One of the cornerstones of low-budget cinema is taking a well-known, classic storyline and making a complete bastardization out of it. Phantom of the Mall is no exception to this rule. The screenwriter takes the enduring Phantom of the Opera storyline and moves it into a late '80s shopping mall. However, the "Phantom's" goal now is simply to get revenge upon those responsible for disfiguring his face and murdering his family. The special effects do provide a good chuckle, especially when body parts begin appearing in dishes from the yogurt stand. Pauly Shore has a small role which does not allow him to be as fully obnoxious as one would expect, mostly due to the fact that his fifteen minutes of MTV fame had not yet arrived. If you're looking for a few good laughs at the expense of the actors and special effects crew, check this flick out. Otherwise, keep on looking for something else.

Gaston Leroux's classic tale is updated to the late '80s, with a mall replacing the opera house as home to its disfigured titular character. Hideously disfigured and presumed dead after unscrupulous developers torch his home to make way for a modern shopping complex, Eric now lurks in the tunnels and vents of the mall, planning to wreak revenge on those responsible while also keeping a watchful eye on his girlfriend Melody (Kari Whitman).

With a smattering of gore (extra points for the eye-popping scene),some gratuitous nudity (a pervy security guard spies on girls in the changing rooms and Melody gets topless for a flashback sex scene),and an early, not-too-irritating role for Pauly Shore, this is a dumb but fun version of the oft-told tale. Phantom Eric does some martial arts moves against the mall's security guards, there's death by escalator, hydraulic door, and air vent fan, and we get a whole load of impressive stunts, including a guy being flipped through the air by a car, a high dive (onto a spike),and a full body burn.

6/10. It's no '80s horror classic, but it's entertaining enough for the duration.

I realise many people dislike this movie. Why I ask, do people who obviously have a deep distaste for gory, daft as a brush slacker-horror movies keep renting them out? You all must be a tad masochistic. Eric's Revenge won't have anyone reconsidering where they put Seven Samurai on their 'greatest movies' list, but it's a good bit of dumb fun all the same. I must also point out it's a ton more enjoyable than any of the more 'authentic' (for that read pretentious and pompous) adaptations of the Phantom of the Opera.

If you're a horror aficionado then when you're watching a 'midnite-movie' like this you want a bunch of things. You want a few shocks here and there, some entertainingly OTT gore shots, and a lot of really dumb people about to walk into a sharp pointy death. Eric's Revenge delivers on all these fronts, and damn if it doesn't try and work in a half-decent plot in there. Eric's Revenge manages to at least shake things up a little with it's 'Hideous protector of justice gone mad' plot line, even if it is half Toxic Avenger half Maniac Cop. Bottom line is, it's silly, and it's supposed to be that way, so get of your high horse.

Eric's Revenge is a cheesy, violent late night B Movie, nothing more, nothing less. It's not meaningful, it isn't politically correct, and at one point someone's eyes explode out of their head. It's much better for it too. I had a damn good laugh, and wasn't bored at any point. So there.