MovieChat Forums > The Phantom of the Opera (1989) Discussion > The 'Freddy Kruger' Influence

The 'Freddy Kruger' Influence

posted 18 years ago by FloatingOpera7
2 replies | jump to latest

We all know (or maybe some don't) that Robert Englund, who played the Phantom in this movie, was best known for his "Freddy Kruger" films. Here, I can detect the Freddy Kruger influence in his performance as the Phantom. Clearly, this is a horror film for the 1980's more than a Gothic Romantic film such as the beloved Andrew Lloyd Webber musical or preceding film versions such as the films with Lon Cheney, Claude Rains, Herbert Lom and Charles Dance. Here's what I discovered:

Freddy Kruger was a larger-than-life horror figure, who stalked people, killed people and terrorized people with an immense power over them - manipulation of their dreams. He was a Phantom-like figure in a sense. The Phantom has power over people through his own manipulations- music over Christine, and in the case of this movie, even time itself. He says in the film: Only Love and Music are Forever. His obscession for Christine leads him to travel through time, from Victorian London in the 19th century to 1980's New York, where Christine is auditioning for a part on Broadway (we see the poster promoting Les Miserables outside the building). The Phantom's manipulation of time is similar to Freddy Kruger's manipulation of dreams.

I remember seeing this movie when I was small on Channel 13. I only saw the last scenes with the Phantom reuniting with Christine and Christine attempting to escape him, destroying his music and running away, only to find him once again playing the violin in the streets of New York. I was very scared and felt the Freddy Kruger influence.

So, bottom line: This movie is for fans of Freddy Kruger. They made this movie to get a generation of kids/young adults who had seen the Kruger films to get into Phantom of the Opera.

[–] fritzfassbender 18 years ago

Robert Englund said in an interview that they deliberately air-brushed the poster to this movie to make the Phantom look like Freddy, which he resented.

And sure, there's a Freddy connection, but isn't that kind of grabbing for straws in terms of analysis? I mean, Englund's an actor, even kind of a legend in horror circles, I don't think it's fair to him to try to connect all his roles to the one that people most remember. This film and his performance stand fine on their own.

[–] devon111177 18 years ago

Actually as i understand it, The Phantom is in the 1980's because he made a deal with the devil that people would love him and his music forever, thus giving him some sort of eternal life. I get almost a "Picture of Dorian Grey" thing with "as long as his music lives he lives" sort of thing.

That thing about them airbrushing the cover to look more like Freddy is sort of disrespectful, isn't it. I always kind of felt that connection looking at the cover of the vhs copy i used to have, but, the Phantom in the film is quite different.