The Phantom of the Opera (1989)
Directed by: Dwight H. Little
Premise: Inspired by the novel by Gaston Leroux. A disfigured musician known as the Phantom (Robert Englund) lives in the catacombs of a London opera house and obsesses over the singer Christine (Jill Schoelen). The Phantom clears a path for Christine’s career by killing her critics and competitors.
What Works: In the 1980s the horror genre was dominated by the slasher film including the Halloween and Nightmare on Elm Street series. Meanwhile, The Phantom of the Opera had recaptured the public’s interest following the 1986 debut of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s stage musical. All of this coalesced in 1989’s The Phantom of the Opera. The film was directed by Dwight H. Little who had previously helmed Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers, and starred actor Robert Englund, best known for playing Freddy Krueger in the Nightmare on Elm Street series. The result was one of the most horrific of the Phantom film adaptations. This version embraces the darkness and the violence of The Phantom and he murders people in vicious and gory fashion. Robert Englund is effective as The Phantom. As in many of his performances, Englund brings a violent and unhinged quality to the character. This makes The Phantom scary and his obsession with Christine is threatening. 1989’s Phantom of the Opera is stylish and well produced. The production design has a convincing period detail that is organic and grimy but the filmmaking is slick. Director Dwight H. Little is an underappreciated filmmaker and he brought skill and polish to this production.
What Doesn’t: The 1989 version of The Phantom of the Opera was made for horror movie fans. It plays to that audience and will probably not appeal to the viewers who came to this material by way of Andrew Lloyd Webber. However, the shift toward horror also costs the film the emotional appeal that’s usually associated with this story. This Phantom is a straight up villain, lacking the sympathy of other iterations of the character, and he is less interesting. Jill Schoelen’s performance as Christine is not quite up to the quality of the rest of the movie. Her line readings are sometimes off and she looks more confused than frightened. Following the lead of Phantom of the Paradise, 1989’s Phantom of the Opera includes a supernatural element, drawing on the Faust tale and making demonic power the source of the Phantom’s disfigurement. The supernatural figures into the premise but it isn’t integrated into the story in a meaningful way. The story includes a frame narrative, with the beginning and ending of the movie set in 1989. The frame story doesn’t do much and the end of the movie is confusing.
Disc extras: The Shout! Factory Blu-Ray release includes a commentary track, a featurette, a trailer, TV spot, radio spots, and a stills gallery.
Bottom Line: Along with the 1925 silent film, 1989’s The Phantom of the Opera is the version of this story for horror fans. It’s a mixed effort. The film has great cinematography and production design but this take on the material is sometimes clumsy.
Episode: #1069 (October 19, 2025)