Phantom of the Theater

Phantom of the Opera looms large over this Hong Kong haunted theater/romantic melodrama set in 1930s Shanghai, where a grand show palace is reopened for the first time since a troupe of acrobats died in a fire some 13 years before. An ambitious filmmaker (Yo Yang) wants to shoot his debut feature—a supernatural romance—in the theater, but a series of mishaps plagues the crew and scares the leading man off, prompting the director to step in opposite the lovely ingénue (Ruby Lin). There's a mysterious scarred figure scurrying behind the scenes, characters suddenly burst into flame, and flashbacks reveal that most of the players in this modern drama have direct ties to the fatal fire years before. Phantom of the Theater tries to have it both ways, delivering supernatural spectacle and then trying to explain it away with pseudo-science that doesn't quite hold up. It's directed by Raymond Yip, a veteran of popular costume epics and grand action films, who gives it the lavish, colorful look of an old-style melodrama—big, lush, and romantic like Hollywood pictures of the 1940s and 1950s, only with modern special effects. Although it falls short as a murder mystery, the film is often entertaining and visually dazzling. A strong optional purchase. (S. Axmaker)