Betty, a young up and coming opera singer, gets put in the lead role of Giuseppe Verdi's Macbeth after the leading lady storms out of rehearsal and gets hit by a car (breaking her leg). However, she believes that the opera is bad luck for all involved and is quickly proven right when people start dying, violently.
Directed by Dario Argento, the film was inspired by an incident in his past: after the success of his "Animal Trilogy", Argento was approached by one of Italy's top opera production company with an offer to direct an upcoming production of theirs. Unfortunately for Argento, when he asked about doing a modernized version of an existing opera for the company, the offer was rescinded as they were only interested in doing period pieces. Furthermore, the film's iconic needles taped over the eyes bit is inspired by conversations between Argento and a close friend over how viewers of Argento's films often closed their eyes during the gorey parts of his film. The friend suggested Argento come up with A William Castle-type gimmick that kept viewers from not watching the gore.
The film is considered by many to be Argento's last true masterpiece. Fittingly for the film's play within a play, the film itself is largely known for its behind the scenes troubles. The film was ultimately released direct-to-video, with a very small production run. As such, for years it was widely believed by many that the film never saw the light of day in the United States as well as the urban legend that the English language version omitted the final sequence of the film. Anchor Bay released it onto DVD in 2002, to much fanfare and acclaim.
This film provides examples of:
- Abusive Parents: Alma's mother beats her for helping Betty escape the murderer at one point.
- All for Nothing: Marco comes to Betty's aid in the end of the film as Santini is chasing her down. He tackles Santini to the ground, and instead of defeating Santini and rescuing Betty as he intended, the insanity-fueled Santini easily overpowers him and stabs him to death as poor Betty watches.
- Action Girl: Betty plays with this trope. While frequently she's either tied up by the killer or running away, She does attempt to kill him with a gun she takes from the corpse of a cop Santini has stabbed, and in the end, after Marco, he last protector, is killed, she feigns insanity and gets the drop on Santini, battering him in the head with a rock until the police can arrest him.
- Ain't Too Proud to Beg: While Marco doesn't plead for his own life, Betty pleads with Santini to let Marco live. Santini responds by almost immediately stabbing Marco to death.
- Animals Hate Him: The ravens are not happy with Santini when he kills some of their comrades and make him pay.
- Axe-Crazy: Santini, who not only kills, but butchers several of his victims.
- Batman Gambit: In an attempt to flush out the killer, Marco, remembering that the flock of ravens will carry a grudge against the killer for killing three of them early in the film, releases them into the audience during one of the performances. Had the killer not been in attendance during that particular show, the entire plan would have failed. However, Marco's theory that the killer WAS in the audience proves to be entirely correct, and the ravens eventually pick him out as a target and attack, plucking out one of his eyes for good measure.
- Barefoot Captives: During one of the murders, Betty is captured by the killer while barefoot and tied to a pillar to watch.
- Big Damn Hero: Marco is the one who finally comes up with the way to identify the killer, Santini, maiming Santini's face with ravens in the process, and later saves Betty from a burning room by breaking the locked door down so she can escape. Subverted in the end. Marco attempts to come to Betty's aid for a second time and tackles Santini as he's chasing Betty, but unlike in other films, he's easily overpowered by Santini and immediately stabbed to death for his troubles. His death also results in a Break the Cutie for Betty, who clearly has a mental breakdown after Marco's demise and Santini's capture.
- Bittersweet Ending: A lot of the cast dies, but Santini is eventually caught. Betty is, however, left broken and not wanting anything to do with people after the whole trauma. Also, Marco, who has seemingly been set up throughout the film as Betty's eventual romantic interest, is brutally stabbed to death in front of Betty only moments before a swarm of police arrive to take Santini into custody. Also, when she releases the lizard, Betty mutters for it to go free, which echos Santini's words as he's being hauled away by the police, that he murdered his victims to "free their souls."
- Boom, Headshot!: Mira gets one, as part of a Moe Greene Special through the right eye. The "bullet" passes through her head and it keeps moving long enough to destroy Betty's phone.
- Break the Cutie: Betty. Depending on how you interpret the ending, Betty may indeed have been broken.
- Bound and Gagged: Happens to Betty multiple times in the film.
- The Cavalry Arrives Late: The authorities know that Santini is still alive and have been tracking him for two days before he shows up at Marco's place in the Swiss Alps and Marco discovers in a news report what the police already know. Despite there being dozens of cops in the area using tracker dogs and a helicopter, they fail to catch Santini until after he's turned Marco into a Sacrificial Lion and Betty has subdued him with a rock, before she ends up as a Break the Cutie.
