151 - THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (1998)

During a recent rewatch of Dario Argento’s THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (1998) I typed out my real time reactions to the film on FaceBook. Several friends played along, seeming to share my dislike of the film and enjoying my detailing of the bits that struck me as nonsensical or bizarre. But one person stood up for this strange version of the Gaston Leroux tale and now he and I discuss our disparate takes on this odd effort.

Troy Howarth returns to the show to defend the film that was many people’s breaking point with Argento. We forgo an in-depth synopsis and simply dive straight into picking apart the various points of disagreement about the film’s quality. Strangely enough, we find several details and scenes that we both admire but mostly our discussion involves me bringing up the elements I dislike and Troy providing a defense. I’m impressed with his resistance to my repeated appeals to sanity and logic but since neither of those things usually factor into an Argento film, he has cinema history on his side. Luckily, I think our conversation is pretty lively and might even make fans that hate this odd film give it a second look.

If you want to put in your two cents about this film or any other that we’ve covered on the show thebloodypit@gmail.com is the place to send messages. Thank you for listening and we’ll be back soon!