City of Masks (2026) Super Review: A Gender-Flipped Phantom Haunts the West End, But Loses Its Way Backstage

Christian has landed the role of his dreams: the lead in a revival of a hit musical called City of Masks, staged in the very West End theatre where its composer died in a fire. Then, during rehearsals, a voice in the dark starts helping him sing.

You may recognise the shape of this story. Andrea M. Catinella’s gothic thriller is a gender-flipped take on Gaston Leroux’s The Phantom of the Opera, with a female phantom at its heart. It is a lovely idea, and the theatre looks wonderful, but the story gets lost somewhere in the wings.

City of Masks has a haunting idea and a gorgeous stage to play on, but not quite the script to match.

Movie at a Glance

• UK release: In cinemas from Friday 30 October 2026, after a world premiere in London on 29 October
• US release: No US date confirmed yet
• Distributor: BUFF Studios
• Director: Andrea M. Catinella
• Writer: Enrico Tessarin
• Starring: Amanda Jiang, Charlie Goddard, Deano Bugatti Mitchison, Kay Boggett, Madalina Bellariu Ion and Charlotte Jackson Coleman
• Certificate: 15 (UK)
• Genre: Gothic ghost story with music

A Phantom With a Grudge

Amanda Jiang plays Eve, a gifted composer who hides part of her face behind a mask and may or may not have survived the fire that ended her career. Charlie Goddard is Christian, the earnest young actor she chooses as her protégé, and Deano Bugatti Mitchison is Victor, the revival’s volatile director, who insists the theatre is not haunted and may have his own reasons for saying so. As rehearsals go on, lights flicker, rigging falls and a reporter starts digging into the past.

Swapping the genders of Leroux’s characters is a genuinely fresh twist, and Catinella and writer Enrico Tessarin use it to explore who gets the credit for creative work and who gets written out of the story. It is the film’s smartest idea.

A Theatre Worth Haunting

For a low-budget production, City of Masks looks handsome. The theatre interior is beautifully shot, the backstage corridors and dressing rooms are full of atmosphere, and subtle lighting changes do a lot of the supernatural heavy lifting. The original songs are good, too, and give the film a pleasing musical-theatre heartbeat.

The performances are more uneven. Jiang is sensual and mysterious, almost dreamlike, while Mitchison plays Victor at full, scenery-chewing volume. The clash of styles is striking, and not always in a good way.

Lost in the Wings

The biggest problem is the plot, which grows more confusing as it heads towards opening night. Motives blur, threads are dropped, and the central romance between a young man and a woman who may be a ghost never quite sweeps you away as it wants to. Critics have been divided, with some charmed by its stylish reinvention and others baffled. It is an ambitious, heartfelt first feature from its production company, but it needed another rewrite before curtain up.

Stagecraft on Screen

If you love stories that bring the theatre to the screen, read our These Violent Delights Super Review, as Scottish Ballet reimagines Romeo and Juliet. For a much friendlier set of ghosts, try our Ghosts: The Possession of Button House Super Review.

Watch the Official Trailer

Step inside the haunted theatre with the official trailer.

Would you rather see a classic story faithfully retold or turned on its head? Share your spoiler-free view.