The Screening Room

Phantom of the Opera (1925)

Date of first viewing: Wednesday, November 01, 2006

Location: Home
Format: DVD

After a day of watching classic horror films, this silent movie left me breathless. Like a moving painting, a story told in shadows on the wall, beautifully-timed orchestration, a heroine like a porcelain doll you don't know whether to protect or smash, a hero (villain?) with as much pathos as the elephant man, humor and terror and opera and ballet and a grand chandelier falling from the ceiling.

Such a poignant image: the deformed face of the unmasked phantom juxtaposed against a statue of Apollo on the roof of the opera house as he overhears the woman he loves plotting her escape from him.

It's a beauty and the beast story gone tragically wrong, which is just right for a cold, gray November day.

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The Mummy (1932) , Dracula (1931), Frankenstein (1931), The Invisible Man (1933)

Date of first viewing: Wednesday, November 01, 2006

Location: Home
Format: VHS & DVD


What could be better than watching The Mummy with friends on Halloween night, a log crackling in the fireplace, hot mulled cider on the stove, popcorn and candy, and a pizza on the way? How about recuperating the next day with 4 more* classic horror films? It's gray outside and all I want to do is curl up in my chair with the remote and be afraid.

Count Dracula: To die, to be *really* dead, that must be glorious!
Mina Seward: Why, Count Dracula!
Count Dracula: There are far worse things awaiting man than death.

Henry Frankenstein: Look! It's moving. It's alive. It's alive... IT'S ALIVE!

*The 4th film is Phantom of the Opera, a masterpiece which deserves its own separate entry.

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