100 Years of Horror (TV Series) Phantoms (1996) User Reviews

Phantoms

[Leofwine_draca · 8/10 · 9 April 2017]

100 YEARS OF HORROR is a 26-episode TV series made in 1996 and featuring the delightful Christopher Lee as host, his sonorous narration exploring the history of horror cinema in the 20th century. Each themed episode contains plentiful clips from the films mentioned along with brief interview footage seemingly culled from other documentaries as well as TV shows and the like.

PHANTOMS is rather an oddly-themed episode of the show because it details with two entirely different subjects. The first is the classic PHANTOM OF THE OPERA starring Lon Chaney and the various remakes over the years, up to de Palma's PHANTOM OF THE PARADISE. Perhaps fearing that this subject would come up short, the second is THE INVISIBLE MAN and the various sequels churned out by Universal. Claude Rains' daughter and Lon Chaney's great-grandson add useful comment to the mix.

Phantoms

[Michael_Elliott · 28 September 2010]

100 Years of Horror: Phantoms (1996)

*** (out of 4)

"Invisible Phantoms" might have been a better title for this entry in the series. We start off learning about Lon Chaney's THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA and then switch gears, in a way, to James Whale's THE INVISIBLE MAN. We learn how Claude Rains was cast in the role and then we flash to its follow-ups, which include THE INVISIBLE MAN RETURNS, THE INVISIBLE AGENT and of course THE INVISIBLE WOMAN. We then go back to the Phantom and take a look at the Universal remake with Rains as well as the Hammer remake. Also included are rips like THE PHANTOM SPEAKS from Republic.

This episode has a few nice interviews including Jessica Rains, Claude's daughter, and Gary Chaney who was Lon's great-grandson. These two have a few nice stories to tell and Rains gets to explain why James Whale cast him in THE INVISIBLE MAN even though his screen test was apparently very bad. Michael Blake is also on hand to discuss some of the problems between Chaney and the director on the original PHANTOM. Donald Glut and Sheldon Leonard are also on hand with some nice comments.