Erik: Portrait of a Living Corpse
Release Date - 2011
Directed by Ryan Bijan
Starring - Ryan Bijan and Autumn Hyun
I love The Phantom of the Opera. I always have and probably always will. I discovered the story at the wee old age of six thanks to both Disney's version called Phantom of the Megaplex, and my mom for bringing home the Claude Raines' version, and letting me listen to her CD of the original London cast. For 12 years, I've eaten up anything phantomy, good and terribly, terribly bad. I own pretty much all of the mainstream known versions, and I'm slowly starting to get some of the more unknown ones.
So when in 2010, I heard via the very great Phantom Reviewer that a new independent version of the story was being made, I got pretty damn excited. After a year of waiting, the movie came out, and I got my hands almost immediately on a copy of it. That movie is called Erik: Portrait of a Living Corpse, or simply Erik, or Portrait of a Living Corpse...you get what I'm saying I think. Kinda wish it was just Portrait of a Living Corpse, but eh what can you do.
The film was made by a student named Ryan Bijan with the help of his friends. Yes my readers, this is a fan film. But don't worry, it's a good one, and leaps and bounds better then that other Phantom fan film that shall not be named...ever! Anyways, the troop made the film in 2010 and 2011, using an obvious minuscule budget at their disposal. And considering this is not the 1800's, and not a big Hollywood picture, the sets will not be period accurate...per say. But I'll touch on that later. I should really get into the film and share the phantomy goodness it holds.
Now for those who are familiar with the movie, or POTO story as a whole, you'll find this information not needed since you probably no it by heart. Even people who haven't read a book, or seen one of the movies probably knows it. And considering this movie pretty much follows the story very closely, I won't explain everything as in depth as I will for other reviews.
Now depending on which version of Erik you have, the beginning will differ. I have the premiere cut, so don't expect this opening to be the same on any DVD you may get of it. The opening I have shows off the basic happenings of the story, but does it with only music and no dialogue. Sort of like a technicolor silent picture. This opening shows the Apollo Lair scene, and Raoul (played by Bijan) trying to reach the Phantom's lair. The Phantom drags him from the water via lasso, and takes him to his home. Once there, Raoul watches as Erik tries to force marriage on Christine (played by Hyun), as well as take off his mask. However we don't see his face, and are treated to black and white footage of Erik as a child running through the woods. This kicks off the opening credits, and leads into the beginning of the movie. This is when it shouldn't really matter what version you have.
We meet Joseph Buquet who is telling the ballet dancers, and a few stage hands about the legend of the opera ghost. He informs them that his skin is that of yellow parchment, that his eyes are sunken in, and that he does not have a noise. The ballet dancers run off, and an associate of the opera tells him that he's full of shit. Poor Joseph shouldn't have talked bad about the OG, because Erik shows up, strangling Buquet, as well as pulling out a knife, this letting the audience assume that Erik is about to get nasty on Buquet.
At this point, the story switches over to Erik's point of view. We learn about his life down below the Paris Opera House, and how it gives him solitude to enjoy and practice his music, even through the loneliness. We see him getting ready for a night at the opera, which is where we learn that Erik has a limp to him that's never really explained. This is also when we first see Christine and Carlotta, with Erik informing us that Christine's voice has sparked his interest for how pure it sounds when compared to the Spanish sound of Carlotta. We see Erik sneaking in via the walls into her dressing room, and how he came up with the idea to tutor Christine after hearing her talk about an old story her father told her in youth. He (Erik) eventually convinces Christine that he is the being from the story, and begins to tutor her.
When not following along the lines of the original story, Bijan shows us some of Erik's normal day activities. From him stealing bread, to him even venturing outside to draw and walk. When he's outside, he wears a mask that resembles a face, just like the cartoon version. In this scene, we learn that Erik sympathizes with a lot of the animals in the world, and is happy to help them out. We also see some more bits of his insanity as far as fits go, and him reading the tale of Beauty and the Beast. Now then, let's get back to our main story.
So Erik becomes Christine's teacher, and we got a montage of him teaching her. As time goes along, he usual POTO happenings occur. Christine sings in place of Carlotta, Raoul comes in reuniting with his childhood friend, and so forth. As time goes on, we eventually come to a scene in which Christine visits her father's grave. This is a scene that is rarely often used in the movie adaptions. It was originally in the Chaney version, but was later omitted, and didn't appear again till the Webber musical and the Robert Englund version, so this is slightly a big deal to us Phans. Christine and Raoul meet in the graveyard and talk a bit, she explaining that her Angel of Music has come from Heaven to teach her. Raoul laughs at this, and Christine storms off angrily. As Raoul goes to leave, Erik drops by for a bit of chat. He throws a skull at him and leads him to a church, where he knocks Raoul out with his cane.
Christine returns to the opera house, and is shortly after led down to the Phantom's home. Once there, the story once again goes back to focusing on Erik. While Christine sleeps (she fainted from taking in all of the lair), Erik ventures up to the opera house to get her some clothes and such from Carlotta's room. Carlotta ends up catching him, which results in her dying in one of the funniest ways ever seen in a Phantom movie. Christine eventually wakes up, and she and Erik have breakfast together. Well, Christine eats, as Erik informs her that he ate before she awoke. While she eats, Erik reveals a bit more information about himself while Christine attempts to get him to take her back up, however her attempts fail.
