Phantom of the Opera – Blu-ray review
Director: Dwight H. Little
Cast: Robert Englund, Jill Schoelen, Alex Hyde-White
Reviewed By Brian M. Sammons
Back in the late 80s the world was crazy for all things Phantom of the Opera, thanks to the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical of the same name. Suddenly, phantoms were haunting everyone. You could not go into a store or elevator without hearing music from the stage play. The newly revamped half-face phantom mask was on everything. Phantoms were even making a huge comeback in films and television. There was an animated movie, a TV miniseries, the slasherrific (and pretty awful) flick; The Phantom of the Mall: Eric’s Revenge, and then there was this: a mostly faithful (but also pretty slasherrific at times) big screen adaptation from 1989. What gave it some notoriety above all the rest was that this phantom would be played by none other than Robert “Freddy Kruger” Englund. So this flick was trying to hitch a ride on the Freddy fame wagon, but is there more to it than that? Is it worth a watch all these years later, when phantom mania is now a thing of the past and this movie is now out on Blu-ray? Well warm up your singing voice, avoid standing underneath the chandelier, and let’s find out.
This movie starts off in the modern day New York where cute as a button music student, Jill Schoelen, finds the lost masterpiece of a forgotten composer named Erik Destler. Naturally this transports her back in time to 19th Century London, because you know, why not? Once there, she takes up the role of an aspiring opera singer who gets the attention of the titular murderous madman. From there things go as pretty much every other telling of The Phantom ever did. The two exceptions to this would be the supernatural subplot that the devil was responsible for the phantom’s deformed visage (and even that was done before in 1974’s Phantom of the Paradise), and the splatastic murders that gorehounds are sure to get a kick out of. But if you know anything at all about the Phantom of the Opera, then you know where this movie is going, and if you’re familiar with the musical versions of this classic story, you might be disappointed with the lack of singing in this movie.
So the plot is same old, same old, but this film is not totally devoid of charm. Robert Englund is enjoyable as the villain, reminding everyone of the time when Freddy Kruger was still frightening and not just the sad joke he became in later Nightmare films. As for Jill Schoelen, I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart for this often forgotten scream queen. No really, she was in The Stepfather, Cutting Class, Popcorn and more. She always had a believable wholesome, girl next door kind of thing going for her, and that is present here. So both of these actors are fun to watch, but sadly the direction is only so-so, and as said early, the plot is paint by numbers at best.
As for the new Blu-ray from Scream Factory, it comes nicely loaded with extras and special features. There is an audio commentary with director Dwight H. Little and star Robert Englund. Then there is a sizable making of featurette that interviews just about everyone who worked on the movie, from the director, to Englund, to Jill Schoelen, the screenwriter, the make-up effects guy, the composer, and more. Lastly there is the ubiquitous trailer.
If you are a diehard fan of Robert Englund, the Phantom of the Opera, or both, then this movie is probably worth a watch. If you’re not, then it’s just a pass. It is basically a subpar slasher with a story that leaves little room for new, save for the nonsensical time traveling subplot. It’s not exactly a bad movie, but it is about as meh as a flick can get. There are some good gruesome bits, but that’s about it, and so no matter how much I like the man behind the Freddy, I can only give this a meh recommendation.
