Phantom of the Paradise: De Palma's Rock Opera of Faustian Rot

Thu, 18 Jul 2024 12:00:00 +0000

Phantom of the Paradise came out in 1974, died almost everywhere, and then refused to die at all. In most American cities it played to empty houses. In Winnipeg it ran for months and became a civic obsession; in Paris it was a hit; everywhere else it waited, on late-night television and worn videotape, for the audience it deserved. That audience turned out to be enormous and devoted, and half a century later Brian De Palma’s glam-rock horror musical looks less like a curio and more like the missing link between the Universal monster picture and everything gaudy and heartbroken that came after it.

Brian De Palma - vo.rs

Phantom of the Paradise: De Palma's Rock Opera of Faustian Rot