The Phantom of the Paradise is an interesting version because it is not a strict adaptation of Phantom. It has a Phantom character (Winslow) and a Christine character (Phoenix), and even a sort of Carlotta (Beef), but the story is mostly original and includes a completely separate villain (Swan). Interestingly, both Winslow and Swan are disfigured, although neither of their faces are revealed until the very end. The Phantom in this case is almost entirely sympathetic. It’s hard blink an eye even when he kills the innocent lighting man to shine the light on Phoenix when she performs his music. Other than that, he only kills people who “deserve it”, like Beef and Swan. He’s almost childlike both before and after his tragedy in his single-mindedness.
One of the greatest things about having such a loose adaptation set in modern times is that the filmmakers could get away with just about anything as far as ridiculousness, and this is the only Phantom film that is allowed to reference popular culture in an overt way. The most obvious of these examples is Beef’s shower scene. This scene, through background violins and the setup of the scene itself, is an obvious reference to the shower scene in Psycho. However, Phantom has fun by turning the scene into the ridiculousness of literally everything involved in the scene.
Film Genres 