''The Phantom of the Opera'' is a 1989 American
horror film
Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes.
Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apoca ...
directed by
Dwight H. Little
Dwight Hubbard Little (born January 13, 1956) is an Americans, American film director, film and television director, known for directing the films ''Marked for Death'', ''Rapid Fire (1992 film), Rapid Fire'', ''Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home'', ...
and based on
Gaston Leroux
Gaston Louis Alfred Leroux (6 May 186815 April 1927) was a French journalist and author of detective fiction.
In the English-speaking world, he is best known for writing the novel '' The Phantom of the Opera'' (french: Le Fantôme de l'Opéra, ...
's 1910
novel of the same name. The film is an updated and gorier version of Leroux's classic tale, and stars
Robert Englund
Robert Barton Englund (born June 6, 1947) is an American actor and director. He is best known for playing the supernatural serial killer Freddy Krueger in the ''A Nightmare on Elm Street (franchise), Nightmare on Elm Street'' film series. Class ...
as the Phantom. The film was a critical and commercial failure.
Plot
Christine Daaé
Christine Daaé is a fictional character and the female protagonist of Gaston Leroux's 1910 novel ''The Phantom of the Opera'' and of the various adaptations of the work. Erik, the Phantom of the Opera and Viscount Raoul de Chagny both fall in ...
(
Jill Schoelen
Jill Marie Schoelen (born March 21, 1963) is an American former actress. She is best known for ''Chiller'' (1985), '' The Stepfather'' (1987), '' Cutting Class'' (1989), ''The Phantom of the Opera'' (1989), '' Popcorn'' (1991), '' Rich Girl'' (1 ...
), a young
opera
Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...
singer in modern-day
Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
, is searching for a unique piece to sing at her next audition. Her friend and manager
Meg (
Molly Shannon
Molly Helen Shannon (born September 16, 1964) is an American actress and comedian who was a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1995 to 2001. In 2017, she won the Film Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in ...
) discovers an old opera piece called ''
Don Juan Triumphant
''Don Juan Triumphant'' is the name of a fictional opera written by the title character in the 1910 novel ''The Phantom of the Opera'' (serialized 1909–1910). In the 1986 musical ''The Phantom of the Opera'' by Andrew Lloyd Webber, the concept ...
'', written by a composer named
Erik Destler. Curious, Christine and Meg do a little research on Destler and discover he may have been responsible for many murders and the disappearance of a young female opera singer he was said to have been obsessed with. While Christine is alone, she sings from the tattered parchment, and blood seeps from the notes and covers her hands. Shocked, she discovers this to be an illusion when Meg returns. Christine auditions with the piece, and during her performance, an accident with a falling sandbag renders her unconscious and shatters a mirror.
She awakens in London in 1885, wearing opera clothing. A different version of Meg (Emma Rawson) is also there. Christine turns out to be the
understudy
In theater, an understudy, referred to in opera as cover or covering, is a performer who learns the lines and blocking or choreography of a regular actor, actress, or other performer in a play. Should the regular actor or actress be unable to ap ...
to the diva
La Carlotta (
Stephanie Lawrence), who is both jealous and resentful of Christine's skill. During this whole time, Erik Destler (
Robert Englund
Robert Barton Englund (born June 6, 1947) is an American actor and director. He is best known for playing the supernatural serial killer Freddy Krueger in the ''A Nightmare on Elm Street (franchise), Nightmare on Elm Street'' film series. Class ...
) attacks the scene-shifter
Joseph
Joseph is a common male given name, derived from the Hebrew Yosef (יוֹסֵף). "Joseph" is used, along with "Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the mo ...
(
Terence Beesley
Terence Beesley (7 September 1957 – 30 November 2017) was an English actor.
Early life
Born in London to Irish parents, he studied at the City Lit in London in 1980, and then trained as an actor at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Ar ...
) with a blade high above the rafters for almost killing Christine with the falling sandbag, and blaming the accident on him.
Alone in her dressing room, Christine hears the voice of Erik Destler, revealing he is her teacher and an angel sent by her deceased father. Destler encourages her to practice Carlotta's part of Marguerite in ''
Faust
Faust is the protagonist of a classic German legend based on the historical Johann Georg Faust ( 1480–1540).
The erudite Faust is highly successful yet dissatisfied with his life, which leads him to make a pact with the Devil at a crossroads ...
'', saying that only she can sing the part. Christine complies. That evening, Carlotta discovers Joseph's skinned (but barely alive) body in her dressing closet. The event causes her to scream and lose her voice. Christine is cast in the role of Marguerite, which causes panic to the opera house owner Martin Barton (
Bill Nighy
William Francis Nighy (; born 12 December 1949) is an English actor. Nighy started his career with the Everyman Theatre, Liverpool and made his London debut with the Royal National Theatre starting with ''The Illuminatus! Trilogy, The Illuminatu ...
