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Phantom of the Ritz
USA 1988
produced by Carol Marcus Plone, C. Jerry Kutner (executive) for Shapiro-Glickenhaus
directed by Allen Plone
starring Peter Bergman, Deborah Van Valkenburgh, Russell Curry, Joshua Sussman, Steve Geng, Cindy Vincino, B.J. McQueen, Billy Gillespie, Tom Nowicki, Joe Perrone, William Cowart, Anthony Rukstele, Greg Johnson, Dan Khoury, Peter Esfakis, Frank Tranchina, Jay Tobias, Shaun Padgett, Boaz, Kevin Quigley, Coleman George, The Coasters, John Sanders, Anne Spicer, Neil DeGroot, Rob Roy, Jane Strauss, Patrick Cherry, Brian Berg, Nick Sloan, Caroline Jett, John Parker, Ron Small
written by Tom Dempsey, music by John Madara, Dave White
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Middle-aged Ed Blake (Peter Bergman) thinks it's high time to quit his
corporate job and do something for himself - so he buys an abandoned
movie-theatre with the intention of putting on 1950s style rock'n'roll
shows, with the intention to this way also revive the run-down
neighbourhood. And renovations are going well, and Ed soon has a trusted
team to his side, including handy maintenance man Bruno (B.J. McQueen),
well-spoken bouncer Marcus (Russell Curry) and prickly bookkeeper Sally
(Cindy Vincino). Only Blake's wife Nancy (Deborah Van Valkenburgh) feels
neglected due to all the time he spends with touching up the theatre, and
their relationship is strained - but that all changes on opening night
that goes well as can be and that lifts a great weight off his shoulders. However,
things might not have gone as smoothly as they seemed, as the theatre is
inhabited by the Phantom (Joshua Sussman), a badly burned man who has lost
his brother in the 1950s in a car accident and got burned trying to save
him. He has since put up residence in the theatre and now kills all
intruders as well as local winos hanging around by the theatre. Why he
hasn't killed any of the main cast while they've been patching up the
place is never explained, but the night before opening night, he kidnaps
Sally, and on opening night he kills two teens hanging out in the parking
lot in front of the place. Detective Lastrade (Steve Geng), a friend of
Blake's, investigates, but really comes up with little in terms of clues.
Then the next night, the Phantom strikes on stage, puts fear into the
audience and kidnaps Nancy - and now it's up to Blake to prove himself ... Despite
the suggestive title, this movie only makes fleeting references to The
Phantom of the Opera, and instead comes off as a routine
slasher, mixed in with a wannabe-inspiring comedy about a man following
his dream. And the film's rather bloodless at that - and that doesn't only
mean the murders which take place primarily off-screen and lack any proper
shock value, but also the inspiring part of the story comes off as
somewhat anaemic, it just moves through the motions rather dully, with
even Nancy's frustrations about her neglecting husband coming off as sadly
clichéed, and trusting too much in its eccentric supporting characters
(some of which are at least pretty amusing. And really, apart from an
appearance of the Coasters doing one of their greatest hits, there's no
real 50s feel in any of the film, even the music sounds generic 80s more
than anything else. In all, I'm afraid this is a movie that fails to
live up to its premise.
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