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nTitle: The Phantom of the Opera (1989)
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nDirector: Dwight H. Little
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nCast: Robert Englund, Jill Schoelen, Bill Nighy
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nThere’s a couple of cheesy versions of Phantom of the Opera outnthere, I’d say that the most incredibly outlandish version I’ve seen to date isnDario Argento’s Phantom of the Opera (1998), which had the titular Phantomnraised by rats. In that one The Phantom also had these crazy surreal visions,nwhich translated into some really crazy Ken Russell type visuals, you mightnwant to check out that version of Phantom of the Opera, just for kicks. If you’renin the mood for seeing something out there, plus it’s a bit on the gory side. Anothernoutlandish version would be Phantom of the Paradise (1974), which is this crazynrock and roll version of Phantom of the Opera that feels like Rocky HorrornPicture Show’s long lost brother (or sister). That version of Phantom of thenOpera I’ll be reviewing today was directed by one Dwight H. Little, thendirector behind such horror classics as Halloween 4: The Return of the Michael Myersn(1988) and Free Willy 2: The AdventurenHome (1995). This version of Phantom of the Opera is runner up for first placenas the stupidest version of Phantom of the Opera ever made. This doesn’t meannit isn’t watchable, on the contrary, it’s highly watchable in its cheesinessnand goriness.
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nThis version starts out in modern times with a young wouldnbe soprano named Christine Day, trying to get her big break in a new play. She’snlooking for an impressive piece to sing for her try out, so she goes to thisnold book store where she finds this ancient opera composed by a guy called EriknDestler. The opera? Something called “Don Juan Triumphant”. So anyways, shenmakes it to her audition and as soon as she starts singing it, a sand bag fallsnfrom the rafters of the theater, hits her on the head; this for some reason magicallynsends her back in time to 19th Century London, or is she justnremember a past life? I don’t know, the filmmakers don’t make it very clear,nbut I’m going with the ‘it’s all happening in her head’ theory. Anyways, whennshe wakes up in 19th Century London she’s part of a theater group practicingnfor ‘Faust’. On this theater group, Christine is not the star of the show, she’snjust the understudy, she wants to be a star, but she’s just an understudy. Butnwait, the mysterious Phantom of the Opera is in love with Christine and wantsnto make sure she ends up being the main attraction because her voice is “likenthe voice of an angel”. Who will the Phantom kill in order to assure Christine’snsuccess?
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nWhat sets this version of The Phantom of the Opera apartnfrom all others is that Robert Englund, a.k.a. Freddy Krueger, plays thenPhantom, and he does a good job at it too. In this version the Phantom doesn’t justnwear a regular mask on his face; he uses human flesh (which he sews onto hisnown face) as his mask! Another distinctive feature of this version of Phantomnof the Opera is that it’s gory. Argento’s Phantom of the Opera is the goriest,nbut this one is a close second. Why is this version so gory? Well, it was madenin 1989, when gory, make up effects filled horror movies where the norm. Wait,nscratch that, gory horror movies were making huge loads of cash in theaters isnwhat I meant to say. Freddy Krueger was a house hold name, so where Jason Voorhees,nPinhead and Michael Myers. I’m guessing that Robert Englund made this film tontry and get away from playing Freddy Krueger, unfortunately, the producers hadnother plans. What they really wanted to do was exploit the fact that Englundnwas known for playing Freddy. This is evident in the makeup effects work for ThenPhantom, which looks exactly like Freddy’s burned face. Thenpromotional work for this film also makes it abundantly obvious; they wanted tonmake people think this was another Nightmare on Elm Street film.
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nCertain elements will remind you of the Nightmare on ElmnStreet films, for example how the entire film is supposed to be a dream? Likenthe fact that the main character is a boogy man of sorts killing people innmorbid ways while cackling away? So yeah, expect some similarities with thenNightmare on Elm Street films, they are no coincidence, in fact, I’d say theynwere entirely intentional. This does not surprise me when we take innconsideration that the film was produced by Menahem Golan, an exploitative producernif there ever was any. He’s part of the team who made all those Missing innAction movies back in the eighties, which were made to exploit the popularitynof First Blood (1982) and Rambo II (1985). The same exploitative logic applies withnthis version of Phantom of the Opera; it wasn’t made because Phantom of thenOpera adaptations were particularly ‘hot’ during 1989, it was made becausenNightmare on Elm Street movies were making millions and the producers wanted tonmake their own cheesy version of A Nightmare on Elm Street, which they did innthe form of this movie.
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nLike most Cannon Films, the ideas and situations on thisnversion of Phantom of the Opera are so ludicrous that they end up being funny.nFor example on this version of Phantom of the Opera, the Phantom actually sellsnhis soul to the devil so he could become famous; the twist comes when the devilngives him his fame, but burns his face as well. Oh and the ludicrous angle? Thendevil is a midget? Okay, not enough craziness? How about having The Phantomnhave intercourse with a whore to release his sexual frustrations with Christine?nAnd that’s without counting all the gory deaths, of which there are many. Actually,nthis movie was so gory that the MPAA had the producers edit a huge chunk of thenfilm down, so there’s tons of gore actually missing from this one! In the end, whatnwe ended up with is an entertaining, cheesy, gory movie, that will horrifynPhantom of the Opera purists and entertain the horror fans, cause its freakingnFreddy playing The Phantom. I thought it was funny that at one point ThenPhantom is wearing a suit that has the exact same colors from Freddy Krueger’snfamous black and red sweater; a nudge to the Nightmare on Elm Street films?nSure it was! Then Christine wakes up and it was all in her head and yet again,nit feels like a Freddy film.
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nRating: 3 out of 5
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