Review of Phantom of the Paradise (1974) by Deena A — 30 Mar 2012

Brian De Palma is a real chameleon of a filmmaker. He can make a hard-edged, balls-to-the-wall gangster flick like Scarface; an edge-of-your-seat action film like Mission:Impossible; an all-time scarefest like Carrie; and then he can pull something like Phantom of the Paradise out of nowhere.

This is most certainly a salute to cult and b-movies, operas (certainly Phantom of the Opera), musicals, comedies and horror films. It's really got everything going for it. The cast in the film is superb; Jessica Harper (who horror fans may recognize from Suspiria), Paul Williams and William Finley, all give terrific performances.

Gerritt Graham is also phenomenal in his role and really made me laugh out loud several times. The film is also shot amazingly. I particularly liked the shots of the phantom running down a long hallway with his cape flowing behind him.

I also dug Beef's death scene, where they somehow sped the film up and cut frames for his electrocution. I thought that was genius. The score and, of course, themusic in the movie is all just wonderful.

All stemming from Paul Williams, it really is fantastic opera rock at its best. The closing credit song was a delight, as well. I guess I can't go by without mentioning how this movie is alluded to The Rocky Horror Picture Show because they both have the same kinda feel and content and both came out around the same time, but I think this movie is the superior one.

On a sidenote, I have no idea how they got Rod Serling to do the opening credits, but it was a perfect touch! By and large, not everybody will like this movie, for a lot of reasons, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Brian De Palma is really on top of his game here.