Phantom Of The Opera â89
Coming off his incredible success playing Freddy Krueger in The Nightmare On Elm Street films, it was natural for Robert Englund to want to branch out into playing other roles with the most obvious choices of course being roles in other horror films. In 1989, Englund got what seemed like a plum opportunity, that of the psychotic composer Erik Destler in a updated film adaptation of Gaston LeRouxâs The Phantom Of The Opera. Unfortunately, the project was met with a tremendous backlash, as Andrew Lloyd Webberâs Broadway Musical version of the same story (which had nothing to do with this version) had only just opened three years before, taking the world by storm with Michael Crawfordâs phenomenal performance in the lead and becoming the talk of the entire entertainment industry and when this version (where The Phantom does NOT sing) was released, many wondered what was even the point with the advertising itself doing NOTHING to deflect away any connection (leading many to mistakenly believe that Englund would actually sing the part as Crawford did) and only a small disclaimer that was put on the end credits making the matter entirely clear to viewers. A shame, because what the film was really trying to do was to take the prior classic non musical versions of the story from the past such as Lon Chaney (1929), Claude Rains (1942) and Herbert Lom (1962) with the intention of making it over now into a classic 80s horror / slasher movie, complete with the blood and guts galore that so many others of that decade had delivered in spades. A further twist was added as well, one that was near brilliant in its audacity and winds up working pretty well, that being through the possibilities of reincarnation and a virtual time warp having portions of the story actually take place in modern day New York City (a Les Miserables poster is clearly seen) as well as 1880s London! This both makes the film unique in the overall Phantom canon and also adds in the element of unpredictability in how the story will actually turn out. Indeed, the film opens in New York City 1989 where aspiring singer Christine Day (Jill Schoelen, one of the cutest and best liked Horror Movie Scream Queens of the era) is preparing for an audition with her obnoxious best friend (a pre SNL, pre stardom Molly Shannon) who has stumbled upon some ultra obscure piece of work that she thinks Christine should use: Don Juan Triumphant by Erik Destler, part of an unfinished opera with a catchy motif, but even more interesting is the piece of biographical information she has dug up on Destler himself (obviously something that was purposely covered up historically over the years). Turns out that besides writing some music here and there, Destler was best known for being obsessed with a young opera singer and was believed to have been responsible for the brutal murders of at least a dozen people (a touch which in modern context already paints The Phantom in an almost Mansonesque light). Regardless, Christine just loves the song (even as she feels as if sheâs heard the name Erik Destler before) and brings it along for her audition in a major production. Just as she finishes, sheâs bopped on the head by a sandbag which opens up the time warp, transporting her to 1880s London where she turns out to be THAT Christine and thus beginning the original story proper with all of the usual characters and events (except the chandelier falling from the ceiling as that was considered to be too much of a strain on the budget). It is also there that we finally get to see Englund as The Phantom who wears no mask but has a weirdly elongated face for a reason. Turns out that this version of the character had previously sold his soul to The Devil (who took on the form of a midget) in exchange for his music to live forever even as the little bastard laughingly tore apart and deformed Destlerâs face so much that it guaranteed that nobody would ever love him for either his looks or charm, just his music. As a result, when Englund kills in this movie (early and often), he also skins his victims to guarantee having ample amounts of extra human tissue around so that he can sew it onto his face and cover up his deformities (while touching it up with some flesh toned makeup) and thus look halfway normal when going out in public (he is shown frequenting a tavern and even solicits a prostitute whom he insists on calling Christine even as she appreciates the fact that he treats her kindly). The Phantomâs way of doing things is to brutally murder anyone who crosses the line with either himself or Christine and besides the skin jobs, we also get a nasty beheading and one shit talking fool who gets a towel wrapped around his head and squeezed until it breaks all the bones in his face. Meanwhile, Christine continues merrily on with her singing career all while acknowledging The Phantomâs existence by interpreting him as being her âangelâ who was sent by her father to coach her and encourage her to be even better. Of course, the âangelâ bit is just a psychological ploy on The Phantomâs part as he naturally desires her for himself and is none too happy to see her dating the co owner of the opera (Alex Hyde-White) who along with his partner (a pre stardom Bill Nighy) already know the legend of The Phantom haunting their opera house but still write the whole thing off as being utter nonsense (keeping in mind that the original story was based upon a real opera house in Paris reputed to be haunted by a ghost where the chandelier actually came down during a performance and killed somebody). In other roles, Terence Harvey acquits himself well as The Police Inspector on the case who is not only no nonsense but also open minded enough to believe that the legends are true and Stephanie Lawrence as the diva Carlotta is suitably bitchy and sexy. But in the end it all rests on the shoulders of Englund himself, obviously the main draw for the film with some posters even shamelessly saying that âFreddy Is The Phantom!â but also putting himself out there with the heavy task of showing his extent as an actual actor. In that vein he does manage to display something here which he never showed us as Freddy which is genuine vulnerability but unfortunately there are also moments (particularly when his face is very messed up) where he does adopt the odd Krueger physical mannerism when stalking his prey. Shot almost entirely on location in Budapest, Hungary, the film does feature exquisitely done costume and set design to recreate the period feel and a real sense of dread when Englundâs Phantom is ready to strike and of course the tipping point does come when the time warp is opened again and we are returned to modern day New York with no points being awarded for guessing who Christine encounters but the even more interesting revelation is that Englund was all set to take THIS character into his own franchise with Terror Of Manhatten: Phantom Of The Opera 2 (which would have featured the admittedly intriguing premise of having Englundâs Phantom now rampaging around modern times) but sadly the sequel idea was canceled, the script was severely rewritten and finally made as the non Phantom film Danse Macabre (also starring Englund). But the question still remains as to whether this film was a worthy entry in the so called Phantom sweepstakes, with many Phantom fans openly refusing to even acknowledge it (and some nutcases who feel like they âknowâ The Phantom character so well that they objected to certain touches here like him visiting a prostitute) while still others decry the toning down of the more âromanticâ elements while not realizing that Crawfordâs Phantom was also an âevilâ figure yet was one who was much more pathetic and lonely than Englundâs (not even considering Chaneyâs who was an outright monster) and everyone seeming to forget that the relationship between Christine and The Phantom was just WRONG, it being that of a twisted, deformed older man wanting to claim this poor young girlâs entire life for himself while destroying everything in this world which she cared about. In that respect, this version got it right on the moneyâŚ
8/10