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A blatant Phantom Of The Opera ripoff (if one wants to deal with
Phantom Of
the Opera ripoffs, see Phantom Of The Paradise, which is much better), which
isn't horrible, but if one wants to do a compare and contrast to other films,
isn't among the greats either. You won't be seeing any exhibit from this movie
at the big film related wax museum in Buena Park, California, next to Knotts
Berry Farm, any time soon.
One reviewer commented years ago that this film, originally released as a TV-movie, was "a film buff's dream: a masked monster goes on a rampage
against those selling his home - the MGM backlot." The same review source
then went on to say "Silly, but watchable" which is a bit more like
it. This latter part holds true to date.
It seems funny to see Jackie Coogan outside his stereotyped role of Uncle
Fester in The Addams Family, while there are many other fine actors in the
movie as well (at least fine by my standards, which don't always go along with
the norm). Jack Cassidy, at his most annoying, the great western film star
John Ireland, another great western star, Broderick Crawford, plus Peter
Lawford and Corinne Calvert. In spite of the roll call, the cast seems to be
simply going through the motions, evidently figuring it a lackluster script
which they could have really saved if they extended themselves.
The plot is fairly contrived. A masked killer living on the studio grounds
comes out of hiding and starts to kill people in an effort to keep his backlot
home form being demolished. He is caught and killed at the end, but not before
piling up an impressive though bloodless (remember this was a made for TV-movie released in 1974, before you could get by with a great deal on the small
screen) body count.
It is not a bad film if you enter without high expectations and view it for
fun, more than thrills.
Anticorporate bastards such as myself, who deplore seeing old buildings razed
for the sake of progress, TV programs cancelled due to network idiocy, and
history flushed down the toilet in real life, might find themselves caught up
in a moment of suspended belief here, actually going as far as to cheer for
the killer.
For those not in the know, Jack Cassidy met a fairly morbid end in the real
world, some time after this movie was made, burning up in a fire. He was the
father of singer/actor David Cassidy, by the way.
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find The Phantom of Hollywood at adultvideouniverse.com
