The Phantom Manor Short Film is a student film by Gracie O'Hara, a live-action short based on Phantom Manor. It is, to date, the only completed live-action spin-off of the ride, albeit unlicensed. It features Madame Leota, Melanie Ravenswood, Jake, Henry Ravenswood and the Thunderbird.
Plot[]
Thunder Mesa, some time after the earthquake. Planning to get married, Melanie Ravenswood and her beloved Jake visit local medium Madame Leota to ask about recurring nightmares Melanie has been having, wherein she has visions of the Phantom (whom she does not yet know is the ghost of her late father). Leota answers with a dire warning, and things soon turn to tragedy…
Continuity[]
- The film purports itself to serve as a prequel for Phantom Manor (1992), speaking of Phantom Manor's backstory.
- Though it concurs with it on the naming of Jake and on Henry and Martha dying in the earthquake, the short is in contradiction to Family Secrets (2012) in stating that only Henry and Martha died in the earthquake, and in dating it to 1858 rather than 1860.
- The mortal Madame Leota's physical appearance resembles that which she bore in the flashbacks in Mystery of the Manse (2005).
Behind the scenes[]
This student film was created in 2018 for a local film festival and subsequently released in April on the Internet. The list of credits is not known at present.
Though presenting faithful live-action representations of Melanie Ravenswood, Jake, and a mortal Madame Leota, the short offers a rather unorthodox take on the Phantom, depicted with a full head of white hair even in death (making him resemble the Hatbox Ghost somewhat) whereas most depictions of Ravenswood in life give him short black hair, and the Phantom is only ever depicted with a sheer skull for a head. In terms of characterization, it is also unusual (and somewhat hard to square with the2019 updates to the ride) to hold that he only murdered Jake due to being possessed by the Thunderbird, though it is also acknowledged that there was some preexisting animosity between the two to motivate it.
It is interesting to compare the Phantom Manor Short Film with The Raven, created the next year, another unorthodox live-action take on the backstory of Phantom Manor.