Exceedingly rare British promo single, with Jessica Harper doing "Old Souls" on one side, and Paul Williams doing "The Hell of It" on the other.

In 2015, Music on Vinyl released a limited edition (1,000 copies) of the original soundtrack on 180 gram pink colored vinyl. As far as we know, it's not in any way remastered; it's just pretty.

How many of these did you wear out?

Remastered Japanese CD, issued 2002

Scream Factory's Bluray/DVD set, with an official street date of August 5, 2014 (but which was actually shipped to early preorderers a couple weeks before that) is without question the most comprehensive home video release of Phantom to date. Although some sellers are referring to the package as a "combo pack," which usually means that you get the film in both bluray and DVD formats, the DVD on the Scream package is used for overflow supplemental material; the feature is on the bluray only.

Our Principal Archivist was deeply involved in the creation of this set, co-producing and co-directing most of the new supplements (the De Palma interview, the Williams interview, the Pressman interview, the Alvin interview, the Swan Song featurette, and the commentary tracks), so readers should consider that we may not be the most objective source of information on this one. That said, we'd like to call out Greg Carson, the other co-producer/director on the project, who, we think, did a fantastic job, in a very short time, and exercised phenomenally good taste throughout. Greg is a total pro-fess-yuh-nal, and an absolute pleasure to work with at all times. He has production credits that take an hour just to read through, and, to the extent you like the supplements on this disc, a tremendous amount of the credit for that belongs to Greg.

The master used for the feature was provided by Fox, and is the same one as was used for Fox's DCP package in 2012 (which is still the version you see in theaters), and was also used by Arrow for their release earlier in 2014. Arrow used the Fox transfer without modification. Aware of consumer dissatisfaction with the Arrow transfer (in particular, how yellowish some thought it to be), Scream's Cliff MacMillan spent some time tweaking the color (away from yellow and towards pink, it appears to us) and, we believe, the brightness as well. On this disc, as with the Arrow, the detail is better than on the French disc from Opening (discussed further down below), but many still prefer the Opening version for its softer contrast (which, we would have to agree, probably looks more like we remember the film looking from our childhood). Ultimately, the choice between the Opening, Arrow and Scream transfers will come down to a matter of taste for most, but we strongly believe that the Opening, with respect to both colors and contrast/grading, best represents the way the film looked when shown theatrically on release.

For audio on the Scream package, you have your choice of DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit) and DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (48kHz, 24-bit), both in English. There are no foreign language audio tracks, and subtitles are only in English for the hard of hearing (though, be warned, a lot of the subtitles, particularly the lyrics to the songs, are just completely wrong). And, unlike the Arrow disc, there's no isolated effects and music track. There are, however, two new commentary tracks. The first has Jessica Harper, all three Juicy Fruits, and Gerrit Graham (with the Fruits (together), Harper, and Graham recorded separately in April of 2014, and mixed into a single track). The second (which is not mentioned on the packaging) is a full length track with production designer Jack Fisk (also recorded in April of 2014). There are some minor editing and mixing issues with the cast track, as the audio file pressed to the disc was not the final cut, but nothing that should detract from anyone's enjoyment. (Scream will be using the correct, final track if there are additional pressings.)

The disc also features new (April, 2014) interviews with Brian De Palma, Ed Pressman, and Paul Williams, as well as drummer Gary Mallaber, Andrea Alvin (about her late husband John's work on the Phantom style A poster and soundtrack cover art) and Phantom-helmet designer Tom Burman.

The package also includes the Paul Williams/Guillermo del Toro conversation (recorded in early 2014) from the Arrow disc, the "Paradise Regained" featurette that originally appeared on the Opening disc, a couple of still galleries, and the faux advertisement with William Finley for the Medicom Phantom doll that originally appeared on the Opening disc. (Unfortunately, the "Paradise Regained" featurette on this disc plays with a slight stutter all the way through, probably because of a glitch in the PAL to NTSC conversion...it plays more smoothly on the Arrow and Opening PAL pressings.) But wait, there's more: (I'm running out of breath at this point) the "Carte Blanche" interview with costume designer Rosanna Norton from the Opening disc, various radio spots, tv spots and trailers (mostly from the Archives' collection), and audio of Gerrit Graham reading from the film's press kit.

Finally, Scream offers far more of the Swan Archives' outtake footage than appears on the Arrow disc, much of it arranged in splitscreens against the corresponding as-released footage, and provides a short featurette about the deletion of the Swan Song name (described on our Swan Song Fiasco page), the gist of which is similar to the "Swan Song Fiasco" featurette on the Arrow disc. Where Arrow used a narrator, the Scream version uses title cards to explain what transpired.

The Scream discs are Region A (bluray) and Region 1 (DVD) (North America/Japan), and cannot be played on European or other players, unless they're region-free. This one doesn't come with a booklet. Although the packaging says that the Swan Song footage and the alternate takes are on the DVD (which would put them in standard definition), they are actually in high definition on the bluray.