- Captive Audience: Quite LITERALLY! The black-gloved killer trusses up Betty and makes sure she witnesses him killing her friends. Happens multiple times in the film!
- Chekhov's Gun: The ravens.
- Damsel in Distress: Betty.
-
The Danza: Michele Soavi as Inspector Soavi. - Deadpan Snarker: Marco.
- Marco: "Even with 10 hands the costume will still be a pile of shit."
- Death by Recognition: Both Guilia (after she unmasks him) and Mira (after she catches a glimpse of his face through the peephole) recognize Santini. They're both killed within seconds of the realization.
- Developing Doomed Characters: Stefano and Guilia fit the bill, even if Guilia has a Too Dumb to Live moment prior to her own death
- Didn't Want an Adventure: Betty is well familiar with the bad luck history of "Macbeth," and seemingly would have been happy just being the show's understudy. When Mira reveals she's taking on the role due to Mara Chekova's injury, she seems to want to back out of playing it by telling her agent, Mira, and others, that she's too young for the role, or that her voice isn't strong enough to sing it, and directly tells Mira she wants to debut in anything other than "Macbeth." It takes the convincing of Mira, conductor Miro, theater manager Baddini, and finally director Marco to get her to finally agree to take over the part and accept it as destiny. By the time the credits roll, the audience discovers that Betty's hesitation was definitely accurate.
- Dwindling Party: Played with. While they're not trapped in an isolated location, the core group of leads, and Betty's friends and love interests, Stefano, Guilia, Mira, and finally Marco, are killed one by one by Santini, leaving Betty completely alone when the credits roll.
- Driven to Suicide: Subverted. After being disfigured by the ravens and losing an eye, Santini ties Betty to a chair, blindfolds her, spreads gasoline, lights a match, and urges Betty to do a Dr. Kevorkian and put him out of his misery, as he's now an ugly monster and can't see a future with her. Betty eventually does pull the trigger, but it's all a set-up so Santini can fake his death and escape.
- Dull Surprise: After telling Marco about Stefano's death, and the nightmares she's had involving a man who looks like the man who killed Stefano, he's fairly nonplussed and doesn't seem sad about Stefano's death at all. In fairness, he is a somewhat-jaded horror film director, and Betty being unharmed is more important to the continuance of the show than losing his stage manager. It's also suggested that Marco's a bit of a sadist.
- Eye Scream: The iconic shot of Betty having needles taped under her eyelids. There are even some blood drips to indicate that she has nicked her lids with the needles a few times, and later, she eventually has to use eyedrops from having to keep her eyes unblinking for long periods of time. Also, the scene where Mira gets shot in the eye in slow-mo and the scene where Santini's eye is pecked out by ravens.
- The Faceless: Prior to the raven reveal, the killer's face is always covered by a black mask with only his eyes visible.
- Final Girl: Betty. Her mental state just prior to the end credits definitely makes you wonder about her future, however.
- Forced to Watch: The entire point of the needles is so that Santini can force Betty to watch as he stabs Stefan to death quite brutally. The killer then repeats the process with Guilia.
- Foreshadowing: The film uses many POV shots to let the audience know we're seeing things through the eyes of the killer. Right after Betty's successful opening night, we get one of these POV shots as Guilia is ranting about her hatred of Marco. The POV starts to move towards Betty's dressing room door after Guilia leaves. When the scene cuts to Betty opening her door, she opens it up to reveal Insp. Santini standing outside to congratulate her and get her autograph. It's a clear bit of foreshadowing that Santini is the killer, since the majority of the time (Other than a flashback, or Mira's first entrance to Betty's apartment) The POV shots are entirely from the killer's perspective.
- Also, The close up of the large pair of scissors that fall off the table as Guilia is attempting to mend Betty's Lady Macbeth costume clearly indicate they're going to be used for sinister purposes later, and they are: The killer uses them to cut the throat of Guilia's corpse to retrieve the gold bracelet she accidentally swallows before dying.
- Giallo: To be expected from an Argento film. There is a lot of murder, and the perpetrator is a mystery.
