Review: Dario Argento's 'The Phantom Of The Opera' a Campy Mess

The Italian master of the macabre, Dario Argento has had quite the topsy-turvy career, hitting his zenith in the '70s and '80s with horror classics such as "Deep Red," "Suspiria," "Inferno," and "Opera." His later work has not been well-received – certainly not by critics.

In 1998, he embarked on what should have been his masterwork, an Argento retelling of Gaston Leroux's "The Phantom of the Opera." Alas, it proved to be a misguided mess. Seeing it again via the new Kino Lorber Blu-ray edition only confirms that, despite its cheeky camp elements, this "Phantom" is pretty craptacular.

We all know the story, thanks to the numerous film versions as well as the Webber musical that just won't go away. But thanks to Argento spotting a rat while doing research in the Paris Opera House library (no joke), this "Phantom" is literally crawling with vermin. And it is truly disgusting, beyond overkill and approaching total audience alienation.

The film's silly opening has a poorly-CGI'd rat saving baby Phantom from death. From there, the story takes off as expected, but is peppered with a few added subplots that really add nothing to the narrative (old pedophiles trying to seduce young girls with chocolates!) and bombards us with gross rodent moments.

Julian Sands plays the Phantom as if we should feel empathy for him, even though he's a murderous lunatic who can only relate to vermin... oh, and a young ingenue opera singer, Christine (played by Dario's young daughter, Asia), whom he seduces and then kidnaps. She, of course, falls for him. I mean, who wouldn't?

Along the gruesome way, we get the expected Argento gore scenes: An impaling, a decapitation, some flesh eating, and a tongue bitten completely out of someone else's mouth. Fun times. There is also some debauchery tossed in, as well as an awkward naked love scene, which is off-putting since a father is directing his daughter.

For the record, Asia is lovely to look at, and does her best to deliver a real performance when everything and everyone else around her are over-the-top awful.

The print used for the Blu-ray transfer is loaded with specks and blotches, so it's not the best quality. The sound is fine with the option to watch in Italian or English. Sands and Argento both spoke in English (the Italian version was dubbed later).

The most intriguing of the special features is a conversation with Argento where he details the evolution of the film.

I can only recommend this disaster for its camp value, if you love ghastly murder scenes and/or if rats 'n' bats are your thing.

Blu-ray Extras Include: