Without counting Broadway performances, of which there have likely been plenty, there have been a reported 9 movie versions of The Phantom of the Opera, and to be realistic, one has to wonder if another one is really worth bringing out any longer. In terms of the overall story, it’s still worth telling. But trying to modernize it hasn’t always gone well, and keeping the movie fluid and dynamic is kind of tough when keeping it as a period piece. To be fair, the Phantom is one of the weakest movie monsters in history since he’s essentially a regular human with slightly greater than average strength and a disfigured appearance. The creepiest part of his tale is that he’s essentially a curse upon the opera house that is half-believed by several people and thought of as a local legend by others. But when things start to happen and the mayhem starts it’s kind of obvious that he’s more than just a figment of the imagination. But still, this is a story of love and obsession that includes murder and suspense, but not the utter carnage that other horror stories can bring.
In degrees of terror, The Phantom of the Opera doesn’t really rate up there with The Wolfman and Dracula, but the tale definitely appears to be on par with something like Frankenstein, though even that movie tends to be a little more intense than this one. Bringing another remake to bear feels as though it would be a bit of a challenge since the whole thought of creating another movie in the same manner as those that have come before does appear kind of tough to get on board with. But there has to be a way to write this story that would make sense and lend itself to the current era since many writers might agree that while it’s an old tale and not exactly the most intense of horror stories, it’s also something that presents an interesting challenge given that there is a great deal of room for suspense, terror, and all the other elements that go into this tale.
Obsession and love are two of the main elements that really need to go into this tale, and those are fairly easy to think about and to add in, but to do so with the element of danger, terror, suspense, and the ability to chill the blood of the moviegoers would add a bit of challenge. On top of that, creating realism that could heighten the danger level of the movie and bring to mind that this is no glammed-up horror story would also enhance the movie since by bringing in today’s technology, policing techniques and methods to tighten the story would be great. It would be a worthy test of any writer to see just how they could keep the Phantom as a mystery in a local opera house while eluding the authorities that would likely be called in after the first murder took place. There are a lot of different situations that could be used in order to push the story forward, and the suspense of disbelief would need to be used, but doing so sparingly would make things even more interesting.
It would almost be like some macabre magic trick, or perhaps evidence of a ‘phantom’ that knew the lay of the land when it came to technology and police procedures and could move around them at will and with great ease. Story ideas should be able to crop up fairly easily for those that are of the writing persuasion just by mentioning this since while The Phantom of the Opera is typically a story that takes place in the past, bringing it into the current era would be something that could test the writers that were assigned to it in a way that would show that they are able to think outside and around the box as well as inside of it, or would show that creativity is in fact waning in Hollywood in a very disturbing manner. The question now though is whether or not this project should even see the light of day, and if anyone has already had this thought and is working steadily to make it happen.
One downside of such a project is that it almost feels as though someone would attempt to make a TV series out of it, and that’s worth a cringe at the very thought. Seriously, this is a story that requires a feature-length movie to let it unfold, as a series would eventually ruin the feel of it and drag things out far more than is necessary. For a long time, this story has been one that many people have enjoyed and see as one of the classics. If it ever gets a worthy remake again it’s a big hope that whoever writes it will give the story the treatment it deserves.
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