Episode 480 - The Phantom of the Opera - Part 3

The cord joke was awesome, and I think Chris didn't laugh *enough*.

The Persian, the rat catcher, the door closer, and phantom play poker on Friday nights in the underground lake.

In the Hammer Horror version with Herbert Lom the Phantom is a much more sympathetic character with much of the dirty work being done by a hunchback sidekick. The real villain is the opera’s owner played by Michael Gough who stole Lom’s compositions and published them as his own. This was prior to Lom’s disfigurement.

Ben Gilbert

This part of the story would be so much better if the rat catcher was Ghost Rider!

...Phantom of the Rock Opera. PHANTOM OF THE ROCK OPERA

Mandy Reznor (She_It)

Picnic at Hanging Rock by Joan Lindsay. I also recommend the excellent film by Peter Weird... I mean Weir.

What are some good horror mystery novels?

David Halstead

The title trap door lover reminds me of that song in Josie and the Pussycats, Back Door Lover, hah hah hah hah

Two years ago a woman was murdered in my apartment complex. It was just a few hundred feet from where I was sleeping, across a lawn and a parking lot from my building. The gunshots woke me up. The police have not caught the killer, and they don't even have a suspect. I guess they too, are waiting for other people to do their job for them. This is one of the reasons I am a gun-owner.

Writing a story with negligent police is perfectly realistic. 14-year-old Konerak Sinthasomphone, one of Dahmer's victims, famously almost got saved when he was found outside, naked and lobotomized. Instead of running a background check on Dahmer and learning he was a sex offender (for assaulting Konerak's older brother, no less) under probation, the police believed his weak alibi and helped him escort Konerak back to his apartment. Dahmer proceeded to kill the boy and several more victims before he was caught. There's also the homeless veteran LeRoy Carter, Jr. whose decapitated body was found in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. Believing it to be an occult ritual murder, SFPD called in an expert, Officer Sandi Gallant. She surmised the ritual killing was for an offshoot of Santeria and predicted the head would be returned in exactly 42 days. It was; but no law enforcement were staked out to make an arrest because nobody had taken the theory seriously.

I saw it in a theater with my dad and sister. My dad was very very confused. It does provide more reasons, if you do not already have enough, to be terrified of the dentist.

Y'know, Eric really was born in the wrong time. Morbid goth aesthetic? Supernaturally good singing voice? Eyes that glow in the dark? Literal skull face? Homeboy could've been the world's greatest Metal singer.

Mandy Reznor (She_It)

Phantom of the Paradise with Paul Williams? A crazy movie but I like it.

Ben Gilbert

The Master Stroke sounds like a self-pleasuring porn site....

Maybe he's just hoarding cash because he assumes all women are golddiggers. He wouldn't be the first abusive, unnattractive white guy trying to cancel out his looks and personality with lots of money.

Mandy Reznor (She_It)

Christine going full Laurie Strode on the Phantom is the story I never knew I needed until listening to this episode. For the next remake let’s ditch Webber and bring on John Carpenter. Has anyone mentioned Phantom of the Paradise yet? Not a Carpenter film, but still a fun adaptation of this story. Also, I don’t want to assume Christine’s motivations for tolerating the Phantom, but it’s worth noting that the dude *has* been parkour-ing all over the opera house for decades. He might not be so great up top, but, speaking for myself, I could put up with a lot for some sweet abs and an underground goth palace.

The Screaming Moist

Perhaps it's a reference to the Fairy Feller's Master-Stroke, https://bit.ly/2ZeV4LV. It's Victorian painting by the patricide Richard Dadd.

Steve

I read through the entire story once I learned that it was going to be on the show. It took me about 8 or 9 days to get through it. Normally I can knock out a book I like in about 2 days. So that shows how hard it was for me to get through the novel. I kept finding ways to distract myself from the book by looking up things like the Opera House, the Commune, Faust, anything to spare me from reading. I am glad I was not the only one who found it a slog to get through. The toxicity of Christine's relationships with both the OG and Raoul reminds me of Twilight. When the first novel of that series came out it sounded interesting, so I read some reviews and a synopsis. It all sounded really abusive and unhealthy. So I never tried to read it, or saw any of the films. Reading the Phantom a few weeks ago took me back to everything I had heard about Twilight. Here is a page that details how abusive Twilight is. It is amazing how similar it is to the PotO: https://io9.gizmodo.com/official-twilights-bella-edward-are-in-an-abusive-re-5413428 So I think Gaston Leroux was basically copying from Stephanine Meyer. He probably used HG Well's time machine to go in the future to read her story. Or they both have the same broken ideas of what a romantic relationship is supposed to be like. But then both have been incredibly popular, so what do I know? You brought up the stolen horse again. Remember, the OG had to go to Perros to serenade Christine there. So he had to steal the horse to get there and back. Apparently he just kept it afterward. Imagine all the horse poop down in those tunnels… I was a little confused about the OG blackmailing the opera managers for money. I mean, what does he spend it on? He never seems to go out of his lair except to stalk attractive young singers. Given how easily he pickpockets the money from the manager's pocket, it seems that if he really wanted something, he could just steal it with no one the wiser. Like he stole the horse. Does he sleep on a giant pile of cash?

-Phantom Haiku- Chad knows all too well about the master stroke of the trapdoor lover

Jeff C. Carter

For those who prefer some more updated Phantom of the Opera music: Iron Maiden: Phantom of the Opera - https://youtu.be/h8IuFl3sMhk Lindsey Stirling: Phantom of the Opera - https://youtu.be/TCL94-MsxYc Nightwish: Phantom of the Opera - https://youtu.be/8VgLKXD-BoY

While "Masterstroke of the Trapdoor-Lover" would have been awesome, the original title of this novel that Gaston discarded was *actually* "Two Incels and a Lady."

Mandy Reznor (She_It)