Written and Directed by: Brian De Palma
Starring: Paul Williams, William Finley, Jessica Harper, Gerrit Graham
As its name implies, this is a take on the Phantom of the Opera. But, like, if Gaston Leroux had done a boatload of psychedelics and probably also a bunch of cocaine. Gaston Leroux of course being the writer of the 1911 novel upon which the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical was based. He probably wasn’t on boatloads of psychadelics or cocaine. But I can’t be 100% sure.
“Swan… he has no other name. His past is a mystery, but his work is already a legend. He wrote and produced his first gold record at 14; in the years since then, he has won so many others that he once tried to deposit them in Fort Knox. He brought the blues to Britain. He brought Liverpool to America. He brought folk and rock together. His band, the Juicy Fruits, single-handedly gave birth to the nostalgia wave of the ’70s. Now he is looking for the new sound of the spheres, to inaugurate his own Xanadu, his own Disneyland: the Paradise, the ultimate rock palace. This film is the story of that search, of that sound, of the man who made it, the girl who sang it… and the monster who stole it.”
Not only is this one of my favorite rock operas, Phantom of the Paradise is also one of my favorite movies, period. It’s a total comfort movie – silly, colorful, fun, manic, sinister, musical, drama, romance, horror – it’s ALL there. Plus, there’s Beef. I fucking adore Beef. He’s like my weird, flamboyant, drug-addled son.
You may recognize Beef as Gerrit Graham. His most notable roles include this and the dad in TerrorVision. Now I’ve typed it, I realize that’s going to also have to make a cameo in this series, because its a fucking weirdo classic). But you also might recognize him from one of his other 123 credited acting roles dating back to 1968. Maybe it’s C.H.U.D. II? I kid. We both know it’s not that. He’s an American treasure.
Really, you probably recognize all the stars. Phoenix (Jessica Harper) was Suzy in Suspiria among other things. Swan (Paul Williams) has done all sorts of movie and TV work, in addition to doing soundtrack work for nearly 200 projects. I think my favorite cameo is in the 1991 movie The Doors. he plays a PR guy for Andy Warhol.
Winslow/The Phantom is honestly the only one I haven’t seen in loads of other stuff. Although he apparently played a part in 2006’s The Black Dahlia.
Flat out, this movie is Brian De Palma at his absolute best.
There’s just so damned much going on in Phantom that it would have been super easy to just get lost in the making of it. It could have turned out to be a pointless mashup of violence, colors, and sounds, but he (De Palma) didn’t let that happen. This is the most tightly-reined madhouse you’ll ever come across – guaranteed.
There are overlapping themes of love, betrayal, sacrifice, lust, madness, artistic integrity, and redemption that all somehow manage to remain completely untangled. They’re all there, yes, and they’re all distinct, but they’re also all still woven back and forth over and under one another. It’s really beautiful.
The version I have is the Scream Factory collector’s edition. I went for that one because it seemed to be the most definitive.
I didn’t buy it in time to get the limited edition poster (and I’ll cry a little inside forever because of that), but at least I still got the most important part. The transfer of the film is absolutely incredible. It’s so clean and crisp that my brain couldn’t quite reconcile it with the grainy version that I’m so used to seeing.
Apparently you can watch this on Amazon’s Shudder channel, but not on regular Shudder, so…figure that out.
You should just buy it. This movie is wonderful. Or at least rent it.
