This section is a page under the Phantom of the Opera facts, and contains possibly disturbing images. All images which may cause mental distress, visits to the therapist, or nightmares are under wraps by revealer buttons. Press the buttons at your own risk, but I'm not responsible for any mental distress this click causes you.
1971 The Abominable Doctor Phibes
Saw meets Phantom
I wonder how I'm gonna' kill you today...
Though they claimed that Phantom had no relation to Phibes, the story line is insanely similar. The movie is considered to be one of the inspirations for the movie series, Saw, due to its use of traps and gore. Directed by Robert Fuest and starring Vincent Price, this film is definitely a thriller. Doctor Phibes is the Phantom figure, disfigured in a car accident when he was racing to the side of his dying wife. After being convinced that his wife's death was caused by stupid doctors, he goes on a Saw-like killing spree. One of my personal favorites is used in a ball scene similar to the Masquerade scenes of classic Phantom films. Within this scene, Phibes locks a psychiatrist into a frog mask which slowly shrinks, finally crushing the man's head. Ironic, because five minutes or so before that, when Phibes asked what the man's job was, his response was "I'm a shrink." Oddly enough, at the end (in which Phibes...never mind...), the credits fade in and they start playing Somewhere Over the Rainbow. On the other hand, maybe that's not all that odd. The film is followed by a failure of a sequel, and a third was never produced. Vincent Price never speaks himself during the film, his voice is added with overdubs which play throughout the film. The movie is still in near-perfect quality on YouTube, for any curious people out there. You know, in regards to the picture here, I could see Phibes picking up his phone and calling his old friend Billy the Jigsaw Guy...
Hey Jigsaw, it's Phibes! Need a crap load of liquidized Brussel's sprouts and locusts!
Anyway, I'm probably pissing you all off, so I'll just slap the spoiler in now. Oh, and he really does kill someone with liquidized Brussel's sprouts and locusts. Apparently, pour liquidized Brussel's sprouts all over yourself and locusts will eat all your flesh clean off in a matter of seconds without you noticing! Oh, and your hair randomly turns gray.
1974 Phantom of the Paradise
I swear the title's no indication of our inspiration!
Nooo! The cake is a lie!
Now a musical, the film was directed by Brian De Palma, and starred William Finley as the Phantom figure.Same basic plot with a sadistic, gory twist. Now, might I state that one of the bad guys is a man that wear sparkling makeup, glittery costumes, and is named Beef!? What person names their kid Beef!? I mean, really?
Doctor: It's a boy!
Mother: Aw! How cute, I'll name you beef, and you'll grow up to be a man paid millions to wear idiotic suits!
I'm sure that Beef's mother must be proud of him right now.
Anyway, it's a pretty zangy twist on Phantom, one of the most memorable scenes being when Winslow (or Phantom) sticks a rather dull dagger through a shower curtain, pulls a plunger out of nowhere, and then starts rambling to Beef. Yes, I'm sure every musician aspires to cut through the shower curtain of a person of their own gender only to stick a plunger over their mouth and ramble about their life problems. Yup. That's not odd at all! No, I'm lying, that's incredibly odd. Beef eventually dies by means of electrocution through a...neon...lightning bolt? Aw, come on! You can't be more original than that!? I now own the video, and have since uploaded an unmasking picture.
Doctor: It's a boy!
Mother: Aw! How cute, I'll name you beef, and you'll grow up to be a man paid millions to wear idiotic suits!
I'm sure that Beef's mother must be proud of him right now.
Anyway, it's a pretty zangy twist on Phantom, one of the most memorable scenes being when Winslow (or Phantom) sticks a rather dull dagger through a shower curtain, pulls a plunger out of nowhere, and then starts rambling to Beef. Yes, I'm sure every musician aspires to cut through the shower curtain of a person of their own gender only to stick a plunger over their mouth and ramble about their life problems. Yup. That's not odd at all! No, I'm lying, that's incredibly odd. Beef eventually dies by means of electrocution through a...neon...lightning bolt? Aw, come on! You can't be more original than that!? I now own the video, and have since uploaded an unmasking picture.
1960 Eyes Without A Face
What is up with people and car crashes?
This is your 'Dead' girlfriend calling!
Like Phibes, this focuses on a victim disfigured in a car accident. The film was originally French, going under the guise of Les Yeux Sans Visage before it was imported to America and defaced as The Horror Chamber of Doctor Faustus. Fun, another American-ruined movie! Gah! Due to the French and British filters, the film is low on the gore scale, though the surgery scene is quite frightening not for the gore, but for the sheer lack of sound. Directed by Georges Franju, and starring Pierre Brasseur (pronounced brah-zure, it's not a brassier, negative people) as the doctor who removes the faces of women for purposes which will be explained later. Like...now later. Christine, the daughter of said doctor, was horribly disfigured in a car crash, and so her father constantly grafts the faces of other women to hers in an attempt to fix her. When transplants fail, Christine (played by Edith Scob) goes back to wearing a prettyful porcelain mask with an ingenious neutral facial expression. Yes, she did call her boyfriends after she mysteriously "died." Yeah, that wouldn't be creepy at all! Yeah, it's only getting a call from your dead girlfriend!
The film was released in Paris on March 15, 1960. During the first showing, it is reported that the "audience dropped like flies" during the grafting scene, and at its showing at the Edinburgh Film Festival in 1960, seven audience members fainted. Of course, in America, it was cut, removing some parts of the grafting scene as well as parts which revealed the doctor as a more caring person. Some of these cut scenes include a portion in which he is seen lovingly tending to a small child in his clinic. The film wasn't released in English in its original unedited form until October 31, 2003, and that version was under the original title (Eyes Without A Face) and running time (84 minutes). The first version was released in conjecture with The Manster, another horror film. The only time which Christine's face is shown is through the blurred vision of one of the doctor's subjects, and it is seen only briefly.
The film was released in Paris on March 15, 1960. During the first showing, it is reported that the "audience dropped like flies" during the grafting scene, and at its showing at the Edinburgh Film Festival in 1960, seven audience members fainted. Of course, in America, it was cut, removing some parts of the grafting scene as well as parts which revealed the doctor as a more caring person. Some of these cut scenes include a portion in which he is seen lovingly tending to a small child in his clinic. The film wasn't released in English in its original unedited form until October 31, 2003, and that version was under the original title (Eyes Without A Face) and running time (84 minutes). The first version was released in conjecture with The Manster, another horror film. The only time which Christine's face is shown is through the blurred vision of one of the doctor's subjects, and it is seen only briefly.
