Robert Englunds Phantom Of The Opera Failed To Launch A Slasher Franchise

Robert Englund’s Phantom Of The Opera Failed To Launch A Slasher Franchise

Phantom Of The Opera 1989 failed to launch a new franchise for Freddy Krueger icon Robert Englund; here’s why it didn’t work.

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Robert Englunds Phantom Of The Opera Failed To Launch A Slasher Franchise

The Phantom Of The Opera 1989 was set up as a new slasher franchise for Robert Englund. While many different actors have played Michael Myers or Jason Voorhees over the years, one iconic slasher who is defined by their performer is Freddy Krueger. First introduced in 1984’s A Nightmare On Elm Street, Freddy was a child killer who was murdered by an angry mob of parents, and he’s reincarnated as a slasher in the nightmares of teenagers. Actor David Warner (The Omen) was once set to play the role before Robert Englund signed on.

Robert Englund’s blackly comic performance and unique body language made Freddy a suitably nightmarish figure. The producers originally planned to replace Englund with a stuntman for A Nightmare On Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge, but after witnessing dailies of the new Freddy’s stiff movements, they swiftly rehired the star. Freddy became more and more comedic as the franchise wore on, often cracking bad puns before offing victims, with some of the weaker entries held together by Englund’s charisma.

At the height of the franchise’s success, Robert Englund fronted a 1989 adaptation of The Phantom Of The Opera. This Gaston Leroux novel from 1910 had already been the subject of many adaptations, from the Lon Chaney movie to Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical. Robert Englund’s Phantom Of The Opera attempted to turn the title character into a slasher villain, who sells his soul to the Devil so people will love his music, but in exchange, his face is left deformed.

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Instead of wearing the famous mask, this phantom instead skins his victims and uses their flesh to make himself look beautiful. This Phantom Of The Opera also uses modern-day bookends for the story, with singer Christine (Jill Schoelen, When A Stranger Calls Back), recovering one of the phantom’s lost pieces of music and falling unconscious when performing it during an audition. It then flashes back to 1885 and details the phantom’s attempts to make Christine’s ancestor (also Schoelen) his, which includes murdering those in his way, such as a critic who pans her performance.

The Phantom Of The Opera 1989 is an uneasy mix between a slasher movie – though it gets points for some inventively grisly scenes – and an adaptation of the book. The two tones don’t mesh well, with the period setting also feeling unconvincing. Of course, the star of the show is Robert Englund himself, who is clearly reveling in getting to play both the romantic lead and a movie monster at the same time.

The modern-day scenes were meant to lead to a sequel dubbed The Phantom of the Opera 2: Terror in Manhattan, with Robert Englund’s Erik taking up residence in the city’s sewers. The original movie’s financial failure put paid to those plans, but supposedly, the sequel’s concept was reused for the 1992 horror movie Dance Macabre also starring Englund, but this could just be speculation. The Phantom Of The Opera 1989 is worth a curio watch, but it’s definitely not one of the decade’s best slasher outings.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/phantom-opera-movie-robert-englund-failed-franchise/

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