Witold Sobociński’s camerawork creates truly spectacular images. The film’s director, Marek Nowicki, was a cameraman before he became a director. However, The Phantom is too monotone and excessively crammed with erotic scenes. It has enough weak spots, but it is definitely a very interesting cinematographic experience.
The attempts of Polish filmmakers to learn the genre of horror are not limited to these films. There was also Andrzej Żuławski’s The Devil, which was banned by censors. There were the films Repulsion, Rosemary’s Baby and The Fearless Vampire Killers by Roman Polański – filmed, it is true, in the West, but they became true masterpieces of the genre. Marek Piestrak, director of The Wolf, tried later to return to horror. In 1990, he made The Return of the Wolf (which proved not as interesting) and three years earlier – The Curse of Snakes Valley, an adventure movie with horror movie elements. However, Lokis, The Wolf, and The Phantom became iconic examples of Polish filmmaking under the communist regime. Different, but somewhat similar in style, these films gave food for thought and were free from clichés of the genre, which favourably distinguishes them from many Western examples of the genre. But most of all, they portrayed real horror.
Originally written in Russian, 12 Sep 2015; translated by Katherine Alberti, 17 Mar 2017; edited by NR, 20 Mar 2017