Gaston Leroux

The Phantom of the Opera (1925)

The Phantom of the Opera (1925)
Rating: ★★★★½
Jul 1, 2001Disfigured Madman Beneath the Opera House
The first and still the best version of the story. Made when The Phantom was a horror story rather than a weepie romance, everything from Lon Chaney's performance to the amazing Gothic design and directorial set-pieces is classic
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Phantom of the Opera (1943)

Phantom of the Opera (1943)
Rating: ★
Sep 1, 2013Disfigured Madman Beneath the Opera House
The second film version of the story, lavishly remaking the classic 1925 Lon Chaney version in sound and colour. Alas, all this serves to do is stuff and mount the story. With the addition of a sympathetic backstory and cast with a wimpily diminutive Claude Rains, Chaney's magnificently mad Phantom comes across like an indignant fox terrier
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The Phantom of the Opera (1962)

The Phantom of the Opera (1962)
Rating: ★★
Jul 13, 2010Disfigured Madman Beneath the Opera House/Hammer Film
Hammer Films' attempt to update the classic story went astray – the Paris opera becomes a dreary English repertory house and Terence Fisher misses the tale's grandeur
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The Phantom of the Opera (1989)

The Phantom of the Opera (1989)
Rating: ★★★
Jan 6, 2003Disfigured Madman Beneath the Opera House/Time Travel
On the back of popularity of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical and the Elm Street films, Robert Englund was cast in this version where the emphasis is on the slasher element, which works far better than you might think
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The Phantom of the Opera (1990)

The Phantom of the Opera (1990)
Rating: ★★½
Jan 5, 2026Disfigured Madman Beneath the Opera House
Lush tv mini-series with Charles Dance as the Phantom, this stands too much in the shadow of the then recent Lloyd Webber musical and its making The Phantom into a romantic figure as opposed to a horror icon
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The Phantom of the Opera (1998)

The Phantom of the Opera (1998)
Rating: ★★★
Nov 11, 2000Madman Beneath the Opera House
Dario Argento takes on The Phantom and welcomely rescues it from musical romance and returns it to being a horror film. Despite a beautifully mounted production, Julian Sands' Phantom is too weak and wimpy
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The Phantom of the Opera (2004)

The Phantom of the Opera (2004)
Rating: ★★
Jan 6, 2005Disfigured Madman Beneath the Opera House/Musical Adaptation
The long-planned film adaptation of The Phantom musical emerges as disaster under Joel Schumacher. The Phantom's presence has all been watered down and the film exists as no more than a series of scenographic poses
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