These four stickpins, mounted on cardboard and advertising Scream Factory releases, including Phantom, were given away as promo swag at San Diego Comic Con 2014.

This version is one of the twelve disks in the French "Le Cinema Du Monde" Series 8. It's basically Disk 1 of Opening's 2006 two-disc set, so it has the film in Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS, with French and English soundtracks and optional French subtitles, and has Gerrit Graham's brief introduction to the film (in French), but lacks the extra features from disk two of the Opening set. Although marked as "Region 2," this disk is actually region-free, and in the PAL format. And, like the 2006 Opening disc, it has the incorrect bird matte.

In June of 2007, the French DVD set from 2006 described above was issued in a German version by Capelight Pictures. It's the same as the French version, except with German subtitles and German language soundtrack in place of the French. The incorrect bird matte from the French version has migrated to this German version, as well. Available from amazon.de, among others.

Brazilian version; English language audio, with Portuguese, English, and Spanish subtitles. No trailer or special features, but check out the unique cover art featuring orgy-girl #6!

This Spanish bluray is barebones, with no special features, but has Spanish (as well as English) audio, and Spanish and Portuguese subtitles.

This German three-disc set from Koch Media includes a lovely 24-page booklet, the film on bluray with German and English audio and German subtitles, and, on DVD, most of the extras from the Shout Factory package (though on the Shout edition, the extras are mostly on bluray rather than DVD, with better resolution).

This German edition, which includes the film on both bluray and DVD, was limited to 50 copies. (Ours is number 32). Although it proclaims on the front that it is a "2 - DISC LIMITED UNCUT EDITION,", there's nothing particularly "uncut" about it...it's the same version of the film you see everywhere else, from the current DCP/bluray transfer. The bluray has English language Dolby 5.1 and German language stereo, and the DVD has both languages in Dolby Digital 2.0. Subtitles on both are German. The extras comprise TV-Spots, German trailer, radio spots, commentary track and poster gallery. There's a 28 page booklet, but it's all text, and only a small portion is about Phantom - it's essentially a catalog of the releases in the publisher's "Klassiker Collection." German alternate poster art on the front, and the Italian poster art on the back. Notable, if at all, only for the limited number of copies produced.

1985 North American Key Video version

Poster advertising the 1985
North American Key Video version

Japan, 1987 edition

Japan, 1993 edition

We at the Archives are unwilling to take our Phantom Version 2.0 out of the box, out of concern that he might, if released, resume his efforts to destroy everything having to do with Swan, including the Archives itself. Fortunately, the (apparently fearless) Kim Reed, webmistress at Dolfielittles.com had no such qualms, and has kindly consented to our use of these photos she took of her own dangerous Phantom action figure. Thanks, Kim!

This 11.5" tall limited edition vinyl Phantom doll is scheduled for release in October, 2018 from Medicom of Japan, and, as of May 2018, is available for preorder for around US$100 at Japan-toy and anime themed shopping sites all over the web. The cape is removable and the helmet flips up to reveal the Phantom's scarred face. Hours of fun!

Here's the same book, with a slightly different version of the cover.

Everyone's favorite dead bird (we should have a "name the Death Records bird" contest...I don't know why we didn't think of this before!) is immortalized (except that he's already dead) in enamel by Print Mafia, and can be procured here.

The very-hard-to-find pinback button given away at early screenings, and at West LA's Licorice Pizza in conjunction with promotion of the premiere.

These yellow premiere buttons are far rarer today then their black and white brothers pictured to the left.

Limited edition full size replicas of the Phantom's helmet were sold briefly in 2007 by Medicom Toy Co. of Japan, but only sold to buyers in Japan. These helmets were packaged in Medicom's Death Records boxes (see below), so along with the helmet, you got a free box. The Medicom helmets are not as nice, in our opinion, as the ones made by the Guy in Winnipeg. For one thing, the visor isn't easily removable from the helmet, as it is in the film; Medicom loses authenticity points here. Also, the right eyehole on the Medicom helmet isn't really a hole; it's a depression in the helmet, over which a piece of dark plastic has been glued. The helmets made by the Guy in Winnipeg, in contrast, have correctly removable visors, and the right eyehole contains the correctly convex smoky covering.

The marketing geniuses at Medicom Toy Company of Japan are selling these empty cardboard boxes, but only for delivery in Japan. They're shipped flat, in sets of five, and you unfold them. Shown here with a helmet, so you can get an idea of the size of the boxes. Helmet not included. It's only a matter of time before these guys start selling napkins on which they've scrawled the words Phantom of the Paradise with a crayon.

And who wouldn't want to cuddle up with a dead bird plushie? Apparently, nobody would: Medicom's latest offering, in early 2008, was this unlikely custom-shaped pillow featuring the Death Records dead bird logo. Unfortunately, the company received very few orders for it, it never got manufactured, and the orders went unfulfilled.

Another item from Medicom: The Phantom bear is part of Bearbrick's "Horror" Series 34, from 2017. He's about two and a half inches tall, and comes with a little Death Records card. In late 2018, Medicom will be releasing a version of this guy who's 11" tall.