Opus is a wickedly inventive horror-thriller that announces writer-director Mark Anthony Green as a major new voice in genre cinema. Ayo Edebiri stars as Ariel Ecton, a music journalist invited to cover the long-awaited return of reclusive pop legend Alfred Moretti (John Malkovich) — an iconic figure who vanished from public life thirty years ago and is now resurfacing with a final album. Ariel arrives at Moretti's remote desert compound along with a handful of journalists and devoted fans, and what begins as an exclusive access story unravels rapidly into something far more sinister.

Green's script draws from the tradition of cult horror — the isolated compound, the charismatic patriarch with terrifying control over his followers, the outsider who sees what others cannot — while filtering it through a sharp satirical intelligence about celebrity worship, artistic legacy, and the parasocial devotion that pop culture inspires. John Malkovich is mesmerizing and deeply unsettling, oscillating between warmth and menace with the precision of a conductor, while Edebiri grounds the film in sharp, credible intelligence. Juliette Lewis contributes a standout supporting turn as a follower whose devotion has curdled into something frightening.

Opus premiered to strong notices at Sundance 2025 and was acquired by A24, the studio that has made prestige horror its signature. It is one of the most formally playful genre films of the year — genuinely funny, genuinely scary, and genuinely interested in what it means to sacrifice reason at the altar of genius. For Edebiri, it represents another leap into full leading-lady territory; for Green, it is a debut of remarkable confidence and singular vision.