Phantom of the Paradise (1974)

Phantom of the Paradise
Directed by Brian De Palma
Written by Brian De Palma
1974/US
IMDb page
First viewing/Amazon Prime

The Phantom: “The party of the first part gives the party of the second part and his associates full power to do with him at their pleasure. To rule, to send, to fetch, or carry him or his, be it either body, soul, flesh, blood or goods.” What does that mean?
Swan: That’s a transportation clause.

This rock horror musical was definitely not for me.

Evil impresario Swan (Paul Williams) is getting ready to launch his ultimate rock palace, The Paradise.  Winslow (William Finley) is a nerdy composer who has been working on a rock cantata based on “Faust”.  He spots Phoenix (Jessica Harper) at an audition and decides she is the perfect singer for his music.  Swan steals Winslow’s music and has him beat up and framed for drug dealing.  Following his release from Sing Sing, Winslow has a freak accident that leaves him disfigured.  He becomes the Phantom that haunts the Paradise. Swan convinces him to sell his soul to the devil in exchange for allowing Phoenix to sing the music.

Swan double crosses him and hires a glitter rocker to sing the music but the Phantom scares him off and Phoenix is given the part.  Then Swan steals Phoenix.  We learn that 20 years earlier Swan sold his own soul to the devil in exchange for eternal youth.  If you have seen any version of “The Phantom of the Opera” you will have an idea of what happens next.

I thought this was a loud, stupid, chaotic movie.  The pretentious music couldn’t save it.  If anything about the trailer appeals to you, you will like it better than I did.

Paul Williams and George Aliceson Tipton were nominated for the Best Music, Scoring Original Song Score and/or Adaptation Oscar.