After breakfast, Erik decides it's time for a music lesson, and takes her into his den/living room. The two begin practicing, Christine slowly getting more curious about the man behind the mask. Slowly, she inches towards her mysterious teacher, getting closer to removing him of his mask. The suspense builds, and finally she rips it of, revealing, revealing, revealing...nothing. The movie cuts to the credits before we see anything. To this I say bull f'n shit. Don't get us all excited for one of the best parts in any POTO movie, and then cut away before we see anything. But...this is part one of a two part movie, so I'll forgive Bijan-san for the time being.
But anyways, that my friends is Erik: Portrait of a Living Corpse, one of if not the best movie versions of Phantom ever made. And it's a fan made film. A film made while most of the cast and crew was still in school. It isn't a Hollywood film, just a small independent film. Now that's saying something. And even though it's fan made, everything is for the most part, top notch.
The cinematography is great. It paints the world within the film very well in colors, angles, and shots. The world above Erik's homes is bright and colorful, show especially in outside scenes. While the scenes in Erik's home beneath the opera house are dark and a blueish green. My only complaint about the cinematography is that since it was presumably shot on a handheld camera, there's a lot of pixelation throughout the films. The scene where Erik leads Christine down through the cellars is the worse as far as I'm concerned. But outside of that, the filming part is really good.
Considering Phantom of the Opera takes part in what could still be considered Victorian Paris, it's going to be hard when you're still in school to make period accurate sets. But the crew gets around this pretty well for the most part. They use a regular old theater to fill in for the opera house, and while at times you can tell that's it's modern, for the most part it does a good job of representing the OH (although the performance scenes are lacking an audience, you seriously couldn't get just a few of your friends to sit in?). I'm not quite sure where they all shot for the descent scenes into Erik's lair, but once again it provides a very nice setting for the film. The rooms of Carlotta, Christine, and Erik's lair were all done via a bed and breakfast, and it surprisingly works very well. Carlotta and Christine's rooms have a period accurate look to them, and with the case of Carlotta's, looks very Parisian. Erik's lair looks fantastic as well. It has a very creepy look to it, helped by the blue tint the scenes feature. Everything has a very home like feel to it, just like in the book! All around, the sets were really well done, and are good examples of taking an existing environment, and using bits of it to become old and period accurate.
As far as music goes, there isn't a whole lot to talk about. The main piece that does play though is the film's version of the Phantom's signature tune Don Juan Triumphant. It's...alright. Personally I don't think it's all that great. For me at least, it just doesn't sound like Don Juan. That's not to say it's bad, but it just isn't my cup of tea.
And now we get to probably the most important thing to analyze; the acting. The acting overall, is pretty darn good. Autumn Hyun does a good job of playing Christine. She's ditsy and kinda naive, but she won't take no lip from anybody. Not Meg, and especially not Raoul. She's the type of Christine that works as both an adaption of the Christine from the original novel, as well as a combination of some of the one's from the multiple film versions. Mr. Bijan's work as Raoul is good as well. He comes off as an aristocrat big shot, and there are times when you do want to slap him for being a bit of a jerk. But he is also caring and concerned for Christine's situation, and it shows off very well in my opinion.
Then we have Erik. Erik is acted to utter perfection in my eyes. He's shown as being a truly caring individual who will break when his limits have been reached. He's kind and caring one minute, and a mad raving monster the next. The best scene to illustrate this, in a somewhat calm manner is the scene in which Erik and Christine have breakfast. The entire scene is filled with tension the minute it starts, and we see Erik slowly starting to get more angered by the minute, this in part to Christine questioning him about his past, and that they should go above.It's done in a very calm manner, but you can feel the anger rising in Erik. He doesn't explode, but you can tell he's close to. And that's how Erik is throughout the film. Perfectly captured in personality, and all around character throughout the film. It should be noted that in the credits, nobody is credited for playing Erik. Personally, I think it was Mr.Bijan who played Erik. Both Raoul and Erik have very similar hair, and Erik's voice actor sound liked a gruffled version of Raoul as well. Who knows if I'm right, it's just my own take on it.
All in all, Erik: Portrait of a Living Corpse is a very good film. It's well directed, has great costumes and sets, the bits of music in the film are pretty good, and the acting is amazing. And possibly most importantly, it follows the original book very well while still throwing in things from other version's of the story, and adding their own original ideas to it. This film is near perfect.
The only criticisms I have are that the quality of the film at times is a little too pixelated, a few issues with the synching of the music and film, and the overall lack of a lot of music. Other then those, I have nothing but good things to say about the film. It's so good, and is the first really good Phantom movie adaption in a long time. It puts even some of the more well known Hollywood versions to shame!
If you wish to but the film, you can do so via BigJohnCreation's website (I'll link below). It's worth paying for, and helps show the creators that we phanatics want to see act 2 as soon as possible. Once again, Erik is an amazing film, and I highly suggest viewing it.
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| My copy of the film |
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*Images courtesy of Google and BigJohnCreations*
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