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the audience applauded

That was an excellent one.

Don't listen to the negative reviews

Best movie ever!

A darker version of the classic Gaston Leroux novel. A young soprano (Jill Schoelen) becomes the obsession of a horribly disfigured composer (Robert Englund) who has plans for those oppose himself or the young singer.The Phantom tale has been told many times, as a musical, a romance, a tragedy, as a horror. While this has elements of all those things, it mostly falls under horror. What do you expect when you have a horribly scarred Robert Englund? We also have Jill Schoelen, who had a great (albeit small) run in horror with "Popcorn" (1991) and "The Stepfather" (1987).What is interesting about this film's creation is that it was coming from the collapse of Cannon and the departure of director John Hough. Now, would Hough have handled things different? Perhaps. But to see Cannon fold and be left without any money for a budget... nice. And they still did alright.As a bonus, this was Molly Shannon's film debut, and the cast (at least Englund and mark Ryan) spent their off time at a Romanian casino.

Robert Englund and Jill Schoelen star in this 1989 horror film based on the novel and play. This film begins in Modern-day New York where we meet young woman, Christine Day (Schoelen) who is an aspiring opera singer. She finds an old symphony piece and decides to recite it in an audition. After an accident, she's transported back to 18th century London where she meets scarred composer, Eric Destler aka the Phantom (Englund) who coaches her and goes on a murderous rampage in her honor while she becomes a sensation. Soon, Christine comes back to her own time getting the part of her dreams and reunites with the Phantom. I like this version and think it's underrated. Robert is terrific in it as usual and he and Jill are good together. I think the film was marketed badly because Robert's burn makeup resembled his Freddy Krueger one Kevin Yagher also applied in the first 3 "Nightmare on Elm Street" sequels and people probably thought it was "Freddy of the Opera." The make-up is great though as well as Misha Segal's score. I recommend this.

I saw this when it was first released on video, but I forgot just about all of it as the years went by. Finding a DVD rental copy at my local video store, I decided to give it another glance.There are some good things about this Menahem Golan production, which he made shortly after splitting from his producer cousin Yoram Globus. First, the movie looks very nice. Granted, some scenes are obvious backlots, and there are not a lot of "wide" shots (probably due to the movie's low budget), but the cinematography makes everything look more expensive than it was. Also, I thought the performances were good. Robert Englund wisely subdues his acting for the most part so he doesn't come across as a Freddy Kruger wannabe.But the movie has some problems. First, the story moves very slowly - possibly due to the fact that there isn't a lot of story here. Also, the characters of the Phantom and Christine were pretty thin - you don't get to learn much about their backgrounds, and they come across as pretty one-note. Also, some cuts that were made to the movie in order to secure an "R" rating are pretty evident.Not really a bad movie, just a mediocre one overall. It does pass the time, but that's about all.

Gory slasher interpretation of the story. Overall I liked it. It did pander to a wider audience by beginning and ending in present day. This was also just a bit confusing, and seems to have been done in an attempt to lay the groundwork for some sequels. The makeup was very well realized, and I enjoyed how it allowed the Phantom to go out and about. The kills were gruesome and cruel, and Englund mostly managed to keep his performance away from Krueger territory. A bit of classical literature, mixed with 80's slasher, and some class act British performances, such as a young Nighy, make this a worthwhile watch. Perhaps the music could have been a little bit more engaging/hypnotic.