Episode 101: Phantoms, Operas 1: A Phantoms Thread

At last it arrives! In sleep it sang to you, in dreams it came... the Phantoms of the Operas Mega-Saga begins! Dan and Keith head way, way back to the silent era for the first film adaptation of Gaston Leroux's gothic horror novel the Phantom of the Opera, with Lon Chaney as the signature Phantom. Then it's off to China for Chinese cinema's first ever horror movie, the loose Phantom remake Song at Midnight, which may have added an element to Phantom lore? Back in America, the 40s tried a version that was too little Phantom, too much Opera, while in the 60s Hammer Horror asked "But what if the Phantom WEREN'T the villain?" Dan and Keith debate unmaskings, which even count as horror movies, and how some were held back by their eras as the Phantom Journey begins!