- Gainax Ending: Infamously. After Santini is seemingly burned to death in the fire, Betty and Marco relax at Marco's place in the Swiss Alps talking about their next project together. Betty goes outside for a walk, and sees two running dogs in the trees, and hears a helicopter. Out of nowhere, we discover (along with Marco) that Santini faked his death using a theatrical dummy, and stalked Betty and Marco there. Marco conveniently hears a news report about Santini still being alive, and being chased by police, and finds his housekeeper with a knife in her throat, courtesy of Santini. He screams for Betty to run, and she does, and is soon being chased by Santini through the sunny Swiss Alps, in the same location where they filmed Julie Andrews singing "The Hills Are Alive" from The Sound of Music. Just as Santini is about to grab Betty, Marco tackles him, is quickly overpowered by the stronger, and insane Santini, and stabbed to death. Betty suddenly claims she's just like her mother, who Santini killed for as a younger man in order to get Betty's mother to sleep with him, and pulls him away from Marco's corpse, claiming they must run away together. The dogs are seen again, and as Santini focuses on them, Betty picks up a rock and hits him with it multiple times, briefly stunning him. A mob of policemen, with their guns drawn, swarm out of the trees and run towards Santini as he has his back to them, working up the strength to stab Betty. They tackle him and handcuff him as Betty screams that she was lying and is nothing at all like her mother. Santini, as he's being hauled away by a cluster of police, screams that he committed no crimes, was only freeing their souls, and begs the police to let him kill Betty as they haul him to a helicopter to take him to jail. A pair of cops confirm Betty is okay, and ask what she said to Santini to keep him from killing her. Betty tells them she lied to him. She then ignores the two cops, and wanders towards a cluster of flowers as she has an internal monologue that she no longer wants anything to do with people. She finds a lizard trapped by some brush, and releases it, telling it to go free. Then she leans forward and hugs the cluster of flowers as the screen fades to black and the credits roll. In the space of about seven minutes of screen time, Betty goes from triumphantly being the one to kill the deranged Santini and getting over her personal hang-ups to pursue a relationship with Marco to a Break the Cutie ending where Marco is dead, and Santini has likely driven her into a state of insanity, and she certainly won't be pursuing her dream of being an opera singer.
- Gorn: Of course. One particularly gruesome moment: When Stefano gets stabbed under the jaw and we see the tip of the blade has gone through his jaw and is visible in his open, screaming mouth.
- Hope Spot: The psychopathic Santini has seemingly burned to death in a fire, and Betty and Marco are apparently happily embarking on a personal and professional relationship and decompressing from the events of the film at Marco's place in the Swiss Alps. Betty even has a laugh when Marco's housekeeper goes into the kitchen with some precariously perched ceramic dishware and drops it before going outside to enjoy the sunny fresh air...Then Marco sees a news report that the investigators have finally uncovered the rubble to reveal that Santini used a dummy to fake his death, and when Marco opens the door to the kitchen, he sees that the reason the housekeeper dropped what she was carrying was due to her being murdered by Santini. Cue Marco going to the window and screaming to Betty that Santini is alive, there, and their troubles are FAR from over.
- Improbable Aiming Skills: Averted. Betty gets a hold of a gun as the killer stalks her in her apartment. She gets off three shots at fairly close range and misses every time before the recoil from the third shot knocks her off balance and she loses the gun.
- Ironic Echo: There's a scene early on where Santini slaughters a few ravens because they're pestering him as he's vandalizing Betty's Lady Macbeth costume at the theatre. Marco capitalizes on this and uses the now-angered ravens to pick him out as the killer later on.
- Irony: The film lampshades the bad luck that seemingly surrounds productions of "Macbeth." Then it takes it a step further by having the leading lady sidelined in the first few moments of the film by a broken leg from being struck by a car, before Betty, the understudy for Lady Macbeth, is thrust into the role and then stalked by a deranged killer who forces her to watch with needles taped under her eyes as he slaughters her friends and associates from said production.
- Betty's role in the opera is Lady Macbeth. While she's not ruthless or ambitious like her opera counterpart, Lady Macbeth famously goes insane by the end of the show. Betty herself ends up apparently going insane after the killer murders Stefano, Guilia, Mira, and finally Marco, right in front of her.
