Phantom of the Paradise - Review

Oh, boy, this was a weird one. I was thrilled to hear that Brian De Palma had done a rock opera in the mid-70s and it was as weird an wonderful as I could have hoped. Let's get to it!

A young composer, Winslow Leach, is targeted by a satanic record producer, Swan, and has his music stolen from him. Swan wants to use his music to open his new concert hall, "The Paradise". Swan has his minions beat up Winslow and frame him for drug dealing and Winslow is sent to prison. While in prison, his teeth are extracted as part of some weird experiment (funded by you-know-who) and they are replaced by some metal ones, resulting in Winslow appearing as a Flavor Flav of the disco era.  Eventually, Winslow escapes prison but things only get worse from there.

He breaks into a record company and destroys the record press and records of the band he used to backup, the band who have been taken over by Swan and stole his music. He is caught and beaten, having his face mutilated and his voice box destroyed.

He sneaks into the Paradise, takes a mask and a black cape, becoming THE PHANTOM OF THE PARADISE.

This movie is simply weird no matter how you look at it. The soundtrack is great though. The score received an Oscar nomination even though the film itself was universally panned.

It's worth watching (free for Amazon Prime members)  for the great music and the 1970s camp that I adore.