Before writer/director Mark Anthony Green pivoted to filmmaking, he was an editor at GQ Magazine — he knows the world of celebrity journalism and its opulent press junkets, which provides the setting for his directorial debut, “Opus,” a satirical, cynical riff on cults of personality.

Ayo Edebiri stars as Ariel Ecton, an ambitious junior writer at a music magazine who is surprised to find herself invited to the secluded compound of mononymous pop icon Moretti (John Malkovich), who has recently emerged from hiding to host a select few members of the media (Juliette Lewis, Stephanie Suganami, Melissa Chambers, Mark Sivertsen) for a listening party of his new album, an event which happens to be the hottest ticket on the planet.

However, things are not what Ariel expected when she arrives at the remote community. OK, maybe she did expect her boss, Stan (Murray Bartlett), to undermine and condescend to her, but everything else — the devoted Moretti followers in matching uniforms, the strict rules about fashion and grooming, the strange food rituals, and especially the constant surveillance — were definitely unexpected.

But for any film fan who has seen a movie released by A24 — the studio behind “Opus” — in the past few years, this all feels like a sizzle reel of their greatest hits, or even a parody of an “A24 movie.” The plot is a direct rip from Ari Aster’s folk horror hit “Midsommar,” just set in the music media world. There’s an element of a meta pop absurdism that apes “Problemista” or “Everything Everywhere All At Once,” and the white-hot ensemble cast feels engineered by financiers. The gruesome horror elements nod to genre films like the “X” trilogy that have brought the studio success.

In fact, the entirety of “Opus” feels like a messy pile of disparate, trendy building blocks: cults, horror, award-winning actors, vague social commentary. You can see all the pieces laid out but nothing joins together. The film seems like it’s trying to solve a mathematical formula for zeitgeist-grasping success, but in this empty, hollow provocation, nothing adds up.

Edebiri does excel as a straight man, so to speak, as the audience surrogate taking in the chaos that unfolds around Ariel, from the literally cult-ish to the cult of celebrity, her professional peers buying into whatever Moretti’s selling, high on the vapors of exclusivity. Malkovich makes for a surprisingly convincing pop star in the mold of Elton John or Prince by way of David Bowie, and the Moretti songs written by super-producers Nile Rodgers and The-Dream are catchy. Those are the bright spots of this otherwise moronic Mad Libs.

The color-saturated cinematography by Tommy Maddox-Upshaw is clean and capable; the edit by Ernie Gilbert seems to be fighting against unseen forces outside of the film itself — there are weird transitions and characters who feel almost entirely cut out, leaving you wondering what connective tissue, if any, might have helped to make this feel more cohesive.

There are too many plot holes and too many convenient narratives devices; too many bafflingly random reveals meant to shock or titillate that just leave the viewer feeling confused and irritated. What’s most frustrating about the script is that nothing seems authentically felt or sincere. None of these characters feel like real people, but a collection of stereotypical traits in human-shaped form.

Edebiri’s Ariel gets closest to a fully fleshed-out character, but even her arc is frustratingly shallow and she’s given little to do other than react. None of this seems to come from a place of real feeling or emotion, or anything more than a desire for Green to jab the audience in the ribs with a sarcastically knowing, “see?”

Green said while introducing his film at a Los Angeles screening that it was about “idolatry and tribalism.” Set in the world of pop music during this political moment, there is much to say about those ideas and the dangers of groupthink and abuses of power. Too bad “Opus” doesn’t say anything about idolatry or tribalism at all, the unwillingness to explore the psychology of power dynamics papered over with random story beats that don’t pay off and gross-out body horror.

An epilogue finally delivers the film’s confounding message in a rug-pulling twist that throws our heroine under the bus at the last minute. It’s an odd choice for the end of this movie. Then again, it’s only one of the many bizarre choices that make “Opus” a vacuous and nearly unwatchable effort.

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‘OPUS’

1.5 stars (out of 4)

MPA rating: R (for violent content including a grisly image, language, sexual material and brief graphic nudity)

Running time: 1:43

How to watch: In theaters March 14

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