- Jerkass: Santini. He ends up killing Betty's boyfriend Stefano, Guilia, Betty's close friend and agent Mira, and Betty's new boyfriend Marco, among a couple other random victims. He also slaughtered numerous girls at Betty's mother's behest, and killed her due to her escalating demands of him. He even intends to kill Betty before she bluffs him long enough for the authorities to arrest him. While Betty's mother turned him into his dark desires as a teenager, all his actions in the film are due to Betty's strong resemblance to her mother reawakening his twisted desires, Betty is just a wholesome, struggling actress trying to get her break in the business, and is undeserving of the trauma she endures in the film, no matter how much mental damage Santini was facing.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Played with. Marco is generally supportive of Betty, though his current girlfriend suggests that his actions are, in part, because he wants to sleep with her. Also, he's quite rude to the costume designer, Guilia, suggesting that even if she had ten hands, her costume for Lady Mac Beth would "still be a pile of shit." Guilia herself is shown to be completely frustrated by him after the opening performance, praising Betty in her dressing room, then shutting the door and complaining to herself about Marco. Nevertheless, Marco expresses genuine concern for her safety, and after the death of Betty's agent, Mira, actually comes up with a plan that works to flush out her killer. Then, at the end of the film, after he and Betty seemingly get together, Marco ends up getting stabbed to death by Santini while Marco is trying to protect Betty.
- Jump Scare: After Stefano leaves to get her tea, the killer suddenly grabs Betty from behind as she's kneeling on the bed, with no indication that he was even in the room.
- Karma Houdini: While she's smaller character, Alma's mother is played as a total bitch, and slaps Alma loud enough for Betty to hear it through their closed apartment door. She survives the film.
- Kensington Gore: Averted, unlike many of Dario Argento's other works; the blood in this film is actually quite realistic, and there's plenty of it on display.
- Kick the Dog: Santini kills a few ravens because he's a mean bastard, and they're bothering him as he's trying to vandalize Betty's costume. Also, after killing Stefano in front of Betty, the killer gropes her and runs his knife blade over her, then claims the act turned her on and calls her a "Bitch in heat."
- Large Ham: It's a brief moment, but Cristina Marsillach, in a short flashback and under a blonde wig and eyebrows, also plays Betty's homicidal mother. Her facial expressions to convey how "twisted" Betty's mother was are a tad overdone...
- Leg Focus: Marion, Marco's girlfriend, shows off her legs in a brief scene while he's reading reviews for the Opera.
- Master Actor: Betty. She bluffs Santini, claiming she's just as twisted and homicidal as her mother was, long enough for her to get the drop on him and leave him partially stunned for the police to eventually subdue.
- Masturbation Means Sexual Frustration: Marco tells Betty he masturbates before he films every scene to relieve tension. It's unclear if he's truly serious or not.
- Misplaced Retribution: Santini reveals that Betty's mother seduced him as a teen and used him to murder girls for her enjoyment, until it escalated so much that he murdered her. Seeing Betty, who looks a lot like her mother, and is also a singer as her mother was, sets him on a path of completely terrorizing her and killing people who she cares for. However, Betty had no clue at all of what her mother had done to Santini, other than a recurring nightmare that she didn't believe was even real until Santini showed up in the mask, and he's set off on his murderous rampage simply because Betty resembles her mother and can sing.
- Moe Greene Special: Mira gets shot through her right eye.
- Motive Rant: Santini does one of these with Betty after he's unmasked, blaming her mother for turning him into a psycho and her resemblance to her mother and choice of profession as the thing that set him off again. Further, in the finale, he claims he was trying to free his victims souls as the police haul him away.
- Murderer P.O.V.: Used extensively during the present-day killings, and in the flashbacks to his prior murders.
- Nice Guy: Stefano, who supports Betty and encourages her, and isn't angry at all when she decides not to sleep with him, even offering to make her a cup of tea.
- Also Marco has his moments. He's a bit of a Jerkass as well, and his motives may be less than chivalrous in the beginning, but as the film progresses, he believes everything Betty tells him and quickly becomes one of the only people she can trust.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: The character of Marco, the opera's director, is largely based on the director of the film, Dario Argento, such as Marco being known (and roasted in the reviews for the opera,) as a horror film director. Additionally, Argento was approached to direct the opera used in the film, but his Avante Garde ideas were quickly turned down by the producers, so many of Marco's flourishes, such as the ravens, are likely a tongue-in-cheek reference to what Argento planned to do with his own failed attempt to direct the Macbeth opera.
- Oh, Crap!: Marco, first when he sees the news report that Santini is still alive, and again only moments later when he looks in his kitchen and sees that his housekeeper has JUST BEEN MURDERED by Santini.
- Marco: "Betty! He's not dead! He's alive! He's HERE! Run! For God's sake, run! RUN!"
