At Midwood Mall, it's "shock 'til you drop" in the eighties comic-tinged horror film PHANTOM OF THE MALL: ERIC'S REVENGE, on Blu-ray from Arrow Video.

Still under construction with new wings being built every day, Midwood Mall opens to resounding popularity, with teenagers flocking to the stores in search of goods and jobs. Someone, however, is not so pleased, lurking in the air vents and beneath the foundations of the mall, turning up not only to ransack the shops but to brutally murder anyone who hassles shop girl Melody (Kari Whitman, BEVERLY HILLS COP II) who is still mourning the death of her boyfriend Eric (Derek Rydall, POPCORN) in a fire the previous year that burned down the last house that prevented the mall project from going forward. When local newspaper photographer/aspiring investigative reporter Peter Baldwin (Rob Estes, UNINVITED) starts looking into the fire, he and Melody are menaced by a security guard (Gregory Scott Cummins, BLOOD GAMES) who is apparently not on the payroll, mall developer Harv Posner (Jonathan Goldsmith, then of DALLAS more recently the Dos Equis "most interesting man in the world") tries to hush any bad publicity – even if it means disposing of a body dropped from the ceiling onto his office desk, and Mayor Wilton (Morgan Fairchild, THE SEDUCTION) wants nothing to prevent the big investors' part set for the Fourth of July.

Better remembered for its title than its scant theatrical and television play, PHANTOM OF THE MALL: ERIC'S REVENGE is a mixed bag as a horror film in spite of some good performances and some interesting if underdeveloped satirical ideas about the then-new "mall culture." Wilton refers to the mall as a "new town center" – supplanting city hall, community centers, parks, libraries, and the like – and promising businesses, and new jobs to the public, yet panics in private about anything that might go wrong since she regards the mall as her "ticket out of here." A conversation between Melody and Suzie also suggests the mall's temptation of spending money versus saving up for college, with young people working at the mall in order to be able to afford to spend there (sort of like the Walmart episode of SOUTH PARK), and it does seem to be a potential dead end for characters like Melody's friend Suzie (Kimber Sissons, YOU CAN'T HURRY LOVE) and prankster Buzz (ENCINO MAN's Pauly Shore in his first role).

Apart from one kill involving exploding eye sockets, the kills are rather indifferently conceived and presumably as compromised by the MPAA as the droning synth cues of Stacy Widelitz possibly recycling tracks or just using the same settings as his bombastic score for DARK TOWER. Rydall, Whitman, Estes, Sissons, and Shore are all as sympathetic and likable as the villains are odious, but the film overall feels like it might have better played as a TV movie, much like some of the other output of producer Charles Fries (FLOWERS IN THE ATTIC) – one wonders if Estes character "Peter Baldwin" is named after the actor from the Barbara Steele film THE GHOST who started directing television upon his return to the states from his sojourn as an actor in Italy – where it might have registered in the memories of eighties and nineties youth more so than a scattered theatrical release and rather uninteresting VHS artwork. Director Richard Friedman had previously helmed the horror films SCARED STIFF and DOOM ASYLUM and would move onto a television career including episodes of FRIDAY THE 13TH: THE SERIES and the thriller show SILK STALKINGS (also featuring Estes). Ken Foree (DAWN OF THE DEAD) is on hand as the security chief.

Widely released by Fries own video label, PHANTOM OF THE MALL: ERIC'S REVENGE languished on the rental shelves with scattered reviews popping up on horror websites throughout the years by the curious. The film bypassed authorized DVD with the only candidates being dark, tape-sourced editions in the UK and Germany. Arrow Video's 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.85:1 widescreen Blu-ray transfer is sourced from "original film elements" and it shows in the odd-looking Fries opening logo and some of the early dark scenes which were pitch black on video but at least discernable here. The well-lit portions of the film benefit from the relatively flat TV movie lighting and the pop of eighties fashions and décor, and one soon forgets the weaknesses of the opening sequence as perhaps always having been underlit so as not to reveal too soon the nature of the film's assailant. The LPCM 2.0 mono track is clean, conveying dialogue along with some deliberately overstated sound effects and the aforementioned synth score. Optional English SDH subtitles are also provided.

