Phantom of the Paradise (Brian De Palma, 1974)
Phantom of the paradise is an insane musical ride that leaves you loving it or hating it with a passion. I doubt there is actually a middle ground for the people that have seen this film. It's not really one of those films that you can say it was just mediocre. I happened to find myself loving this insane little gem of a film.
Phantom revolves around Winslow Leach a composer that has written an amazing piece of music that a producer named swan steals from him so he can open his new Paradise palace with. Swan also then kidnaps a woman by the name of Phoenix who is the only person that Winslow will let sing the piece of music he's written. Winslow Leach gets horribly disfigured and takes up revenge upon Swan. If you love what you hear so far then i recommend for you to go check this film out.
This wonderfully weird story is brought to life by De Palma's keen eye for Wonderful choreography and amazing long takes. Towards the middle of the film we get an amazing split screen shot where both shots go on for a long period of time then both meet up at one place.
De Palma fills this surreal world with great characters like "Beef" the flamboyant heavy metal singer which steals absolutely every scene. Also we can't forget the incredible band "The Juicy Fruits" where every member seems to love to put on a dynamic show whenever on stage. Every piece of music is amazing especially the piece written by Winslow Leach. For myself this is on par with Rocky Horror even though it's nothing like it because its not really a musical. It just has music in it. I absolutely loved it.
Grade A+
I know what I want to be for Halloween now.
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