dario argento phantom of the opera ( 1998 represent star julian sand and asia argento and nadia rinaldi and andrea di stefano and lucia gazzardi and aldo massasso and iztvan bubik and david dingeo and zoltan barabas and kitti kerri and leonardo treviglio and enzo cardogna and itala bekes and tania nagel and csilla ward and gianni franco and gabor harsai . director dario argento and write by dario argento . release in 1998 and this be italian cinema director dario argento phantom but not the phantom of the opera a most people be familiar with nor the true and most faithful adaptation of the old french novel by gaston leroux . this one be clearly a horror movie without any touch of romance . fan of the andrew lloyd webber musical and the early phantom movie from lon cheney classic performance to claude rain and herbert lom and charles dance and this film be entirely on a different level . it fall under the category of italian horror and international casting in an unpleasant and disturbing and gory independent film . no wonder it do not do well in the box office and most phantom fan aren not even aware of it existence . dario argento cast his own daughter in the role of christine daee and and british actor julian sand a the phantom . this time around and the phantom be not disfigure and which be the strong violation of the original premise . instead of have facial deformity and the phantom be an abandoned child who be raise by telepathic rat that kill people . live under the opera house with his rat and he develop telepathy himself and a dirty and dark and predatory and disgust personality . he look like either a vampire or rock star but there be no real sense of romance . his feeling for christine be carnal and nothing more . she become his lover but other than music and her voice and theirs be a purely sexual relationship . because of this and and because he kill anyone he dislike and he not a sympathetic figure . without the romance and we can not really feel anything for this phantom who be pure evil . the story be only partially faithful to the original tale . it be set at the paris opera of the 1870 and the count raoul de chagny be christine choice of a mate and but this time around we genuinely feel that she belong with the normal and secure and more romantic count than the sadistic and no good phantom . the performance be over the top and boring and even carlotta and the fat soprano who think she be above all else . the classic chandelier drop be here but this time it far more bloody than usual . there be scene of graphic violence that earn this movie an r rating and ought not to be view by sensitive audience or child . the music be beautiful and haunting and evocative of the period ( with the use of the aria from lakme ) and the cinematography and costume and art direction be truly very phantom and include the degas ballerina touch and but there be very little to like about this movie . for comic relief and there be a rat exterminator and a midget which seem absurd and out of place for this tale . the real problem be the lack of direction and lack of romanticism . it just one movie of dario argento dark ouevre that happen to have the phantom of the opera a subject and but he twist it around to make it his work and his style . unless youre a fan of the italian director and you will otherwise find it too dark and disturb . the only other horror theme phantom i can think of be the 1989 robert englund phantom and an american film star the actor of the freddy kueger film and but even that one have more interesting quality . this one be too sick .