The Phantom Museum was originally commissioned by the Wellcome Trust as a video installation for the British Museum exhibition Medicine Man: The Forgotten Museum of Henry Wellcome, which ran from June to November 2003. This provided an opportunity for the public to examine some of the rarer items in the extraordinary collection of American-born pharmaceutical pioneer Sir Henry Wellcome (1853-1936), who assembled over 125,000 medical artifacts, many of which are currently stored in London's Science Museum and normally viewable by appointment only. 　　Typically, the Quay Brothers' film consists more of a series of impressions of the Wellcome collection than a guided tour, their approach summed up by its subtitle 'Random Forays into Sir Henry Wellcome's Medical Collection'. A linking device (shot on grainy black-and-white Super 8 stock) involves a man clad in a black suit and white gloves ascending staircases, warlking along corridors, switching on lights and investigating rooms full of cabinets bearing tantalising labels ('Shrunken Heads - Scalp'). 　　Interspersed with these are much sharper colour sequences, depicting various objects in Wellcome's collection. Sometimes they're displayed as static museum pieces, sometimes rotated, and occasionally animated. Many of the exhibits are explicitly sexualised, from the diagram demonstrating the use of a chastity belt (next to an example of the real thing) to tender Oriental sculptures of human lovemaking. Many of the collection's many dolls come apart to reveal their anatomically-correct innards - one female body has a baby in her walnut-sized womb, connected via an umbilical piece of string. 　　Prosthetic arms and legs abound, in one case attached to a live human body, while there are plenty of dead ones glimpsed in the collection's storerooms, their lipless mouths fixed in a permanent grin. If the film is often unsettling, this is less because of the Quays' proven feel for the uncanny than for the way the Wellcome collection itself inescapably exploits our most fundamental fears: of birth, sex, mutilation and death. 　　The Quays originally edited the film to pre-existing recordings of the music of Czech composer Zdenek Liska (previously featured in The Cabinet of Jan Svankmajer in 1984), but were unable to clear the necessary rights. In the final version, filmmaker-musician Gary Tarn provided a plangent semi-electronic accompaniment, occasionally interspersed with sound effects, notably in the shot of an old birthing chair and forceps being pressed into service on an invisible mother-to-be, whose baby can be heard crying as it emerges.

The Phantom Museum was originally commissioned by the Wellcome Trust as a video installation for the British Museum exhibition Medicine Man: The Forgotten Museum of Henry Wellcome, which ran from June to November 2003. This provided an opportunity for the public to examine some of the rarer items in the extraordinary collection of American-born pharmaceutical pioneer Sir Henry Wellcome (1853-1936), who assembled over 125,000 medical artifacts, many of which are currently stored in London's Science Museum and normally viewable by appointment only. 　　Typically, the Quay Brothers' film consists more of a series of impressions of the Wellcome collection than a guided tour, their approach summed up by its subtitle 'Random Forays into Sir Henry Wellcome's Medical Collection'. A linking device (shot on grainy black-and-white Super 8 stock) involves a man clad in a black suit and white gloves ascending staircases, warlking along corridors, switching on lights and investigating rooms full of cabinets bearing tantalising labels ('Shrunken Heads - Scalp'). 　　Interspersed with these are much sharper colour sequences, depicting various objects in Wellcome's collection. Sometimes they're displayed as static museum pieces, sometimes rotated, and occasionally animated. Many of the exhibits are explicitly sexualised, from the diagram demonstrating the use of a chastity belt (next to an example of the real thing) to tender Oriental sculptures of human lovemaking. Many of the collection's many dolls come apart to reveal their anatomically-correct innards - one female body has a baby in her walnut-sized womb, connected via an umbilical piece of string. 　　Prosthetic arms and legs abound, in one case attached to a live human body, while there are plenty of dead ones glimpsed in the collection's storerooms, their lipless mouths fixed in a permanent grin. If the film is often unsettling, this is less because of the Quays' proven feel for the uncanny than for the way the Wellcome collection itself inescapably exploits our most fundamental fears: of birth, sex, mutilation and death. 　　The Quays originally edited the film to pre-existing recordings of the music of Czech composer Zdenek Liska (previously featured in The Cabinet of Jan Svankmajer in 1984), but were unable to clear the necessary rights. In the final version, filmmaker-musician Gary Tarn provided a plangent semi-electronic accompaniment, occasionally interspersed with sound effects, notably in the shot of an old birthing chair and forceps being pressed into service on an invisible mother-to-be, whose baby can be heard crying as it emerges.

