User reviews

Gaston Leroux's classic tale is updated to the late '80s, with a mall replacing the opera house as home to its disfigured titular character. Hideously disfigured and presumed dead after unscrupulous developers torch his home to make way for a modern shopping complex, Eric now lurks in the tunnels and vents of the mall, planning to wreak revenge on those responsible while also keeping a watchful eye on his girlfriend Melody (Kari Whitman).

With a smattering of gore (extra points for the eye-popping scene), some gratuitous nudity (a pervy security guard spies on girls in the changing rooms and Melody gets topless for a flashback sex scene), and an early, not-too-irritating role for Pauly Shore, this is a dumb but fun version of the oft-told tale. Phantom Eric does some martial arts moves against the mall's security guards, there's death by escalator, hydraulic door, and air vent fan, and we get a whole load of impressive stunts, including a guy being flipped through the air by a car, a high dive (onto a spike), and a full body burn.

6/10. It's no '80s horror classic, but it's entertaining enough for the duration.

OK, first of all this is pure unadulterated 80's cheese. The shoulder pads are massive, the hair is massiver ( is that a word? ) and the fashions are gross. The plot is ludicrous, Eric's house was burnt down and they built a mall in it's place. So like some homeless ghoul with a vocoder ( you'll know what I mean when you hear his voice ) he haunts the mall. The movie has some great kills a car chase and explosions. There's a bad guy that looks like George Michael from the Faith video. Morgan Fairchild is in it how 80's is that. A few highlights are Eric takes one guy out with a series of roundhouse kicks and he lasso's a guy. The girl in peril has so many dream sequences she may be narcoleptic, each one is accompanied buy the same power ballad. Unfortunately Pauly Shore is in this movie, but he isn't doing that annoying voice that he started doing later in his career. Joy of joys, after the thrilling climax there is a song on the credit sequence about the film. Great fun. I loved it.

One of the cornerstones of low-budget cinema is taking a well-known, classic storyline and making a complete bastardization out of it. Phantom of the Mall is no exception to this rule. The screenwriter takes the enduring Phantom of the Opera storyline and moves it into a late '80s shopping mall. However, the "Phantom's" goal now is simply to get revenge upon those responsible for disfiguring his face and murdering his family. The special effects do provide a good chuckle, especially when body parts begin appearing in dishes from the yogurt stand. Pauly Shore has a small role which does not allow him to be as fully obnoxious as one would expect, mostly due to the fact that his fifteen minutes of MTV fame had not yet arrived. If you're looking for a few good laughs at the expense of the actors and special effects crew, check this flick out. Otherwise, keep on looking for something else.

Dont be put off this film by the star rating or the tacky movie title. I collect 80s B- movie classics and i quite enjoyed this movie. Its about a girl who starts a new job in a mall and is still traumatised over the death of her boyfriend(Eric)and evidence keeps on showing up that makes her believe he may still be alive. He protects her when she is in danger, and goes on a murderous rampage. The Fx arent fantastic but the story is quite interesting and the acting is reasonable, (ive seen worse). So if you can find a copy catch it if you can!

The sound quality and picture quality were a little ugly but this could have been down to a bad quality transfer. The effects and design were ample for the purpose. Nothing special though. I liked the attempt at a modern take of a classic story. Shame that it is really tacky and unimaginative! Still tacky cheesy fun is contained within which is something. It was enjoyable seeing Pauly Shore looking fresh-faced and young but he hadn't fully become the weasel yet. Apart from one cool moment and some fun stunts it is average tacky cheese from the eighties. This deserves a remake, it could have been better!

"Phantom of the Mall" follows a young teenage girl whose boyfriend died in a house fire. A year later, property developers erect a shopping mall on the land. Soon after, a series of murders begin, as a shadowy figure seems to stalk the mall-goers, hiding in its labyrinthine air ducts.

While this late-'80s quasi-slasher is a low-stakes viewing experience, that doesn't mean it isn't a lot of fun. For many, there will be a big nostalgia factor due to the period fashions, and the overall atmosphere of the shopping mall at its cultural peak.

