I’m actually
starting to dread one-part episodes of this show. Even when all the
other parts are in place for a good story, the actors still rush
through their lines. This episode is another lost opportunity. The
kids are mostly passable actors, and borrowing the costumes and organ
music from The Phantom of the Opera is a cheap way to get
chills, but it works.
The story takes
place in a school where the drama class is about to do a production
of The Phantom, an obvious knock-off of the above-mentioned
story. We’re told the story of the play, and for the most part
it’s the same basic premise as the name-brand Phantom. One
major change, however: in this play, The Phantom is killed by the
Raoul equivalent out of jealousy, and then returns as a ghost.
Brooke (Jessica
Moyes) is cast as the female lead in the play, “Esmerelda.” Her
friend Zeke (Shawn Potter) is the Phantom. The two of them have
excellent chemistry together, and seem like one of the more realistic
friendships I’ve seen in children’s television. Zeke is a
prankster, who enjoys startling Brooke in his costume. However,
Brooke doesn’t really seem to mind, and the two project a sense of
trust.
However, Brooke’s
snobby understudy Tina (Julia Chantrey) informs us that the play is
cursed. Seventy years earlier the play was performed, and the child
who was to play The Phantom disappeared, his body never found, and a
year later his ghost appeared on the stage when the play was
performed again.…also, there’s a new student named Brian (Stuart
Stone), and a creepy “night janitor” named Emile (Erik Fink)
hanging around.
Of course, things
start to go wrong with the play. And by “things” I mean “thing.”
As far as I can tell, putting aside a jump scare or two by Zeke, and
a bad dream Brooke had at the beginning of the episode, the entire
plot seems to be driven by a single incident disrupting rehearsal,
when someone in a Phantom costume zip-lines in and causes a prop to
nearly hit Brooke. Zeke, having the costume and being a prankster,
is blamed and kicked out of the play.
Granted, in the real
world this might be enough to create a real issue, but in the world
of Goosebumps, where parents and lawsuits are the things of
legends, it hardly seems up to snuff to shut down production. This
is yet another case of a full hour being needed. At least three or
four incidents would have really built up the tension.
Naturally, the two
leads team up with Brian to investigate under the stage, and find
that the Phantom has been living there. As it so happens, “Emile”
was not a janitor but a homeless man living under the school with a
Phantom costume. Apparently he felt that the play being performed
would create a greater chance of discovery than…people believing
that children were in physical danger. There’s no real climax to
this storyline, as Emile apparently just runs off when he realizes
he’s been discovered, but I’m okay with that. I imagine it’s
pretty accurate to what a real homeless person would do if he knew
his shelter had been found.
And then, the twist:
on the night of the play, someone knocks out Zeke and takes his place
on stage. Brooke realizes that she’s on stage with an actual ghost
(the flames in his eye sockets were probably the give-away). The
Phantom gives a speech in which he explains that he fell down the
trap door, died, and became a ghost…oh, sorry, he “fell into the
abyss” and “became a real Phantom.”
Honestly, the
inability to directly reference death works here. The Phantom is
quite effective if you interpret him as an overly dramatic child
suddenly given supernatural powers. He even asserts that playing the
Phantom in his Middle School play would have been “the greatest
night of my life.” And apparently he plans to take “Esmeralda”
with him into “eternal darkness.” He’s defeated when she rips
off his mask.
And for an extra
twist: the Phantom was to be performed by Brian seventy years ago.
Brian was the ghost. This would have been a good twist…if we’d
had time to develop Brian properly. As it is, he was the background
character who painted sets, and was sad that he’d moved to the
school too late to audition (…if he could fool the teacher into
thinking he was in the class without records or a social security
number, why not do so early enough to audition?).
Still, the scenery
and atmosphere gives this episode a huge advantage. I really want to
know who thought The Haunted Mask merited twice the running
time of this episode. This is a rare time when not only was I
willing to do my second viewing, I was actually looking forward to
it, because the episode is really that enjoyable.
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