Phantom Of The Opera from 1925 is considered not only a classic horror film, but a classic film in general. The ambitious cinematography, memorable scenes and the eternal Lon Chaney as the Phantom will always be the definitive way this tale is presented. However! Today we are looking at possibly the strangest adaptation of the 1910's tale released in 1989, featuring time travel, more blood than before and the man that "was Freddy".
"Phantom Of The Opera" was released in 1989 and was directed by Dwight H. Little who was fresh off of Halloween 4(one of the best in that series). It stars Jill Schoelen as Christine Day and horror royalty Robert Englund as Erik Destler(the Phantom). Now the plot of this film is definitely one of the most intriguing differences as it takes place both in the past and present. In modern day Manhattan, we see Christine discovering this old piece of music written by a composer named Erik Destler which she decides to sing for an audition. Now at her audition, as she sings,she is knocked out after being hit in the head. Now she is teleported back to London in 1885 where the basic plot of the Phantom story we know occurs. So one of the issues I have with this plot is while it definitely is original, it feels a tad disjointed as Christine almost doesn't question why she is here or anything like that. I suppose it is a past life? I don't know it just feels like a whole different movie has started and can confuse people watching. This is also where we get to finally see the Phantom in action and we see Englund play him with ferocity. While he may be compared to his Freddy Krueger parts, this definitely feels different enough besides giving him some one liners and his burned face. This portrayal also definitely is born out of 80's slashers with the phantoms "mask" being made out of human flesh which he must replace as it continuously rots ( a classical leatherface perhaps?). He is also a superficial serial killer who decapitates and skins his victims which really steps up the more slasher aspects of this version. While this sounds awesome for a gore hound, unfortunately the execution isn't quite as good with a lot of the kills off camera. However, the scenes where we see the phantom changing pieces of his face, the makeup is very well done. Another problem with the film is that a lot lot of the cast also seems extremely underdeveloped as well with a lot of the plot following Christine but more for her interaction with Destler, which also doesn't develop as naturally as it should. The ball scene which is one of the most iconic scenes from any Phantom film is pretty enjoyable though. I really like that the phantoms final scenes are done with the red death costume on because I love how it looks in this film. I also really like how La Carlotta who is the diva singer is killed and her head is thrown in the soup which causes panic throughout. This leads to the final scene where Destler is banished and Christine wakes back up in modern times on stage by Mr Foster, the producer. This part of course is also played by Englund who invites Christine back to his apartment for dinner. This is one of my favorite scenes as his piece Don Juan Triumphant" begins to play over synthesizers revealing he has been alive this whole time which is all kinds of confusing. Christine destroys his music which is the only way to truly kill him and the film ends.
So overall, while the plot is definitely original and there are some memorable scenes peppered throughout, the whole film doesn't feel like it gives all its got. The kills could have really been spectacular and the characters could have been fleshed out more. Obviously Englund as the psychotic Eric Destler is the highlight of the film and it is a fun watch but definitely one that could have been much better.
6/10
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