House/POTO vid

I was watching the silent Lon Chaney version of "The Phantom of the Opera" earlier on TCM, and I began to do some pondering about the many Phantom movies.

When someone thinks of The Phantom of the Opera, often there are two iconic images that will come to mind. One is the famous unmasking of Lon Chaney, rightfully recognized as one of the very iconic images of not only horror, but of cinema itself. His face makeup is taken from the original novel's description of Erik, as someone with a horrible deformity from birth that gives him a terrifying corpse-like appearance.

The second iconic image...

The Haunted Mansion ride at Disney has always been one of my favourite things, and Phantom tops the list at #1 fave thing. And a while back I started noticing really heavy similarities between the two things and I found many of them interesting. I thought I would share these observations here, so that others might enjoy the coincidences, or homages if you'd care to take it that way.

We will begin in the Foyer. Above the fireplace hangs a portrait where a young gentleman (presumably Master Gracey) hangs. It is here that the unseen guide for the attraction first makes his presence known.
"When...

My Brutally Honest and Possibly Offensive Review of the 2004 Movie

    I’m sitting home sick from school with absolutely nothing better to do than write my (well, just read the title) review of the 2004 movie The Phantom of the Opera. Gerry phans and Patrick Wilson phans…I’d consider not reading this. So, here I am: putting Phantom in my DVD player and beginning to write down my random thoughts and reactions about it. You can be assured that it will be disorganized, random, completely honest, offensive, and a little inappropriate (just like me).

    Once...