User blog:DragonDude83/PE Proposal: Phantom of the Opera (1989 film)

Formality post time! While there have been many versions of The Phantom of the Opera, this one really stands out. What do you think about The Phantom of the Opera (1989 film), portrayed by Robert Englund, who we all know as the original Freddy Krueger?

Who is the Phantom?
The Phantom is usually a tragic villain born with facial deformities. Here, he’s an aspiring composer named Erik Destler who sold his soul to the Devil so people would love his music. The Devil grants his wish, but says that the people will love his music, but they will never love him. Since then, he’s become a serial killer who skins his victims and sews their flesh onto himself.

What Has He Done?
The movie starts in present day Manhattan with Christine Day, an aspiring opera singer, discovering Erik Destler’s masterpiece, Don Juan Triumphant. She read that he’s a serial killer from 1881. As soon as she auditions with the masterpiece, a sandbag fell on her, knocking her out, and she woke up in 1881 London with a different personality, but kept her name. The Phantom made his appearance by flaying a stagehand when said stagehand blamed the sandbag incident on a ghost.

The Phantom then appears to Christine in a vision, claiming that she’s a spirit sent from her dead father to help her be the best opera singer the world has ever seen. He encourages her to sing Carlotta’s part in Faust with feeling. Later that night, Carlotta discovers the still living skinned stagehand in her dressing room, and she screams to the point where she loses her voice. So Christine takes Carlotta’s part as Marguerite, much to the chagrin of the company.

After applauding Christine, the Phantom takes in a hooker for a night, stating that tonight, her name is Christine. He brutally kills three muggers when they tried to rob him. "You’re a demon from Hell!" "And you, sir, are Hell bound!"

The next day, Christine is given a negative review, so the Phantom tracks Harrison, the critic who wrote the bad review, into a Turkish spa. The Phantom asks him to recant the review, even offering better seating, but Harrison refuses. "I’d rather die than listen to that shrieking child any longer." So the Phantom brutally murders him. Later, he appears to Christine as a slow violinist, and offers her "musical immortality" if she went with him. So she goes with him to the sewers of London. At first, he appeared subdued and even shed a tear when Christine sang Don Triumphant. When she asked if he’s Erik Destler, he says that man is long dead. Here’s where we see more of his monstrous side. He places a ring on her finger, stating to her that they were to be married that night. He commands her to not see any other man, and she heeds his warning out of fear. "You cannot serve two masters."

Inspector Hawkins meets with Richard Dulton, Christine’s fiancé, and talks about the legend of the Phantom. Richard learns that Erik Destler and the Phantom are the same person. Destler had been living in the catacombs of the opera house for centuries, killing and skinning his victims to hide his disfigurement. Fearing for Christine, Richard meets her at a masquerade ball. The Phantom appears as well, disguised as the Red Death. He overhears the two profess their love for each other. Carlotta was the unfortunate one to meet with the Phantom. When she asks the Phantom to unmask, he states, "You would die." He unmasks, scaring Carlotta and decapitating her offscreen. Her head was placed in a soup to start a panic. The Phantom abducts Christine amidst the madness, and attempts to rape her out of anger for being disobeyed.

Hawkins and Richard are led through the catacombs by a rat catcher who the Phantom had paid to keep his secrets. The Phantom kills the rat catcher for his betrayal and then he murders two cops, even ripping out one’s heart. Richard and the Phantom fought, which lead to the Phantom stabbing Richard with a candle holder, setting him on fire. Christine sets the Phantom’s lair on fire and then wakes up in present day Manhattan after smashing a mirror. There, she is introduced to Mr. Foster, the opera’s producer. He takes her to his house, offers a drink, and a night on the town. From there, Christine finds a synthesized copy of Don Juan Triumphant, revealing that Mr. Foster is Erik Destler. He confirms this by reminding her that "love and music lasts forever." He attempts to kiss her, but she rips off his face, showing his true form. She stabs him, and escapes with the music, tearing it up in a sewer, and killing him for good.

Mitigating Factors
The legend of the Phantom is that he sold his soul to the Devil so his music would be acknowledged and loved. By selling his soul, the Devil made it so that only his music would be loved and not him, and he disfigures him, which forces him to use the skin of his former victims to cover his disfigurements. Yes, he did pay a hooker for an "honest night’s work," offered better seating for a critic who wrote a bad review before killing him, and seemed kind when Christine first came into her lair, but these are pragmatic villainy actions, when the villain is just not interested in committing evil deeds or is just pretending to be civilized to at least keep their own facade. Deep down, his relationship with Christine is anything but mitigating. His obsession with Christine led him to forcefully attempt to make her his bride against her will, and he even resorts to trying to rape her in a mixture of anger for being disobeyed, and pleasure. When she asked him if he was planning to kill her, he simply tells her that it could be a marriage, or a funeral mass.

Heinousness
He sets it. This version of the Phantom is a serial killer and an attempted rapist who tries to force the woman he’s obsessed with to be with him for all eternity.

Final Verdict
Yes. This has to be the most evil version of the Phantom of the Opera.