"The Phantom of the Opera" is a watchable enough distraction which has some impressive production values and sumptuous costumes, but overall this is a surprisingly bland film that is unlikely to create any lasting impact or be remembered by anyone. It is obvious scant regard has been paid to the illustrious source material which has been used to establish only a few necessary key story points before being abandoned and the film seems to be more influenced by the "A Nightmare on Elm Street" series of films - we are actually subjected to scenes where Robert Englund is literally sewing his face together using patches of skin he has flayed from his victims - instead of anything to be found in the pages of Gaston Leroux's classic novel and such scenes as these will certainly be reason enough for many people to part company with this film pretty early on in the proceedings.