腿有残疾的中年男人在艰难地赶路，他赖以生存的可以发出悦耳动听音乐的水车小屋的摇柄坏掉了，这意味着他以后的日子更加难过。邻居看到他时，紧紧地关上了房门，但他艰难前行的身影还是被邻居的女儿透过窗户看到了，善良的小女孩跑出去给了他一片面包。 　　男人遇到看来比他更可怜的白发苍苍的老人，将面包转赠于他，作为回报，老人给了他一个新的摇柄，消失不见，他试了试，新的摇柄非常好用。男人回到家，惊奇地发现一桌的美食正等着他，房间里还多出了许多家具衣服。他美美地饱餐一顿又穿上新睡衣躺在新床上美美地入睡后，怪事在半夜发生，恶魔出现。当他觉得自己要命丧恶魔之手时，想起了老人给的新摇柄，该摇柄改变了他的生活。

腿有残疾的中年男人在艰难地赶路，他赖以生存的可以发出悦耳动听音乐的水车小屋的摇柄坏掉了，这意味着他以后的日子更加难过。邻居看到他时，紧紧地关上了房门，但他艰难前行的身影还是被邻居的女儿透过窗户看到了，善良的小女孩跑出去给了他一片面包。 　　男人遇到看来比他更可怜的白发苍苍的老人，将面包转赠于他，作为回报，老人给了他一个新的摇柄，消失不见，他试了试，新的摇柄非常好用。男人回到家，惊奇地发现一桌的美食正等着他，房间里还多出了许多家具衣服。他美美地饱餐一顿又穿上新睡衣躺在新床上美美地入睡后，怪事在半夜发生，恶魔出现。当他觉得自己要命丧恶魔之手时，想起了老人给的新摇柄，该摇柄改变了他的生活。

才华横溢的航空设计师想在即将到来的航展上展示新研发的飞机的性能，并签下一份大合同。在航展开幕几天前，他在车祸中身亡，并成了幽灵，只有一个中学生能看到他。对这个航空设计师而言，这个男孩儿是完成他未竟事业并使新飞机翱翔蓝天的唯一希望。

才华横溢的航空设计师想在即将到来的航展上展示新研发的飞机的性能，并签下一份大合同。在航展开幕几天前，他在车祸中身亡，并成了幽灵，只有一个中学生能看到他。对这个航空设计师而言，这个男孩儿是完成他未竟事业并使新飞机翱翔蓝天的唯一希望。

工作之余，城市垃圾清理工人Sergio（Ricardo Meneses）会像他养的狗一样到处闻嗅男人的气味，并用或试探或强迫的方式与他们发生性爱，他爱玩SM，独处时喜欢在自虐中达到性高潮。 　　当女同事向他示爱时，他粗暴地给予拒绝，能让他提起兴趣的事只有带着他的狗边在里斯本的夜色中乱逛边幻想致命性爱。 　　某日他在泳池看上一游泳运动员，开始将其跟踪。逐渐地，他的行为由偷窥该运动员淋浴变成拣翻他的垃圾、偷偷潜入他的房间。而在被他粗暴拒绝之后，欲望得不到满足的Sergio计划将他报复。

工作之余，城市垃圾清理工人Sergio（Ricardo Meneses）会像他养的狗一样到处闻嗅男人的气味，并用或试探或强迫的方式与他们发生性爱，他爱玩SM，独处时喜欢在自虐中达到性高潮。 　　当女同事向他示爱时，他粗暴地给予拒绝，能让他提起兴趣的事只有带着他的狗边在里斯本的夜色中乱逛边幻想致命性爱。 　　某日他在泳池看上一游泳运动员，开始将其跟踪。逐渐地，他的行为由偷窥该运动员淋浴变成拣翻他的垃圾、偷偷潜入他的房间。而在被他粗暴拒绝之后，欲望得不到满足的Sergio计划将他报复。