Phantom Of The Paradise

Relentlessly panned upon its release, Brian De Palma’s 1974 bomb Phantom Of The Paradise has since garnered a considerable cult following. De Palma’s bizarre, glam-rock take on The Phantom Of The Opera by way of Faust stars William Finley as a singer-songwriter wreaking revenge on a Satanic record producer (played with malicious glee by “Rainbow Connection” composer Paul Williams), but that’s just the framework for De Palma’s usual stylistic flashes and weird fringe characters like Gerrit Graham’s pill-popping prima donna “Beef.”Phantom is the kind of fascinating disaster that almost never gets made anymore, which is a shame.  

Updated 03/30/2010