An exciting Chinese interpretation of The Phantom of the Opera! Ten years after supposedly being killed in an opera house, Song Danping returns to relate his story -- when he fell in love with the daughter of a rich feudal lord, he was beaten, disfigured with acid and left to die in the burning opera house by her father. He's been waiting in the rebuilt theatre for someone to take over his artistic mantle and he's chosen the opera troupe's new young star.

Essay by film critic Andy Klein