In this special Spooktober finale of Cinema Callback, Andy and Michael take a deep dive into The Phantom of the Opera (1925), the legendary silent horror film starring Lon Chaney in one of cinema's most iconic performances. Through the show's signature voice note conversation format, the hosts come at the film from very different perspectives, exploring what it means to experience a century old piece of cinema as both entertainment and cinematic history.
Michael champions the film as a visceral spectacle, particularly the striking colour sequences preserved in later versions, comparing the sheer visual experience to something as immediate as Mad Max: Fury Road. Andy has a more challenging relationship with the film, describing the viewing as something closer to an "academic experience" and questioning how easily a modern audience can connect with the rhythms and conventions of silent cinema.
Across their voice note exchanges, they explore Lon Chaney's legendary status as the "Man of a Thousand Faces", his extraordinary physical performance as the Phantom, and the film's inventive visual storytelling. They discuss everything from its use of onscreen letters and silent era techniques to the influence of German Expressionism and the surprisingly brutal, mob driven finale.
The conversation also looks at the enormous shadow The Phantom of the Opera has cast over popular culture, finding unexpected connections between its imagery and everything from Batman to modern RPGs, while asking how much of the visual language we now associate with horror can be traced back to films like this.
For the final stop of Spooktober, Andy and Michael explore whether The Phantom of the Opera remains a genuinely thrilling piece of horror cinema 100 years later, a fascinating historical artefact, or somehow both at once.
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