The film is accompanied by two commentary tracks. On the first, director Richard Friedman, moderated by Red Shirt Pictures' Michael Felsher, in which he discusses his education, his feature debut DEATH MASK with Farley Granger and how that, in spite of not being an actual horror film, lead to various offers to direct horror including his aforementioned horror credits, and PHANTOM OF THE MALL onto which he came as a director-for-hire, working on the finalized budget and reworked script (see below), offering up anecdotes about the production phase, including the use of the Sherman Oaks mall and how a mishap set off the sprinklers and flooded the mall destroying merchandise and causing property damage, as well as the decision to reshoot the flashback sex scene between Melody and Eric to make better use of hired Playboy Playmate. The second track features disc producer Ewan Cant and film historian/author Amanda Reyes whose focus in her book and podcast on television movies is not only appropriate to the film in terms of its production but also the television movie genre's focus on themes and fears of suburbia and of female-centric narratives. Reyes is able to provide more background on the film and what it was meant to be – including more overt homages to "Phantom of the Opera" and more elaborate special effects – before the budget was slashed and the script had to be cut down accordingly, as well as background on Fries' and Friedman's TV careers, and the film's observations about mall culture and other films from the period with similar settings and themes.

Not mentioned in the publicity materials and possibly included at the last moment is a third audio track featuring audio interviews with composer Widelitz and associate producer Koster conducted by Michael J. Felsher. Widelitz discusses his music career and his first opportunities at scoring television and film, followed by his decision to leave Los Angeles and pursue a career producing country music. Koster's longer interview is the more interesting as he recalls getting into the DGA program through nepotism because he came from a show business family even though his Hungarian director father's reputation was relatively obscure stateside, working at ABC Circle, for producer Ely Landau, Bert I. Gordon on FOOD OF THE GODS, Dan Curtis in the seventies on TV movies including TRILOGY OF TERROR, as well as Frank De Felitta's DARK NIGHT OF THE SCARECROW (in which he also doubled as the scarecrow in a few scenes), finding the locations for PHANTOM OF THE MALL and his own recollection of the sprinkler flood that differs from Friedman's enough that one wonders if the latter is still wary of possible trouble from the truth of the incident.

The documentary "Shop Til’ You Drop!: The Making of Phantom of the Mall" (42:22) goes more in-depth about the project as originally conceived with screenwriter Scott Schneid recalling coming up with the idea shortly after SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT, co-writer Tony Michelman discussing "inversion horror" – setting horror in a commonplace setting – the input of the original director Tony Kayden (SLIPSTREAM), Fries excitement about the project and its original higher budget, the damage wrought by Fries executive Maurice Singer (WAKE IN FRIGHT) who slashed the budget and brought on Robert King (BLOODFIST) to rewrite the script, and the hiring of Friedman as replacement director. Friedman is on hand to reiterate some of the points made in the commentary track, including his reaction to the marketing and distribution. Actors Rydall discusses the script as it was when he signed onto the project including a dance sequence as well as his make-up and having to redub his performance to make it sound like his vocal cords had been damaged, Cummins discusses his typecasting as villains, fight scenes, his friendship with Foree, and his death scene, and special make-up effects creator Matthew Mungle briefly covers the various effects gags and Eric's make-up.

In "The Vandals Go to the Mall" (12:56), Joe Escalante of the punk band "The Vandals" discusses his early days in the L.A. music scene, his band being cast and then fired from Penelope Spheeris' SUBURBIA for being "too punk" and subsequently cast in her film DUDES without her knowledge, the politically-incorrect lyrics of his PHANTOM OF THE MALL theme song, and his subsequent career as a lawyer.

Ahead of Arrow's release, they put out a search for a master of the film's television version which featured a different opening and some scenes left on the cutting room floor. While film material could not be found, the footage (7:20) is included here from a tape master including an alternate introduction to Eric and his friends as he practices gymnastics in a scene preceding the original opening fire which was pushed back later in the film as a flashback, some extensions of the fraught relationship between Buzz and Suzie, and an alternate ending that foregoes the "is he still alive?" closing shot. The disc also includes a domestic theatrical trailer (1:41) and an international trailer (1:59), as well as an image gallery.