), who favors Carlotta and the prestige she brings to his opera house.
During the scene where
Dr. Faust signs his soul to the Devil, Destler reminisces about a time, decades ago, when he sold his own soul to the Devil in exchange for people loving him for his music. The Devil grants his wish, but disfigures Destler's face, telling him that only his music will be what people love him for. Christine gives a stellar performance, receiving a
standing ovation
A standing ovation is a form of applause where members of a seated audience stand up while applauding after extraordinary performances of particularly high acclaim. In Ancient Rome returning military commanders (such as Marcus Licinius Crassus a ...
, and celebrates that night with her fiancé
Richard Dutton (
Alex Hyde-White
Alex Hyde-White (born 30 January 1959) is an American film and television actor. In 1978, he signed with Universal Pictures as one of the last " contract players" in Hollywood, in a group that included Lindsay Wagner, Andrew Stevens, Gretchen ...
). She tells him of her mysterious "teacher" to whom she accredits her success. A mildly jealous Richard asks to meet this teacher, but Christine insists her teacher is only a figment of her imagination. Meanwhile, Destler seduces a prostitute and pays her gold to call herself "Christine" for the night.
Shockingly, the next morning in the papers, Christine is given a bad review by the famous opera critic E.A. Harrison, secretly done as a favor to Barton. Destler tracks Harrison down and brutally murders him in a Turkish spa after Harrison refuses to recant his review. Christine tearfully goes to the graveyard and prays at her father's grave. Destler appears as a shadowy violinist and offers her a chance at musical immortality if she will only go to him. Christine goes away with the Phantom in his stagecoach. Deep in the sewers below London's opera house, Destler reveals himself as the composer of ''Don Juan Triumphant'', which causes a spark of recollection within Christine. She sings the same lyrics from the beginning of the film. Destler places his ring upon her finger and warns her never to see another man again. Christine, through fear, promises she will not. Destler kisses her hand, declaring her to be his bride.
Richard goes to Inspector Hawkins (
Terence Harvey
Terence John Humes (October 1944 – 7 September 2017), known professionally as Terence Harvey, was a British television actor. Among his many roles was the prosecution counsel in '' The Execution of Gary Glitter''. He also appeared in ''From Hel ...
), who reveals that the Phantom is not only the legendary Erik Destler, but has lived for decades, uses the opera house's catacombs as a hideout, and skins his murdered victims for their facial skin to cover his own hideous visage. Richard has heard that the only way to kill the Phantom is to destroy his music.
After hearing of Harrison's murder, Christine meets Richard at a masquerade ball and begs him to take her away. She fears the Phantom and really loves Richard. Erik, disguised as
Red Death The Red Death may refer to:
* The Masque of the Red Death, an 1842 short story by Edgar Allan Poe
* ''The Masque of the Red Death'' (1964 film), a 1964 film starring Vincent Price
* ''Masque of the Red Death'' (1989 film), a 1989 remake of the 19 ...
, witnesses this exchange and becomes enraged. He decapitates Carlotta, causing mayhem, and kidnaps Christine. Hawkins, Richard, and the rat catcher (Yehuda Efroni), whom Destler has been bribing in the past, go quickly in pursuit. Back in the Phantom's lair, an enraged Destler attempts to rape Christine but hears the men approaching. He tells Christine she can never leave and locks her in the lair. Two policemen become lost in the sewers and are killed by Destler, including the rat catcher for betraying him.
He returns to Christine, who asks him if he is going to kill her too. Destler replies, "This is either a wedding march or a funeral mass. You decide which." Richard and Inspector Hawkins burst in. After a brutal fight with the Phantom, Richard is stabbed, set aflame, and killed instantly. Christine sets the lair on fire by pushing over candelabras and attempts to kill Destler, but he grabs her hand and tries to lead her away with him. However, a wounded Hawkins manages to shoot Destler. Christine pushes another candle holder through a mirror, which sends her back to her own time. As she vanishes, she hears Destler's echoing voice screaming her name.
Christine awakens back to the present-day in Manhattan and meets the opera's producer, Mr. Foster, who comforts her and offers her the leading part. They have drinks at his apartment, and Foster goes upstairs to change and finds a blemish on his face, revealing that Foster is really Destler from long ago. He prepares to change his facial skin with synthetic ones he keeps in a special lab. Meanwhile, downstairs, Christine discovers a copy of the ''Don Juan Triumphant'' music score. Foster/Destler enters, reveals his true identity to her, and lovingly kisses her lips. Christine pretends to accept him, then rips off his mask, stabs him, and escapes, taking his music. She tears it apart and lets it drop into a drain, whilst Foster/Destler is heard screaming.
