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Phantom of the Paradise
 
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Phantom of the Paradise

Paul Williams (Actor), William Finley (Actor), Brian De Palma (Director) | Rated: R (Restricted) | Format: VHS Tape
4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (109 customer reviews)

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Describing Brian De Palma's Phantom of the Paradise as an update of the classic Phantom of the Opera doesn't do justice to this demented movie. While De Palma's Hitchcock homages have sometimes led him into dead ends, this rock & roll remake seems to have liberated De Palma's imagination, and the result is weird and funny, with the scruffy underground spirit of the director's early pictures. The Phantom is one Winslow Leach (William Finley), a nerdy songwriter whose "pop cantata" on the subject of Faust is stolen by a freakish, Phil Spector-like rock impresario called Swan (Paul Williams). After getting his head caught in a vinyl-LP compressor, Leach is transformed into a masked creature, haunting Swan's music palace, the Paradise. De Palma proves how nimbly he can establish narrative rhythm: the story moves like a cannon shot, and the musical numbers (especially in the Alice Cooper-like Paradise sequences) are brilliantly cut. The movie seems to predict the Studio 54 scene, MTV, and punk rock--the last, especially, in the figure of Beef, a screeching singer played by the unhinged Gerrit Graham. The songs were written by Paul Williams, that diminutive '70s music icon (he cowrote the Barbra Streisand wet noodle "Evergreen"), and his performance is a reminder of his peculiar, self-spoofing presence: at one point, the preening Swan announces, "You know how I abhor perfection in anyone but myself." Comedy, musical, horror film, '70s artifact--this movie isn't quite definable, and that's what's wonderful about it. --Robert Horton

Description

Composer Winslow Leach (William Finley) is determined to seek revenge on Swan (Williams), an evil record tycoon who steals his pop cantana of the Faust legend to launch his enemy's palace as the mysterious Phantom of the Paradise and continues to plan his gruesome retaliation.

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Customer Reviews

109 Reviews
5 star:
 (74)
4 star:
 (22)
3 star:
 (7)
2 star:
 (4)
1 star:
 (2)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.5 out of 5 stars (109 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
2.0 out of 5 stars The movie's great, the DVD isn't, May 2 2003
By 
This review is from: Phantom of the Paradise (Widescreen) (DVD)
Other reviewers have told you that the movie itself is a cult classic, entertaining and brilliantly funny in its own way. That you don't need to be told. What you need to be told is that the DVD itself is not very good. The transfer of the picture is muddy and the soundtrack, especially Paul Williams' inspired and entertaining music, is equally disappointing.

Furthermore, the "extras" are pathetic. The trailer isn't even a trailer - - it's a mishmash of clips from several scenes, with little coherent thought put to their selection or their order. The name of the movie is never displayed or mentioned. There are no actor or director bios, missing scenes, or even production notes. The disc does include trailers for other films from the distributor, including Phantom's more famous rival, "The Rocky Horror Picture Show".

This movie has a larger following than many realize, and calls out desperately for a special edition DVD with interviews or commentary of director Brian DePalma (it's his first feature length film), Williams and Jessica Harper (the heroine Phoenix) at the very least. A stage version, which nearly came to life in 1988, would also be welcome. Tragically, we'll likely never see either come to pass.

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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars TERRIFIC AND TWISTED !, April 5 2007
By 
The Critic "Movie Maniac" (Windsor) - See all my reviews
(TOP 100 REVIEWER)   
This review is from: Phantom of the Paradise (Widescreen) (DVD)
From the great mind of Brian De Palma comes the very entertaining and bizarre film "Phantom Of The Paradise". This 1974 cult classic from Brian De Palma is pure film genius. The story is well crafted and the casting in my opinion is terrific. The amazing aspect about this movie is it's not limited to one genre of film making. It has an unusual mix of comedy, horror and part musical and that's what makes it so great. The combination of De Palma's imaginative directing and Paul Williams acting and impressive music soundtrack make "Phantom Of The Paradise" a scream to watch. This movie was a box office dud in it's original debut and lurked in the shadows of The Rocky Horror Picture Show" and other films for many years. Fans of this movie will be delighted with the video transfer from 20th Century Fox Studios. The video transfer is presented in it's 1.85:1 Anamorphic widescreen aspect ratio and the image is crisp and clean. It's really too bad that the sound wasn't remastered in Dolby Digital 5.1 given the movies awesome soundtrack. My only real complaint is that the DVD lacks bonus material. It would have been nice if 20th Century Fox had approached Brian De Palma to provide some commentary or include cast footage for this release. After all these years I'd love to hear his thoughts on what I believe is an underrated 70's classic.

Brian De Palma has given us a number of great films over the years, but it's the hilarious and horrific images of this movie that are forever embedded in my mind.

DVD Features:
* Anamorphic widescreen [aspect ratio 1.85:1]
* Interactive menus
* Scene selection
* Theatrical trailer
* Audio Options: English stereo, French mono
* Subtitles: English, Spanish
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5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome Movie - Dated, but funny as heck, May 20 2011
This review is from: Phantom of the Paradise (Widescreen) (DVD)
I remember seeing this movie when I was a teen and thought it would be a laugh to watch it again. It was very difficult to find it in the video rental places in my small city so I had to buy it...I'm glad I did.
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› Go to Amazon.com to see all 178 reviews  4.4 out of 5 stars 
 
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