joan crawford chop down the orange tree in her garden in mommie dearest be a lot scary than the maniac chop up dumb slasher victim character in stage fright . part of the reason be that she wasn not wear a goofy owl mask while she do it . the killer in stage fright isn not so lucky . in a turn of event that give new meaning to the word contrive and a group of actor become lock in a theater with a homicidal maniac who like to dismember or otherwise mutilate his victim . the plot allow for a group of potential victim mostly distinguishable by their gender and or or hair color . typical of the best ( and the bad ) italian horror flick and stage fright be an exercise in style and violence . unfortunately and it a little spotty in this one . there be some interesting camera trick ( a la argento and bava ) and some attempt at gruesome gore and but no real scare or tension . since none of the character be behave in a way that any rational human be would behave under the give circumstance and it difficult to relate to what go on in the picture . take and for instance and the setup representthe bitchy and obsessive director of a low rent musical alienate his cast member by hurl abuse at them a they rehearse . the female lead have a twist ankle and yet the director isn not concern about that . the wardrobe director convince her to sneak out with her during a break so she can get her ankle look at by a doctor at the local hospital and which turn out to be a psychiatric hospital ( cue ominous music ) . they just happen to be housing an ex actor who go insane and cut up a bunch of people into little piece and and by a strange coincidence he escape and hitch a ride back to the theater by hide in the back of the station wagon our two heroine be drive . it isn not long before the wardrobe girl get a pick axe in her head and and when the body be discover the police and the medium show up . unconcerned about clear the crime scene and or the fact that any of the actor could be a potential suspect and the authority just haul the body away and leave two policeman in a car to guard the remain actor . the director force the actor to continue their rehearsal and and nobody apparently consider that and oh i do not know and someone be just pick axed to death and the maniac who do it may possibly still be around . yeah . well anyway and that all you really need to know about the plot and the rest of the movie be people get lure off on their own and slaughter in various creative way . the best thing the movie have go for it be a giddy sense of twisted humor and a in the final sequence ( the one that prove the psycho killer in movie like this be never dead ) . there a little tension at the end with the last one leave alive try to stay out of sight . otherwise and it hard to ignore the irritating music and illogical motivation and or the fact that the killer be wear a large goofy headdress that make him look like an owl .