Christine passes by a street violin player on her way home, whom she gives some money to. The violinist starts playing the theme from ''Don Juan Triumphant''. Christine looks back and reflects on the music for a while. Then, very resolutely, she turns around and continues on her way, wondering if Destler is really gone for good.
Cast
*
Robert Englund
Robert Barton Englund (born June 6, 1947) is an American actor and director. He is best known for playing the supernatural serial killer Freddy Krueger in the ''A Nightmare on Elm Street (franchise), Nightmare on Elm Street'' film series. Class ...
as
Erik Destler, The Phantom of the Opera/Mr. Foster
*
Jill Schoelen
Jill Marie Schoelen (born March 21, 1963) is an American former actress. She is best known for ''Chiller'' (1985), '' The Stepfather'' (1987), '' Cutting Class'' (1989), ''The Phantom of the Opera'' (1989), '' Popcorn'' (1991), '' Rich Girl'' (1 ...
as
Christine Day
*
Alex Hyde-White
Alex Hyde-White (born 30 January 1959) is an American film and television actor. In 1978, he signed with Universal Pictures as one of the last " contract players" in Hollywood, in a group that included Lindsay Wagner, Andrew Stevens, Gretchen ...
as
Richard Dutton
*
Bill Nighy
William Francis Nighy (; born 12 December 1949) is an English actor. Nighy started his career with the Everyman Theatre, Liverpool and made his London debut with the Royal National Theatre starting with ''The Illuminatus! Trilogy, The Illuminatu ...
as Martin Barton
*
Stephanie Lawrence as
La Carlotta
*
Molly Shannon
Molly Helen Shannon (born September 16, 1964) is an American actress and comedian who was a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1995 to 2001. In 2017, she won the Film Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in ...
as Meg (New York)
* Emma Rawson as
Meg (London)
*
Terence Harvey
Terence John Humes (October 1944 – 7 September 2017), known professionally as Terence Harvey, was a British television actor. Among his many roles was the prosecution counsel in '' The Execution of Gary Glitter''. He also appeared in ''From Hel ...
as Inspector Hawkins
* Nathan Lewis as Davies
* Peter Clapham as Harrison
* Yehuda Efroni as The Rat Catcher
*
Terence Beesley
Terence Beesley (7 September 1957 – 30 November 2017) was an English actor.
Early life
Born in London to Irish parents, he studied at the City Lit in London in 1980, and then trained as an actor at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Ar ...
as
Joseph Buquet
Joseph Buquet is a fictional character in ''The Phantom of the Opera'', the 1910 novel by French writer Gaston Leroux. He appears in many film and stage adaptations of the story.
He is the chief stagehand for the theatre who claims to have seen ...
*
Mark Ryan as Mott
* Nancy Fontana as the singing voice of Christine
Production
The script was originally written by
Gerry O'Hara
Gerald O'Hara (born October 1924, Boston, Lincolnshire) is an English film and television director.
O'Hara was an assistant director on Laurence Olivier's film,
'' Richard III''; the Carol Reed film, '' Our Man in Havana'' and the Academy Award ...
for Cannon films, and was set to be directed by
John Hough. O'Hara's version of the screenplay did not feature any present-day segments, and was set entirely in 1881 England. However, after Cannon filed for bankruptcy, the film was passed on to the
21st Century Film Corporation. 21st Century planned to follow up the film with a sequel called ''The Phantom of the Opera 2: Terror in Manhattan'', in which the Phantom lives in the sewers of present-day Manhattan. Television writer Duke Sandefur was hired to add bookend segments set in present-day Manhattan to O'Hara's script, so that the film would tie into its proposed sequel. Ultimately, the sequel was not made, but the bookend segments remain in the film.
The
original music, written for the film by
Misha Segal (also known for the soundtrack to ''
The New Adventures of Pippi Longstocking
''The New Adventures of Pippi Longstocking'' is a 1988 musical adventure film written and directed by Ken Annakin, based on the Pippi Longstocking book series by Astrid Lindgren. It is a Swedish-German-American joint venture produced by Columbia ...
''), won a 1989 Brit for best soundtrack. Segal also commissioned the
Budapest Symphony Orchestra
The Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra (also known earlier as Budapest Symphony Orchestra) ( hu, Magyar Rádió Szimfonikus Zenekara; MRZE) is a Hungarian radio orchestra. It is part of the Hungarian Television and Broadcasting Organisation, Magya ...
for the theme. Of particular interest to fans of the original novel is Segal's rendition of the Phantom's opera composition '
Don Juan Triumphant
''Don Juan Triumphant'' is the name of a fictional opera written by the title character in the 1910 novel ''The Phantom of the Opera'' (serialized 1909–1910). In the 1986 musical ''The Phantom of the Opera'' by Andrew Lloyd Webber, the concept ...
', with the Phantom on the organ and Christine singing.