The story here is (needless to say) adapted from "The Phantom of the Opera," and the screenplay is riddled with silly dialogue and a pace that is often rambling. However, if you can abandon all pretenses, "Phantom of the Mall" is a lot of fun, full of great gags, a handful of bonkers (and reasonably gory) slashings, and a dramatic mall-tastic finale. The performances here are not great, but they are functional given the material, and there are a number of familiar faces, including Morgan Fairchild as the town mayor, and Pauly Shore as an eccentric frozen yogurt shop clerk.

Overall, this is a fun, frivolous late-'80s slasher flick that is perhaps more amusing as a time capsule than as a horror movie; however, even despite its clunkier elements, it remains an amusing and over-the-top rehash of a classic story. 6/10.

This movie was not made for 80s audiences but for future audiences to relive the vibes of the 80s. As a 1980s hyperreal fetish object it is superb. It's why a lot of b-movies from the time have become treasured, but even among a lot of them, the DTVs, the slashers, the Empire films, this is a step up. You start with that Gothic will work no matter what. Every time it cuts from mall settings to the phantom, you are getting cinema. Crawling through air ducts, piecing things through security cameras, these are all details in Gothic noir. Even better that Pauly Shore is there. In recreating a 1980s fetish object directors would certainly put him in their movie, not to say anything of his artistic significance, it is just like palm trees in California.

The camera cannot be cheated. It is a strange facet of cinema that you can go to the ends of the earth, to strain on screen, but then just, mall, gothic, Pauly Shore, the film exists in the simplest way, and works nicely. If I am underselling it to say lower your standards, it is more to have no standards at all and look at it more like an audio-visual National Geographic exhibit of the "mall". I read both essays in the package of the Arrow Video set, and both are focused more on the death of the mall, rather than the film itself, and this concept of the mall, yes it is extremely nostalgic and packed with emotion for an audience. I take more for why this works, the Phantom of the Opera, the Gothic shorthand. Of course it will end with gore, people on fire, the entire mall exploding in glorious fashion. But with the death of the mall, it takes on a double meaning. Gothic always knew the pain the suburbanite, of the 80s/90s kids, our nostalgia, loss and sorrow in great economic change. Gothic knew. This is just one of the films that made a very intellectual association in combining these subject, as we age to become haunted Gothic figures ourselves.

After the erection of a new shopping mall, a woman and her friends are shocked to learn that a series of disappearances are being committed by the supposedly deceased boyfriend of hers who burned to death in a house fire to make way for the mall's construction and must stop his revenge plot.

While flawed, this is still a generally enjoyable slasher effort. Among the more enjoyable features here is the cheesy atmosphere that's on display here with the films' time-capsule creation and setup that serves this rather nicely. The whole idea of serving as a setting to transplant the famous story away from an opera house to a massive multi-level shopping mall that was highly important in that time period is a great capsule idea that's allowed plenty of fun leeway here to adopt the slasher leanings later on. With that in place, the films' culture and general attitude are so unmistakable from that only continue to further place the look and feel of this one rather easily beyond other cheesy features like the shadowy martial arts training sessions or the erotic-tinged sexual encounter dream that plays out here. There's also the highly enjoyable and better-than-expected slasher outings which are quite fun. With the mall setting being utilized to its fullest with the majority of the early kills around here taking place mainly within the heating ducts and hidden away sections of the mall which allows for some grander extravagance in the kills, there's a lot to like here. From the initial ambushes on the security crews involving the masked man appearing out of nowhere and striking using the setup of the mall to his advantage by disappearing quickly into the shadows, this part is all quite fun and enjoyable when packed alongside several intriguing and interesting kills. That also manages to include some highly enjoyable brawls between the killer and several victims which showcase some fun action in the martial arts scenes and some grandiose stuntwork in the finale out in the open sections of the mall. This all comes off well enough to have a lot to like. Even though this one does have some slight issues here, namely in the films' overabundance of characters that tie up the storylines significantly in the first half. With tons of workers, security, and mall staff to account for on top of the multitude of storylines involving the different figures within the mall and the different cover-ups that are taking place in the community which sometimes means this one features several storylines that don't need to be there. It also helps slow down the final half where the reveal of all these different plotlines causes the stalking and slashing to come to a halt more so than expected as the body-count drops significantly with the killer leaving way too many survivors because of having too much time here spent on aspects unrelated to the main storyline. Coupled with the generally goofy and cheesy atmosphere that's on display throughout here, this is what holds the film back the most.

