Hot Picks

- Ready for My Close Up 2019

- Talk of the Dead 2016

- Tower Rats 2020

- Script of the Dead 2024

- The Bell Affair 2023

- Easter Bloody Easter 2024

- Velma 2022

- Everwinter Night 2023

- Main Character Energy 2023

- Stupid Games 2024

- Bittertooth 2023

- 4 Minutes of Terror: Night Slasher 2024

- Apart 2024

- The Abandoned 2006

- Becky 2024

- The Evil Fairy Queen 2024

- The Black Guelph 2022

- Followers 2024

- Silence of the Prey 2024

- Battle for the Western Front 2024

- Beware the Boogeyman 2024

- Subject 101 2022

- Driftwood 2023

- The Legend of Lake Hollow 2024

- Black Mass 2023

- Skinwalkers: American Werewolves 2 2023

- The Manifestation 2024

- Spirit Riser 2024

- Garden of Souls 2019

- It's a Wonderful Slice 2024

- Caleb & Sarah 2024

- The Thousand Steps 2020

- The Desiring 2021

- When a Stranger Knocks 2024

- Quint-essentially Irish 2024

- Son of Gacy 2024

- Saltville 2024

- The True Story of the Christ's Return 2024

- Whenever I'm Alone with You 2023

- Jurassic Triangle 2024

- Midnight Peepshow 2022

- Offworld: Alien Planet 2024

- The Swiss Conspiracy 1976

- Sex-Positive 2024

- Here for Blood 2022

- All Over Again 2024

- The Color Yellow 2023

- Des Töchterleins Leid 2024

- I Am a Channel 2024

- The Hermits 2023

- Murdaritaville 2024

- Inheritance 2024

- The Devil's Partner 1960

- First Impressions Can Kill 2017

- A Killer Conversation 2014

- Star Crash 1979

- Strangler of the Swamp 1946

Il Fantasma dell'Opera

The Phantom of the Opera

Italy 1998
produced by
Giuseppe Colombo, Aron Sipos, Claudio Argento (executive) for Medusa Produzione, Reteitalia
directed by Dario Argento
starring Julian Sands, Asia Argento, Andrea Di Stefano, Nadia Rinaldi, Coralina Cataldi-Tassoni, István Bubik, Lucia Guzzardi, Aldo Massasso, Zoltan Barabas, Gianni Franco, David D'Ingeo, Kitty Kéri, John Pedeferri, Leonardo Treviglio, Massimo Sarchielli, Luis Molteni, Enzo Cardogna, Itala Békés, Claudia Kemones, Csilla Ward, Reka Pozsgay, Ferenc Deák B., Rozso Ludvigh, David Drucker, Gábor Harsai, Balázs Tardy, SAndor Bse, Iván Dengyel, György Szakaly, Ferenc Ratkai, Podporina Ilona, Frigyes Hallósi, Istvan Szöczey, Szabo Bente Robert, Zoltán Rajkai, Tania Nagel, Rodrigo Crespo, Zsolt Anger, Zsolt Derecskei, Tibor Nemes, Lásló Pethö, Deniel Zdroa, Bela Nemeth
screenplay by Gérard Brach, Dario Argento, based on the novel by Gaston Leroux, music by Ennio Morricone, special effects by Sergio Stivaletti

Phantom of the Opera

review by
Mike Haberfelner

Quick Links

Abbott & Costello

The Addams Family

Alice in Wonderland

Arsène Lupin

Batman

Bigfoot

Black Emanuelle

Bomba the Jungle Boy

Bowery Boys

Bulldog Drummond

Captain America

Charlie Chan

Cinderella

Deerslayer

Dick Tracy

Dr. Mabuse

Dr. Orloff

Doctor Who

Dracula

Edgar Wallace made in Germany

Elizabeth Bathory

Emmanuelle

Fantomas

Flash Gordon

Frankenstein

Frankie & Annette Beach Party movies

Freddy Krueger

Fu Manchu

Fuzzy

Gamera

Godzilla

Hercules

El Hombre Lobo

Incredible Hulk

Jack the Ripper

James Bond

Jekyll and Hyde

Jerry Cotton

Jungle Jim

Justine

Kekko Kamen

King Kong

Laurel and Hardy

Lemmy Caution

Lobo

Lone Wolf and Cub

Lupin III

Maciste

Marx Brothers

Miss Marple

Mr. Moto

Mister Wong

Mothra

The Munsters

Nick Carter

OSS 117

Phantom of the Opera

Philip Marlowe

Philo Vance

Quatermass

Robin Hood

The Saint

Santa Claus

El Santo

Schoolgirl Report

The Shadow

Sherlock Holmes

Spider-Man

Star Trek

Sukeban Deka

Superman

Tarzan

Three Mesquiteers

Three Musketeers

Three Stooges

Three Supermen

Winnetou

Wizard of Oz

Wolf Man

Wonder Woman

Yojimbo

Zatoichi

Zorro

Available on DVD!

