From Michele Saovi director of the amazing Dellamorte Dellamore and the less than amazing The Church comes Stage fright. I'm a huge fan of Italian Horror, they just know the right way to make scary movies. Saovi's Stage fright tells the story of a theatre company a few weeks from debuting their new show. On a dark and stormy night(aren't the all?)a psychotic actor(again, aren't they all?)breaks out the the loony bin and sure enough, he ends up inside the theatre. The acting troupe is locked inside with no way out as the bodies start to hit the floor.

And the bodies... there are lots of them. This movie is relentless in its carnage and its pacing, taking out the actors in various macabre and vicious ways. We get drills through the chest, beheadings with axes and various other bloody demises. Saovi blows the viewer away by ratcheting up the tension from the end of the first act on and the pace never slows long enough to let you catch your breath. The performances are perfect, not a single complaint aside from some bad dubbing.

Gore fiends will be in Heaven as Saovi holds nothing back in the blood and guts department. He even throws in some nudity for you pervs out there(you know you are so just admit it). But this movie isn't about blood and boobs, it's about terror. It's about a faceless killer that doesn't crack jokes and isn't afraid to kill anyone is center stage and he never stops killing. Stage fright is quite possibly the finest piece of Italian horror in the past two decades and it puts Saovi on the map as Argento's successor. Now when is someone going to release Dellamorte Dellamore(aka Cemetery Man)on DVD?