Rated R: Graphic Language, Graphic Violence, Nudity, and sex scenes.

I'm not that familiar with "The Phantom Of The Opera" and I think the only version I saw was the classic 1920's one. I heard that this was the worst POTO movie ever made. While I haven't seen too many, I can agree. Obviously, it takes place at a mall instead of an opera. It seems like they just did it to update it, which was a dumb idea. A guy named Eric has his house burned down.

We see the phantom who covers half his face. They try to make it like it's some mystery on who he is, when it's obviously Eric. Why does my name have to be attached to so many bad movies? This is a very cheap looking film, like it was made in the 1970's instead of 1989. Hey, that's the year I was born! The acting is shoddy and it just looks ugly. *1/2

Though I suppose it would be well possible to make a better movie about a shopping mall version of the Phantom of the opera, to the best of my knowledge no one ever has. Unless you count "Gremlins 2: The New Batch", on account of the fact that it featured a Phantom themed Gremlin. I don't count this though, so let's move on. Not only is "P.O.M" (as I shall now call it) the best movie ever to place the Phantom in a mall, but it is also the greatest (IE: only tolerable) Polly Shore movie ever made. This movie being made in 1988 before Polly Shore was famous enough to be allowed to act like Polly Shore in a film. Another nice touch is the fact that the front doors of the Mall are labelled "Mall Entrance." Really I though they were the entrance to something other than the building they're attached to like the magical world Narnia or something. Anyway the real draw of this film is it awesome musical theme. It's reminiscent of a better day when almost all movies had a rock'n song about their plot at the end, under Hollywood's "well it worked for Ghostbusters" policy. The song boldly dares to use such controversial terms as "Boobs" and "Retard". Point being if your not doing something productive to uplift the human spirt (which if you're reading my review on "The Phantom of the Mall" you and I both know you aren't) rent and watch this hidden jewel of cinema and make Mr. Polly "The Free World's Punching Bag" Shore a couple pennies richer. Go ahead, I dare ya!

I have actually never seen, nor heard about, the 1989 horror movie titled "Phantom of the Mall: Eric's Revenge" before now late in 2022, as I had the opportunity to sit down and watch it. And of course I did so, given my interest in the horror genre.

Truth be told, then I wasn't really harboring a whole lot of expectations for the movie, given the somewhat dubious cover of the movie. In fact, I didn't even know who was in the movie.

The storyline in "Phantom of the Mall: Eric's Revenge", as written by Scott Schneid, Frederick R. Ulrich, Tony Michelman and Robert King, was a pretty generic horror plot for a late 1980s horror movie. But hey, if you enjoyed that era of horror movies, then there should be some campy enjoyment to be had here. Sure, I made it through the movie, but I was only mildly entertained by the plot.

Something that definitely impressed me, where the storyline failed to, was the cast ensemble. There were a lot of familiar faces on the cast list, with the likes of Rob Estes, Pauly Shore, Morgan Fairchild and even Ken Foree.

For a horror movie then "Phantom of the Mall: Eric's Revenge" was just frightfully devoid of anything particularly scary. There were a couple of kills along the way, but nothing fancy or overly interesting. And for a life-long horror aficionado such as myself, then "Phantom of the Mall: Eric's Revenge" was a walk in the park.

My rating of director Richard Friedman's 1989 movie "Phantom of the Mall: Eric's Revenge" lands on a four out of ten stars.

A new mall is opening in the San Fernando Valley, but it has dubious beginnings, which might explain the mysterious psycho lurking its nether regions (Derek Rydall). Morgan Fairchild plays the mayor while Jonathan Goldsmith is on hand as the greedy mall owner; Pauly Shore appears as an employee and Rob Estes a reporter.

"Phantom of the Mall: Eric's Revenge" (1989) takes the milieu of "Chopping Mall" (1986) and inserts the Phantom of the Opera story with bits of De Palma's "Phantom of the Paradise" (1974). It's comic booky 80's horror with almost a (cheesy) superhero approach, although things turn insane in the last act.

Kari Whitman is a highlight on the feminine front as protagonist Melody while Kimber Sissons is on hand as statuesque Suzie. Of course, Morgan is her usual striking self.

