Ayo Edebiri brilliantly showcases a different side, acting as the logical and ambitious horror final girl in Mark Anthony Green’s clever Opus.

Horror movies have kicked off 2025, between Companion and Borderline. However, director Mark Anthony Green’s Opus feels significantly better than the rest and has raised the bar for the remainder of the year. 

Ariel (Ayo Edebiri) lives a very “middle” life, as her romantic interest describes. Sure, she works at a music magazine, modeled after a mix of Rolling Stone and W Mag, but she is stuck delivering SEO-slop instead of growing or moving up at all. She is 27 with minimum prospects. One day at work, the new album announcement of an aged pop star named Moretti makes waves in the office. 

Courtesy of his publicist, a brief-but-hilarious appearance from Tony Hale (Veep), Ariel and her aptly-named boss, Stan (Murray Bartlett), have received invitations to preview Moretti’s new album in person. The two accept, as Stan takes the lead on the story and Ariel gets tasked with taking notes and doing the prep work so that he can take full credit. 

As the film progresses, it becomes clear, though, that Ariel is the only one with any sense. Whether it’s Stan, a talk show host named Clara (Juliette Lewis), or influencer Emily (Stephanie Suganami), the group on the fucked up press trip just seems used to the pop star’s red flags. 

Played by John Malkovich, Moretti feels arguably most reminiscent of Elton John — but with a Charles Manson twist. He’s a diva-ish type, as his only critique is when you get his outfit details wrong. Because of this, he’s capable of captivating the room of people that he recruited from their regular lives. A male teacher was giving a presentation on Moretti, only to receive a telephone call that prompted him to get on the next flight, for example. 

Throughout the film, one of the cult’s youngest members is thrilled for Ariel and the other guests to experience the puppet show. Titled “The Tragedy of Billie” for the iconic jazz singer, the journalists are portrayed by taxidermied rats who revel in asking her deeply personal questions. It’s Opus’ most disturbing sequence, as Emily crawls out of a beanbag after suffering a chemical reaction, and the guests realize they’re the rats in Moretti’s mind. 

Ariel, the only one who Moretti didn’t have a score to settle, makes it off of the desert grounds and catapults into a life she’s dreamt of. She becomes an author. She graces the cover of magazines for her story of escaping the murderous cult. Fueled by wanting bigger and better things, she visits Moretti one last time, as Green seems to nod to a Hannibal-and-Clarice dynamic. 

The eerie leader of the Levelists (what Moretti dubbed his followers) revealed how he first discovered Ariel, as well as the fate of the members. Without spoiling the ending, it’s a jaw-dropping cliffhanger that leaves viewers hopeful for more. 

If there’s one takeaway from Opus, it’s that music journalism can be, quite literally, hell. 

Grade: A

Oscars Prospects:
Likely: None
Should be Considered: None

Where to Watch: In Theaters