To buy, click on link(s) below and help keep this site afloat (commissions earned)

Always make sure of DVD-compatibility!!!

In this version of the well-known story, the Phantom was abandoned by his parents as a baby, but adopted by rats who brought the little boy up in the catacombs right beneath the Paris Opera. Now the Phantom's a man (and played by Julian Sands), and he roams the opera-house, killing many a man who have wronged his folks, the rats. Then however, young singer Christine (Asia Argento) catches his attention, and he starts wooing her and communicating with her telepathically.

Christine though is a mere understudy, and the diva of the current production, Carlotta (Nadia Rinaldi) sees to it that the poor girl never gets a chance to prove her talent ... so small accidents start to happen until
Carlotta has to miss a show and Christine is called in for rehearsal ... but she's so nervous that she faints.

The Phantom takes Christine to his underground hideout, which is beyond an underground lake, and their romance blossoms, and soon enough they have sex. The Phantom though has not yet given up his plans to make Christine the star she deserves to be, so at one point, during one of Carlotta's performances, he even has a chandelier crashing onto the stage, and he sees to it that Carlotta is met with a little accident ...

Christine however is far from grateful, she despises him for his barbaric actions, and she ultimately leaves him, but when she's back at the opera she learns that she is already set to take over from Carlotta - and she meets Baron De Chagny (Andrea Di Stefano), who confesses his undying love to her ... and she gives in to his advances on the condition that he saves her from the Phantom.

Christine's debut as a diva though turns into chaos when a beggar identifies her as the Phantom's bride - on stage - and the Phantom snatches her right from the stage to take her back with him, followed by an angry mob, and even the police. Only Baron De Chagny though is able to catch up with the Phantom and Christine, and when she sees the two men fighting over her, she finds herself torn between them ... until the Phantom gives her up in order to save her, and while Christine and the Baron row off in the Phantom's boat, the Phantom himself is killed by an angry mob ...

 

In a way, Gaston Leroux's novel Phantom of the Opera is one of the oldest and the key sources of serial killer cinema, especially the giallo (the distinctively Italian version of serial killer cinema) and the slasher movie - and since Dario Argento was/is one of the key figures of giallo and had a great influence on slasher cinema, it seems only logical that he would eventually adapt the novel. The outcome however is less than satisfying, a diffuse mixture of period piece, romance and fantasy, with a few shocks thrown in but completely devoid of the director's personal style, with Leroux's classic, straightforward source material twisted and turned around until it has become something qutie ridiculous.

A total disappointment actually, which is a double surprise, because in 1989, Argento made another film, the underrated Opera, that, while not being an official adaptation of Phantom of the Opera, stays much closer to the novel and is much more effective. The best thing one can say about Argento's Phantom of the Opera on the other hand is that Asia Argento (the director's daughter) is pretty good in the lead role of the diva torn between two lovers - but not even she can save this mess.

 

PS: I might have to stress that normally I'm a huge fan of Dario Argento, only with this film he has completely let me down.

 

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

Feeling lucky?
Want to
search
any of my partnershops yourself
for more, better results?
(commissions earned)

The links below
will take you
just there!!!

Find The Phantom of the Opera
at the amazons ...

USA  amazon.com

Great Britain (a.k.a. the United Kingdom)  amazon.co.uk

Germany (East AND West)  amazon.de

Looking for imports?
Find The Phantom of the Opera here ...

Thailand  eThaiCD.com
Your shop for all things Thai

Something naughty?
(Must be over 18 to go there!)

x-rated  find The Phantom of the Opera at adultvideouniverse.com


Thanks for watching !!!

 

 

In times of uncertainty of a possible zombie outbreak, a woman has to decide between two men - only one of them's one of the undead.

 

There's No Such Thing as Zombies
starring
Luana Ribeira, Rudy Barrow and Rami Hilmi
special appearances by
Debra Lamb and Lynn Lowry

 

directed by
Eddie Bammeke

written by
Michael Haberfelner

produced by
Michael Haberfelner, Luana Ribeira and Eddie Bammeke

 

now streaming at

Amazon

Amazon UK

Vimeo

 

 

 

Robots and rats,
demons and potholes,
cuddly toys and
shopping mall Santas,
love and death and everything in between,
Tales to Chill
Your Bones to

is all of that.

 

Tales to Chill
Your Bones to
-
a collection of short stories and mini-plays
ranging from the horrific to the darkly humourous,
from the post-apocalyptic
to the weirdly romantic,
tales that will give you a chill and maybe a chuckle, all thought up by
the twisted mind of
screenwriter and film reviewer
Michael Haberfelner.

 

Tales to Chill
Your Bones to

the new anthology by
Michael Haberfelner

 

Out now from
Amazon!!!