The film runs 1 hour, 31 minutes, and was shot at Promenade Mall in Woodland Hills (also used in "Fast Times at Ridgemont High") and Sherman Oaks Galleria with studio stuff done in Valencia, all in the Los Angeles area.

GRADE: B-/C+

I recently watched Phantom of the Mall: Eric's Revenge (1989) on Shudder. The plot revolves around a young man determined to hold onto his home, which a developer aims to replace with a mall. When he refuses to sell, the developer resorts to arson with the young man and girlfriend inside the home, resulting in tragedy. Presumed dead, the young man's girlfriend survives, while he becomes a deformed entity wreaking havoc within the newly built mall.

Directed by Richard Friedman (Doom Asylum), the film features performances by Jonathan Goldsmith (known for Dos Equis commercials), Derek Rydall (Popcorn), Pauly Shore (Son in Law), Morgan Fairchild (Campus Man), and Ken Foree (Dawn of the Dead).

Phantom of the Mall: Eric's Revenge strikes a balance as not great but also not bad, yet undeniably entertaining. It encapsulates the essence of 80s cinema with its characters, storyline, attire, and settings. While the kills lack gore and sophistication, there's a quirky charm to the corpses and dismemberments. The reveal is straightforward yet enjoyable, and the presence of a young Pauly Shore adds to the film's nostalgic appeal.

In conclusion, Phantom of the Mall: Eric's Revenge is a delightful 80s horror gem that will resonate with fans of the era. I'd give it a 7/10 and suggest giving it a watch, at least once.

There's not a lot of memorable things in Phantom of the Mall and the concept is definitely stronger than the execution, but the mall setting and sheer 80's-ness of everything keeps things entertaining. It's always fun to see Morgan Fairchild pop up in something like this.

Girls ex-boyfriend Eric wants his revenge after burned himself in the fire caused by mall developers.Now horribly disfigured he haunts in the mall where the gal works and kills people working there.Armed with conveniently located knives,crossbow,poisonous snakes and massive amounts of dynamite Eric unleashes an all out assault on the shopping mall.Pretty hilarious and annoying horror flick that features a kung fu fighting phantom.The killings are surprisingly creative including death by escalator,exhaust fan blade and incinerator door.The story is dumb,the suspense is completely absent and the acting is bad to the bone.If you have enough time to kill give it a look,but I wouldn't go too far to find it.5 out of 10.

A movie about a mall Phantom is a weird idea, but the movie isn't that good. The story isn't the strong point since it rather predictable and there's a lot of dry parts in the movie where nothing interesting happens. The movie try's to be a mystery over the Phantom, but it isn't that good and the twist is way too obvious. Also with a ridiculous concept, the movie takes itself way too seriously and most of the drama are really weak. The movie does have enjoyable action and chase scenes that have decent action choreography to them. The kills are rather weak with some of them are rather bland and two of them happened in complete darkness. There are decent ones like one of the character being electrocuted and his eye balls popping out and one getting decapitated by box crusher. Most of the effects are mediocre, but not the worst effects that I seen.

In the same week that I re-watched 1978's "Dawn of the Dead", I found that there is something atmospheric about an empty shopping centre. In "Phantom of the Mall: Eric's Revenge" the filming appears to have all taken place after-hours, obviously the only time that the crew were allowed access to the mall to shoot their film, and this ends up contributing to the atmosphere. It is the only good thing about the movie, I am afraid. This "Phantom of the Opera" for the 1980s is a dud overall, and very boring.

After his home is destroyed by a nefarious building corporation, who want the land for a shopping centre, Eric is badly burnt and believed dead by the world and his girlfriend (I had a problem getting my head around this aspect of the film) and he ends up living in the ventilation ducts and backrooms of the new shopping centre. Eric sets out to have his revenge, and fairly soon the bodies begin to pile-up.

It is a decent watch, but ultimately I did not find this one worth the hassle of seeking out. It is your standard '80s slasher, although largely bloodless and forgettable, apart from some random and surprising decent stunts crammed in (some random fella gets thrown into the air by a speeding car, and it looks very real), and there are some quirky scenes involving ears and eyeballs in ice-cream, as other reviewers have noted.