The Phantom of the Opera (1998)
A series of terrifying accidents and brutal murders leave a bloody trail into the subterranean caverns of a Paris Opera house. Below the theatre lurks a man raised by creatures of the underworld who falls for a young opera singer (Asia Argento) when he hears her voice.
Dario Argento's take on the classic Gaston Leroux tale is a luscious epic of Grand Guignol, rich in detail - the sets and underground caverns are stunning - and dripping with grue, with a lovely score from the maestro Ennio Morricone to give things an even more poetic feel.
Argento takes the well worn story down some refreshing watery tunnels especially in the look of his phantom. Gone is the deformed masked composer and in his place is a dashing and enigmatic Julian Sands whose orphan upbringing by rats has given him strange telepathic powers. Powers which of course he uses to put the charming singer (I'd argue Asia has never been better than her performance here) centre stage.
I'm not going to lie. I don't particularly like The Phantom of the Opera. Two colour experimental 'Masque of the Red Death' sequence in the 1925 silent version aside the rest are boring, although Robert Englund's straight horror version from 1989 has it's merits. Dario Argento's effort is by far the best as far as i'm concerned as it does something different with a dull concept yet remains a Gothic extravaganza.
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