Christine Daae is something of an early final girl, though her character can change dramatically between interpretations she's always the ingénue obsession of the murderer, but also the one saving the day either through compassion or wits. This is an appropriately blood-soaked version of the story as Erik takes on a Faustian Jack the Ripper role, and it's the very last time he is the straight-up villain of a story, with Christine, his muse, being the Final Girl.

Taking notes from Faust, which is one of many fun allusions to the original novel in this movie, Erik is now a man in a bargain with the devil, which causes his face to disgustingly rot and decompose, making masks from human skin, it had to happen sometime. The next and, as of this moment, last time The Phantom of the Opera is categorized as a horror was in 1989, when Robert Englund, Freddy Krueger himself, played Erik Destler in a kind of obscure slasher movie. There aren't the spurts of blood Hammer became known for, that will have to wait until 1989. It's not well-loved or well remembered, though by no means is it a bad film, the story is rather intriguing and there are certainly notes of it that are carried on into the future. Originally slated for Christopher Lee, Herbert Lom plays The Phantom in 1962's The Phantom of the Opera, a surprisingly sedate and tasteful take on the story. Starting in 1957 with The Curse of Frankenstein, Hammer Film Productions was the hottest thing in horror due to its high gothic horror mixed with blood and sexuality not seen in American horror. The British invaded more than just music in the mid-20th century. But it certainly shows the two angles in which the story can be seen, is it a darkly romantic drama or a horror-mystery? The Phantom of the Opera continues to walk that knife's edge into the rest of the 20th century.

The bad guy must suffer horrifically for his actions, killed by either angry mob or falling rocks, it was just how things were. While people were certainly confused by this dramatic change in tone at first, they came to love it as its own musical drama with an incredible score.īoth of these films have the same distributor in Universal Pictures, but their differences are like night and day, both showing that they understand the deep melodrama and intrigue of the story while missing the nuance of the tragic villain. As horror films mostly remained in black and white throughout most of the 1940s, this film is in glorious technicolor, with sweeping sets, a diminished disfigurement on Rains, and a generally more romantic feel than many horror films at the time. Public acclaim was now with films such as Gone With The Wind, and that's the style it emulates. This film, starring Claude Rains, has less in common with the other Universal horror films and more with the glamorous period spectacles of the 1940s and 50s.

Cast phantom of the opera movie