However, she is also open to the Vicomte’s sexual overtures, thereby establishing a deadly love triangle.Īt times, this Phantom appears to hold mind-control powers, but he only exercises them at times when the stakes are at their lowest. In fact, his favored understudy, Christine Daaé (played by Argento’s daughter Asia), is perfectly willing to sleep with her mysterious benefactor. Changing the opera’s company’s production from Faust to Macbeth was also a clever alteration, because of the “Scottish Play’s” cursed reputation.Īfter riffing on the Phantom, Argento officially adapted The Phantom of the Opera in 1998 (recently released on BluRay from Scorpion), but this Erik has no mask or scars-he is Julian Sands, sporting a shoulder-length Fabio coif. It also features the final film performance of Ian Charleson (best known as the missionary-athlete Eric Liddell in Chariots of Fire), who is terrific as the brilliant but manipulative theater director, Marco.

It is a bold, breathlessly sweeping, shamelessly violent film that often shows the drama unfold through the killer’s eyes. If Martians landed on Earth and asked you to explain the Giallo style, Opera might be the film to show them. Cristina Marsillach in Dario Argento’s Opera (1987)

1925 phantom of the opera mask