Robert Englund is one of my favorite horror film actors of all time. His movies, regardless of their quality compared to each other and to others in the genre, have always entertained me. Of course, he's most famous for playing Freddy Krueger in the
Nightmare on Elm Street series (the most recent remake notwithstanding). It's his 1989 version of
The Phantom of the Opera, however, that holds a special place in my heart.
This version of
Phantom was directed by Dwight H. Little and starred Englund as Erik Destler, Jill Schoelen as Christine Day, Stephanie Lawrence as Carlotta, Alex Hyde-White as Richard, and Bill Nighy as Carlotta's lover. As the names suggest, this is not a straight-up adaptation of Leroux's novel. Rather than the Paris Opera House, this story takes place in Victorian-era London. Well, the bulk of it, anyway -- there's also a bit set in modern times with a sort of reincarnation/time-travel plot device to connect the two eras. In some ways, that aspect is similar to
Bram Stoker's Francis Ford Coppola's Dracula, but in my view, the film overall seems to have more in common with John Badham's criminally underrated version of the classic vampire's story (which starred Frank Langella as the Count). Both are very different from the original novel in terms of plot, yet they evoke the mood and atmosphere of their respective books in a way that's perhaps more faithful than the vast majority of other adaptations.
