strong references in play here. Malkovich’s character, Alfred Moretti, is a David Bowie/Michael Stipe-level pop star who has been absent from producing new music for more than twenty years. His absence created a J.D. Salinger-like myth about the artistic genius who walked away from his craft. The absence created a legend, and when the recluse emerges, the press goes ape-shit.
The other close approximation would be Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. When the announcement of Moretti’s new single, “Tomorrow My Love,” was released, the musician announced that only a select few media members would be invited to his compound for a private audience with the singer to receive an advance presentation of the new song. These invitations were essentially golden tickets. Ariel, in this story, is the Charlie Bucket equivalent. The striving young writer for whom this opportunity is career-changing. She is amongst a group of cynical and jaded press who can’t see the dangers plainly in front of them.
The Cast of Opus:
- Ayo Edebiri plays Ariel Ectron, a young writer whose career is getting started at J, a pop culture magazine. She finds her path hindered by the impression that her writing is middling. It doesn’t help that she has a credit stealing boss.
- John Malkovich plays Alfred Moretti, the self-proclaimed “The Debutante” and the “Wizard of Wiggle” with 38 #1 singles to his name. However, he has not released a song in 27 years. But now he is coming out of retirement with an album that he suggests will be the best album of all time. He has been living in his commune in a remote desert in Utah, where he will host a select group of guests.
- Murray Bartlett plays Stan Sullivan, the editor of J, who is a narcissistic sycophant to celebrities. He has instructed Ariel to provide notes for him to write an article for the magazine. Meanwhile, he plans to indulge in the extended weekend party.
- Juliette Lewis plays Clara Armstrong, a controversial talk show host, and invitee to Moretti’s event.
- Amber Midthunder plays Belle, Ariel’s assigned concierge. She’s one part valet, one part watchdog.
- Peter Diseth plays Jorg, a music teacher at the Moretti compound, and one of Moretti’s lieutenants.
- Stephanie Suganami plays Emily Katz, a social influencer attending the party.
- Melissa Chambers plays Bianca Tyson, queen of the Paparazzi.
- Mark Sivertsen plays Bill Lotto, a music journalist-turned-podcaster who is a surprise invitee because he has a longstanding bad relationship with Moretti.
A Summary of Opus:
Ariel Ecton struggles to be noticed in New York after three years of employment at J. She has good ideas, but her suggestions are taken and then given to other, more experienced journalists to write. She wrestles with self-doubt, and it doesn’t help that her best friend informs her that she has been living an unremarkable, safe life, and that her writing reflects the lack of drama born of conflict and high adventure.
Her life is about to change when a gift basket arrives, informing her that she has been invited to Moretti’s commune in Utah. They are escorted by a tour bus to the remote ranch. She is out of place amongst the guests and is effectively relegated to the “kiddie table” during the introductory banquet. It becomes clear, though, that Moretti has a vested interest in Ariel. He seeks her out after the banquet, and after admonishing her on the spelling of “sycophant” in her notes, he provides her a guided tour of the ranch the following morning.
The place feels like an artist’s enclave. Paintings and yoga are part of the community’s outdoor activities. A puppet show is on the event schedule, and curiously, there is a yurt where oysters are shucked in search of pearls. Things become alarming when one of the guests fails to attend Moretti’s live performance. Ariel begins to sense that something is amiss, as security in the compound is intrusive.
The other guests fail to recognize the impending peril, even as others in their group go missing. The audience receives the dramatic irony information of surveillance that is unknown to the guests, but red flags abound. As Ariel senses the closing of a trap, she overcomes her impostor syndrome, but is still left with the thought, “Why me?”
Evaluation of Opus
Horseshoes and hand grenades. The proverb applies to a movie like Opus. It is close to greatness, but it falls short of delivering on its biggest premise. Why in the world is Moretti so unhinged? Or more to the point, he isn’t a particularly scary villain. He is an interesting character, but he fails to even reach a Bond Villain threat level. The cult is creepy, but despite some fairly nasty goings on, they seem to be pleasant enough, apart from the killing people part.
John Malkovich, not surprisingly, is a lot of fun to watch. He is also a beautiful singer, as the songs composed for him by Nile Rodgers are terrific. Makovich is the master of quirky personas, and he is the perfect actor for this role. Edibery has established herself as a young actress to watch, as those who watch The Bear will be aware. She is alert and inquisitive, a trait that none of the other characters invited to the compound exhibit. They are oblivious.
As textured as the film starts out, the second and third acts leave loaf-sized bread crumbs for you to follow. Again, like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the other guests lack self-awareness. We know what happens to the wicked kids. They are blinded by celebrity, and for journalists, seem to ignore all the weirdness around them.
When Moretti’s motivation was finally revealed, I was dumbstruck. Really? THAT’S his grievance? Why put everything at risk? He didn’t seem crazy enough to pull the full Jim Jones stunt. The outline of this story had a nice skeleton to it, but there wasn’t enough meat on the bones to take advantage of the promise.
Concluding Thoughts:
I have heard comparisons of Opus to The Menu and Midsommar. I concur that there are strong similarities between those films and this one. They each feature a young woman navigating a crisis of confidence during her young adult years. Each has an overbearing male partner of dubious integrity. And, each of the three films involves a cult. If you enjoy movies like those, you will likely enjoy Opus, though I would suggest that Opus is a slightly watered-down variant. Granted, those are fairly high benchmarks.
Mark Anthony Green is an emerging director whom A24 sees a lot of promise in. His instincts are pretty good, based upon the concept of the story, but his storytelling needs a little more nuance. Visually, this movie looks wonderful. And, I would fully support an Oscar Push for the song “Tomorrow My Love”, and I would love to see and hear Malkovich perform this song. (His lip synching to his own voice was merely adequate.)
Opus is rated R for violence, body horror, language, and some sexual material. It’s not a boundary-pushing movie, horror-wise, and I think that mature teens would both enjoy and appreciate this film. This movie is currently streaming on MAX. It can also be purchased on Amazon.
Review by Eric Li
The post Opus (2025): Review appeared first on The Scariest Things.