- Once Done, Never Forgotten: This is Marco's second attempt at a stage production rather than his normal foray, horror films. After the critics savage his direction after the opening show, Marion is quick to point out that he opened another stage show to similar critical savagery, and assumes he's not pissed this time because he wants to bed Betty, especially when he seems happy that Betty herself is getting critical praise for her performance as Lady Macbeth by the same critics.
- Paralyzing Fear of Sexuality: Betty and Stefano are about to get it on, but she stops him, claiming she's not good in bed. Stefano jokes that normally opera singers usually sleep with someone prior to performing to relax their voice, and Betty jokes she must not be a good opera singer.
- Later, in Marco's car, when Marco makes a similar comment to Stefano, Betty gets irritated instead, claiming she's not like that, and while she's not a virgin, it's just never worked for her.
- Seemingly subverted in the end. When talking with Marco about an upcoming role, Marco asks her if she wants to play it sweet, timid, or sensual. Betty says sensual won't be a problem, which seems to indicate she and Marco have been intimate and he's gotten her over her intimacy hang-ups.
- Pistol-Whipping: Santini whacks Marco to subdue him with his police issue pistol.
- Playing Possum: After the killer knocks down Guilia with a thrown iron, Guilia feigns the injury being worse than it actually is to strike the killer in the head with the iron. It backfires on her when she goes to take off the killer's mask, and he reveals he wasn't unconscious and proceeds to kill her after she removes it from his face.
- Police Are Useless: And for good reason, as the lead investigator of the slasher case, Insp. Alan Santini, is the ACTUAL killer, even using his position to set-up Betty with police protection, then kill the officer sent to protect her in the confusion.
- Raincoat of Horror: Betty wears one After she flees Stefano's apartment following the killer taunting her and murdering Stefano.
- Real Life Writes the Plot: The movie is based, in part, on Dario Argento's failed attempt to direct a production of "Macbeth." The character of Marco is also directly based on Argento himself, and Marco's character is known for being a horror film director.
- Also, Mara Chekova was initially a much larger part in the film, and was cast with Vanessa Redgrave. When she left the production, the role was greatly reduced and her face is never seen.
- Red Herring: The film takes steps to cast suspicion on Marco as the killer in the first half of the film, having him come across Betty in the rain shortly after Stefano is murdered, later having him claim to have seen someone lurking outside of her apartment. (When Betty goes to the window, no one is there.) Marco's girlfriend Marion says all her friends think he's a sadist, and suggests he's enjoying the fact that Stefano was murdered and there's now a police investigation. However, this is entirely dropped by the third act, when Marco reveals he has a plan to flush out the killer, and he wouldn't execute that plan unless he was innocent.
- The Reveal: The killer turns out to be Inspector Alan Santini, who was the LEAD INVESTIGATOR of the slasher case, meaning he's been investigating HIMSELF, and muddying the waters in the investigation from the first murder. Also, he kills a cop during one of his attacks on Betty. When he's swarmed by police officers at the film's end and taken into custody, they are not pleased.
- Sacrificial Lamb: Stefano, Betty's boyfriend. He's pleased with her success, and bears her no ill-will after Betty's successful opening night when they're in bed and she decides against sleeping with him, even offering to make her tea instead. Since he's played by William McNamara, and is likely the only recognizable name in the cast to American audiences outside of Ian Charleson, it seems he's going to play a major part of the plot. Instead, he's the second person in the film to be murdered (Not in a flashback) and is the first key character in the film to die.
- Sacrificial Lion: Marco, who attempts to protect Betty from Santini and dies minutes before the police arrive to arrest Santini. His death results in Betty's mind seemingly snapping, and even though it's only moments before the credits roll, Betty's entire life trajectory is seemingly altered by all of the traumatic events, leaving her to decide in an internal monologue that she no longer wants anything to do with people.
- Sex Signals Death: Stefano and Betty start to get intimate, but Betty stops before they start. It doesn't save Stefano from getting brutally stabbed to death by the killer a few moments later, however.
- Shout-Out: Santini's method of faking his death is one to Red Dragon, where Francis Dolarhyde does the same thing in very much the same way
- Slashed Throat: The killer uses a pair of scissors to cut open Guilia's throat after she accidentally swallows the gold bracelet before expiring.
- Slashers Prefer Blondes: Largely subverted. Only one present-day victim is blonde, and the killer is actively stalking Betty, who's a brunette.