Release
Box office
''The Phantom of the Opera'' opened theatrically on November 3, 1989 in 1,468 venues, ranking sixth at the domestic box office, with $2,050,000 in its first weekend. The film closed three weeks later, having grossed $3,953,745.
Critical reception
The film received negative reviews from critics.
Caryn James
Caryn A. James (born Caryn A. Fuoroli) is an American film critic, journalist, university lecturer and writer.
Biography
James is one of at least three children born to James M. Fuoroli Sr. and Joan A. Ford. A native of Providence, Rhode Islan ...
of ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' wrote, "This 'Phantom' is not lively enough to be kitschy, or original enough in its badness to be funny." ''
Variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'' called the film "competent but flatly directed," adding that "Englund is his usual broad self. Yet gorehounds expecting a '
Freddy of the Opera' are bound to be disappointed, for the stabbings, stranglings and decapitations he executes lack suspense, surprise or innovation."
Dave Kehr of the ''
Chicago Tribune
The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...
'' called it "a stern, lugubrious affair, almost completely devoid of the humor and invention that have made the '
Nightmare
A nightmare, also known as a bad dream, Retrieved 11 July 2016. is an unpleasant dream that can cause a strong emotional response from the mind, typically fear but also despair, anxiety or great sadness. The dream may contain situations of d ...
' films consistently watchable."
Kim Newman
Kim James Newman (born 31 July 1959) is an English journalist, film critic and fiction writer. Recurring interests visible in his work include film history and horror fiction—both of which he attributes to seeing Tod Browning's ''Dracula (1931 ...
of ''
The Monthly Film Bulletin
''The Monthly Film Bulletin'' was a periodical of the British Film Institute published monthly from February 1934 to April 1991, when it merged with ''Sight & Sound''. It reviewed all films on release in the United Kingdom, including those with a ...
'' wrote that it "occasionally has a pleasant
Hammer Films/Gothic feel," but that "Englund is buried under thick make-up even when trying to pass for normal and is unable to do much with the role."
The film holds a 38% 'Rotten' rating on review aggregate website
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, based on 13 reviews.
Home media
Scream Factory
Shout! Factory is an American home video and music company founded in 2002 as Retropolis Entertainment. Its video releases include previously released feature films, classic and contemporary television series, animation, live music, and comedy ...
(a subsidiary of
Shout! Factory
Shout! Factory is an American home video and music company founded in 2002 as Retropolis Entertainment. Its video releases include previously released feature films, classic and contemporary television series, animation, live music, and comedy ...
) released the film on February 17, 2015 for the first time on
Blu-ray Disc
The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and c ...
in the United States. The film was released alongside the
documentary film
A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...
, ''Behind the Mask: The Making of "The Phantom of the Opera"''. The documentary film featured interviews with Englund, Nighy, Hyde-White, Shannon, and director Little. The alternative title cover of the film was "Freddy: The Musical".
Phantom of the Opera It sold the movie as "Freddy: The Musical"
/ref>
Cancelled sequel
Englund was under contract to appear in a sequel
A sequel is a work of literature, film, theatre, television, music or video game that continues the story of, or expands upon, some earlier work. In the common context of a narrative work of fiction, a sequel portrays events set in the same ...
, but it was canceled after the film's poor reception, and has been the subject of numerous rumors. ''Fangoria Magazine
''Fangoria'' is an internationally distributed American horror film fan magazine, in publication since 1979. It is published four times a year by Fangoria Publishing, LLC and is edited by Phil Nobile Jr.
The magazine was originally released i ...
'' stated in 1991 that the script was re-written into what became 1992's film ''Dance Macabre
The ''Danse Macabre'' (; ) (from the French language), also called the Dance of Death, is an artistic genre of allegory of the Late Middle Ages on the universality of death.
The ''Danse Macabre'' consists of the dead, or a personification ...
'', also starring Englund.
Englund confirmed in a 2004 interview that a script had been written, and while he personally felt it was superior to the first film, it had never been filmed in any capacity. In 2012, Englund was asked at a memorabilia sale about the possibility of a sequel happening in the near future; Englund informed everybody in attendance that although it would be overwhelming to see a sequel, the chances of it happening at this stage are "highly unlikely".
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Phantom Of The Opera (1989 film), The
1989 films
1980s English-language films
1989 horror films
1989 drama films
American drama films
American supernatural horror films
American slasher films
American independent films
Films about violins and violinists
Films about composers
Films about opera
Films based on horror novels
Films based on The Phantom of the Opera
Films directed by Dwight H. Little
Films set in London
Films set in Manhattan
Films set in the 19th century
Films set in the 1980s
Films set in 1885
Films set in 1989
Films shot in Budapest
Films shot in England
Films shot in London
Films shot in New York City
American monster movies
The Devil in film
Columbia Pictures films
1980s monster movies
21st Century Film Corporation films
Films produced by Menahem Golan
1980s American films