Based on the title, I went into 1989’s Phantom of the Mall: Eric’s Revenge with the belief it would offer a sequel to a prior movie simply called Phantom of the Mall. Nope - Eric’s Revenge offers the first and last entry in a potential Phantom of the Mall franchise.

So why add the Eric’s Revenge subheader? I have no idea, though perhaps the film’s producers hoped the oddball title would distract viewers from the poor quality of the movie itself.

Certain parties want to build a mall over the house owned by Eric Matthews (Derek Rydall). When he refuses to sell, the developers burn down Eric’s home.

All believe Eric died in the fire, but when the mall opens a year later, they learn he survived. Scarred from the earlier events, Eric lives under the shopping center and enacts violent retribution upon those who harmed him.

As I implied earlier, I never heard of Mall until these Blu-rays wound up on my door. When the menu to Disc One played, it featured “Is There a Phantom in the Mall?”, a campy rock song by the Vandals that led me to infer the movie would offer a tongue-in-cheek genre spoof more than an attempt at actual horror.

This would’ve made sense given the flick’s production schedule as well. By the end of the 1980s, horror franchises like Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street became more interested in over the top wackiness than true scares.

However, Mall mostly plays things straight – painfully straight, as the movie would work better if it lightened up some. Not that it lacks any stabs at humor, but much of the film treats the subject matter as intense drama, and that choice doesn’t fit.

In theory, I should appreciate a late 80s horror movie that doesn’t keep its tongue firmly in its cheek, but Mall goes too far in the wrong direction. This feels like a soap opera more than anything else, and that makes it an overwrought melodrama too much of the time.

As the film’s title implies, Mall reworks the Phantom of the Opera themes, but it does so more as windowdressing than anything else. Eric’s rampage seems generic and nothing out of the ordinary for the standard slasher movie fare.

Mall tells it story almost at random, as the plot never builds a head of steam. The violent scenes feel bland and gratuitous, without much real punch.

We do get to see a pre-fame Pauly Shore, if that rocks your world. Otherwise, Mall becomes a total flop.

Phantom of the Mall: Eric’s Revenge appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 1.85:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. This became a watchable but lackluster presentation.

Sharpness was adequate but inconsistent. Most shots offered fairly positive delineation, but bouts of mild softness occurred as well.

I saw no jagged edges or moiré effects, and edge haloes remained absent. Outside of a few small specks, print flaws failed to become a concern, though the image felt grainier than I’d expect.

The palette of Mall leaned a little heavy. The colors occasionally showed reasonably good vivacity, but they often came across as a bit too dense.

Blacks were mostly dark and firm, and low-light shots offered reasonable clarity. This felt like a reasonable reproduction of a low-budget 1989 film.

Similar feelings greeted the decent LPCM 2.0 soundtrack of Mall. Note that although my player listed this as stereo, it clearly remained monaural.

Speech appeared reasonably natural and concise, with minimal edginess. Some iffy looping appeared but that wasn’t a substantial issue.

Music presented more than adequate range and depth, and effects showed good clarity and accuracy. Nothing here excelled, but the soundtrack held up well enough.

In this set, we get three editions of the movie. Disc One provides the film’s theatrical release (1:30:35), whereas Disc Two features both it TV version (1:28:36) as well as an Intergral Fan Cut (1:36:18).

The TV version doesn’t simply edit out the “R”-rated content from the theatrical release, as it also includes an alternate opening, a different ending, and a few other scenes not in the original. The new intro shows Eric and others before the film’s events. It’s a little slow but it gives us some character perspective.

The alternate ending seems less memorable, as it doesn’t differ substantially from the theatrical one. We also get more of Pauly Shore, which is either good or bad, depending on perspective.

Disc One comes with a slew of extras, and we find three separate audio commentaries. This first comes from director Richard Friedman and disc producer Michael Felsher and provides a running, screen-specific look at story/characters, sets and locations, stunts, cast and performances, and aspects of Friedman’s career.

Expect a decent commentary but not one that ever becomes especially memorable. While Friedman gives us a reasonable overview of the subject matter, nothing here stands out as memorable. This winds up as a moderately informative discussion.

For the second track, we hear from filmmaker Ewan Cant and film journalist Amanda Reyes. Both sit together for their running, screen-specific discussion of cast and crew, genre domains, production topics, alternate cuts, and their thoughts about the film.

In general, this becomes a fairly engaging chat. At times it leans too heavily into appreciation of the movie, whereas I’d prefer more specifics. Still, we get a good array of details along the way, so the commentary adds value.

Finally, we get a piece with composer Stacy Widelitz and associate producer Robert J. Koster. Rather than provide the usual running, screen-specific track, here we get audio interviews.

Though these run alongside the film, they don’t directly discuss what we see. Along with Felsher, both Widelitz and Koster discuss aspects of their work as well as memories of Mall.

Widelitz’s chat covers the first 40 minutes or so of the film, whereas Koster goes for the rest of the movie. Neither provide scintillating looks at the subject matter, but both give us reasonably informative material.

A documentary called Shop ‘Til You Drop runs 42 minutes, 22 seconds and offers notes from Friedman, screenwriters Schott Schneid and Tony Michelman, filmmaker Tony Kayden, special effects makeup creator Matthew Mungle, and actors Derek Rydall and Gregory Scott Cummins.

The program examines the film’s roots and development, story/characters and changes between script and film, cast and crew, sets and locations, stunts and action, various effects, the film’s rating and release.

After three commentaries, one might fear “Drop” finds no stones unturned. However, it manages to deliver a good array of details, and these come with a lot of frank notes about problems encountered along the way. “Drop” offers a good documentary.

The Vandals Go to the Mall fills 12 minutes, 56 seconds with comments from musician Joe Escalante. He talks about his band the Vandals as well as their involvement in Mall. Escalante offers some decent notes.

Five Alternate and Deleted Scenes span a total of seven minutes, 20 seconds. Thee all offer clips found in the TV version of the film – and thus also appear in the “Integral Fan Cut”, since it combines theatrical and TV. It’s good to find them on their own.

In addition to two trailers, we finish with an Image Gallery. It presents 57 images that mix shots from the film, promotional elements and ads. It becomes an acceptable compilation.

Even by the low standards of late 1980s horror, Phantom of the Mall: Eric’s Revenge feels dull and pointless. Nary an exciting or provocative moment occurs in this turgid, amateurish stinker. The Blu-ray comes with pretty decent picture and audio as well as a raft of bonus materials. Established fans will appreciate the deluxe treatment Arrow gives to the film, but I can’t recommend this dud to any new viewers.