- Snicket Warning Label: If you prefer a happy ending, make like Orion Pictures and ignore the last sequence in the Alps. Betty kills Santini and lives happily with Marco. She asserts herself briefly as an Action Girl, defeats the enemy and Marco lives!
- Spoiler Cover: While it isn't the case with all of the releases, A number of posters and DVD covers for the film include close up shots of Santini with his eye missing, shooting at Betty on the stage, or with his eye missing and holding a raven. One particularly spoilerish cover shows Santini with the missing eye wound and holding the terrified Betty by the throat, and another shot with ropes around her neck as he's tying her to the wooden chair. Other covers show a shot of Stefano being stabbed through the jaw, or laying on the floor and covered in blood. While Stefano's death happens early and isn't a huge spoiler, the cover photos of Santini, especially the ones where Betty can be seen in the same photo, give away Santini being the killer before anyone even watches the film.
- Take That!: Marion reads Marco some of the reviews for his version of Macbeth. While they praise Betty's performance, they criticize Marco's direction, and Marion reads one that says Marco should go back to directing horror films, to Marco's amusement. This is also a bit of Real Life Writes the Plot, as Marco is based on Dario Argento, and his attempts to stage the opera version of Macbeth, only for his Avante Garde suggestions to be quickly turned down by the producers, hence some of Marco's flourishes in the film are likely the ones Argento intended to do himself.
- Tempting Fate: Betty lampshades the real-life bad luck that is associated with productions of "Macbeth," and despite the career opportunity being presented to her, going from understudy to actually playing the role of Lady Macbeth, she's vocally hesitant and wishes for a different show to serve as her debut, before being convinced to play the part. Betty's instincts were spot on. Her being cast into the limelight brought her to the attention of the killer, who once was her mother's lover and who killed for her. Seeing Betty onstage, singing like her mother did, and baring a strong resemblance to her mother, kicked off the serial killer's murderous instincts once again, and causes him to terrorize Betty and kill both of her romantic interests, and then some.
- They Look Just Like Everyone Else!: The killer, revealed to be Santini, looks like just an average, attractive looking guy in a suit...At least until one of the ravens pecks out his left eyeball.
- This Just In!: Marco has the TV on in his place in the Swiss Alps, And shortly after Betty goes outside for a walk, he hears the news report that Santini faked his death. Then he finds his housekeeper dead in the kitchen, and gets an Oh, Crap! realization that Santini is not only alive, but he's THERE.
- Too Dumb to Live: Guilia who knocks out the killer with an iron but ends up getting killed because she decided to take off his mask and see who he was rather than release Betty.
- Also Stefano, who breaks into the locked bedroom, finds Betty tied and gagged to a pillar, and decides to approach her asking her what is going on rather than realizing the person who tied her to said pillar is waiting in the room for him, and they are.
- Took a Level in Badass: Completely subverted. In the end of the film, the newly heroic Marco tackles Santini as he's chasing Betty down. As Santini is younger, taller, and stronger than Marco, as well as being fueled by insanity, poor Marco doesn't stand a chance. He's easily subdued by Santini and stabbed to death.
- Villainous Breakdown. Subverted and played straight. Santini fakes one for Betty after the ravens disfigure him to goad her into helping him with his plan to fake his death. (She doesn't know it's a set-up, nor does anyone else.) Then at the end, after the police swarm him and haul him off, Santini has one for real, saying he hasn't committed any crimes, he was just trying to free his victims souls, and begging them to LET HIM KILL BETTY. As the cops get rougher and rougher in their efforts to get him to a helicopter, Santini finally just breaks down screaming over his eventual fate of prison.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Marion, Marco's girlfriend, is last seen in the sequence where the ravens are released on the audience, and Marco is then seen with Betty planning future projects and acting as though they're now a couple. There is one person seemingly trampled as the audience members flee the auditorium after Santini starts shooting at the actors on the stage, but it's not made clear at all if the person trampled was Marion.
- White Shirt of Death: Marco is wearing a white sweater at the end when Santini stabs him to death. While the stabbing itself is only a bit bloody, when Betty pulls Santini away from the body to flee, we get a low camera angle showing Marco's upper body and his chest is covered in blood. Betty is wearing a white blouse as well, which gets a big splash of Marco's blood as Santini stabs him.
- Your Princess Is in Another Castle!: After Santini appears to burn himself to death, allowing Betty to escape, and Marco leaves for the Swiss Alps with Betty a viewer may think the movie has ended. Unfortunately for Marco, AND Betty, there's ten minutes left of the film.
