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Very well executed

Fresh and Exciting

A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

The choppy editing made this jarring to watch at times. Within a split-second of a character finishing their line of dialogue we cut to another scene. There is also a waste of a rather distinguished actor - Donald Pleasance, while a legend, seemed to old for this role. The plot left me unimpressed as well - by the end of the movie the rapidly-aging killer was so decrepit, his ability to physically harm anyone seemed implausible. At least we get Edwige Fenech, who was still ravishing by this point. You also get to see some sort-of ninjas, which later leads to an always welcome decapitation. I'd skip this one, and watch some giallo from the golden-age, like 'Your Vice Is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key' or 'The Case of the Bloody Iris'.

It seems as though life couldn't get any better for classical pianist Robert Dominici (Michael York): not only is he an extraordinarily successful musician, and a skillful martial artist, but he also has attractive women falling at his feet, with a beautiful girlfriend, Susanna (Mapi Galán), and a doting admirer, Hélène Martell (Edwige Fenech), fighting for his attention.In reality, things aren't so great: Robert has been diagnosed with a rare degenerative disease that rapidly ravages his body, ageing him way beyond his years, and affects his psyche, turning him into a vicious killer. Investigating the trail of bodies that Robert leaves in his wake is Inspector Datti (Donald Pleasance), who is confused by the mounting evidence that suggests a killer of ever-increasing age.From director Ruggero Deodato, the man who gave us gory exploitation classics Jungle Holocaust, Cannibal Holocaust and The House On The Edge Of The Park, quasi-giallo Phantom of Death starts off promisingly with two murders that result in a lot of the red stuff splashing all over the screen. Unfortunately, the film soon settles into routine potboiler mode, with only one more murder (a spiked table lamp forced under the chin) and, with the identity of the killer revealed so early on, precious little in the way of mystery, thrills or suspense.York, hidden under some pretty good old age make-up for the latter half of the film, does as well as he can with his role, but Pleasance doesn't seem to be trying as hard, giving another one of his stock detective turns that we've seen many times before in the Halloween sequels and other Italian murder/mysteries. Seasoned giallo babe Fenech is there to add some eye candy, but it is up to a couple of other Euro-lovelies to provide the obligatory nudity.As a side note, Dominici's predicament reminded me a lot of Seth Brundle in Cronenberg's version of The Fly (1986), who suffers a similar physical and mental degeneration. Of course, Phantom of Death is nowhere near as good as Cronenberg's film.

A successful pianist, surrounded by beautiful female admirers, is dogged by a string of murders that seem to follow him around. The movie follows him as his life begins to unravel. I admire Shameless for bringing these movies out for us to experience, but this is not a good film. It's badly made, and it looks AND sounds horrible. The sound quality is really bad, the volume leaps between low muffled spoken dialogue one minute, to heavy, blaring orchestral music the next. I was playing with the TV remote to whole time to compensate for this. And when stars Michael York and Donald Pleasance speak their lines, the audio quality is appalling - totally different to the person they are having a conversation with. Donald Pleasance in particular speaks in every scene (no matter where he is) with the tonal quality of being in an echoey, tiled chamber, while everyone else's vocals sound really close and flat. There's no way to get immersed in the performances with sloppy dubbing like this.The editing and flow of the various scenes is also really bad. Case in point, the scene when one victim is knifed at a train station, the scene carries through her death scene to the police arriving, body being covered up and Michael York watching in anguish, with the same intense score, as though these thing are all happening at the same time. That's not artistic, thats bad movie crafting. Michael York (as the main character) seems to dash all over the place with no sense of any real time passing. You'd think that with the experience that director Deodato has under his belt, there would be a bit more polish than this. So what are we left with? Some splashy but cheap gore (who has a bedroom lampshade with a 2ft spike on it?), some attractive ladies who's appeal is sadly ruined by terrible late 1980's fashion disasters. The acting is dire. The killer seems to have no motive for the way he is behaving. Donald Pleasance looks troubled and unwell the entire time. Michael York is shrill and hammy. Sorry, but I'd give this one a miss. You are very likely to lose interest before the whole sorry thing limps to a close.

mediocre slasher is very bloody but poorly made and wastes genre favorite Donald Pleasence badly this is poorly written and kind of dull too while it has it's effective moments this is just one sluggish and mediocre time that is not worth seeing oh and Michael York gives a somewhat decent performance *1/2 out of 5