What a waste of my time!!!

just watch it!

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Phantom of the Paradise (1974) ** (out of 4)The talented but hot-tempered composer Winslow Leach (William Finley) agrees to hand his masterpiece, an adaptation of Faust, over to hot-shot music legend Swan (Paul Williams) who of course ends up stealing it. Leach goes to get his music back when he face is horribly burned so he takes shelter at the Paradise where he plans to get revenge as well as make Phoenix (Jessica Harper) a star.Brian DePalma's take on The Phantom of the Opera is a film that I admire and respect more than I actually enjoyed. Over the past four decades the film has gained a huge cult following and it's easy to see why. It's just so goofy, over-the-top but extremely well-made that it's easy to see why so many people enjoy it for what it is. With that said, if you don't "get" what's going on then you're going to be left scratching your head, which is pretty much where I was. Again, I thought the performances were great, the direction wonderful and visually the film is impressive. With that said, it just didn't click with me to the point where I was fully engaged with the film.Again, there's a lot to admire in the film including the wonderful visual style. DePalma certainly knows how to keep the camera moving and cinematographer Larry Pizer is constantly busy with the camera floating around picking up countless strange but beautiful shots. The set design is another major plus because you really do feel as if you're watching and seeing things for the first time. The alternate universe created really does come across like a new world and this here helps push the story as well. The costumes, of course, are one of the more memorable aspects including the Phantom's look but also the various looks given to the musical performers whether it's a spoof on The Beach Boys or a take off on KISS. The performances are another major plus with Finley and Williams perfect in their roles. I thought Finley was extremely good at bringing across the temper but there's also a part of you that feels sorry for the guy and his broken dreams. Williams, who appears to be acting like Phil Spector, is also excellent in how much of a cold snake he is but he never goes over-the-top and instead plays it pretty cool. Harper is also a delight as the love interest but the real start here is Gerrit Graham as a Queen-like prima donna who easily steals the show. Some might be offended by the type of performance he gives but hey, this was the 1970s. I found him to be extremely entertaining in the part and managed to give the film the shot of energy it needed.So, I've just praised just about everything in the film yet I've given it two stars. That might not make much sense but the film simply didn't entertain meant outside the technical department. Again, PHANTOM OF THE PARADISE is an extremely well-made movie and a very impressive one but it just didn't connect with me. If you are able to connect with it then obviously you're going to be in with a large group of people that see this as a cult classic.

I love this movie, and is probably my favorite Brian De Palma film. It is excellently written, it has memorable characters, and of course, great music. The plot follows record label owner Swan (Paul Williams), as he searches for musicians to play at the opening night of his rock palace, The Paradise. He hears a song from Winslow Leech (William Finnley), and decides not to politely ask him to play, but steals his cantata, and sell it to female singer. At Swan's palace, he meets Phoenix (Jessica Harper), who is auditioning to perform. He is then caught by Swan's security guards, and after a series of events, he gets his face morbidly deformed with a record press. He attempts to attack the paradise, by putting bombs in cars and electrocuting musicians, but I won't give too much away. 10/10.

This viewer feels obliged to point out that his hometown - Winnipeg, Canada - is one of the two cities in the world to truly embrace Brian De Palmas' operatic spoof of the glam rock era. (The other being Paris, France.) Therefore, it's mystifying that it should have taken me so long to finally watch it, but now I'm glad that I have.It's a thoroughly flamboyant, marvelously designed and decorated rock musical that combines the themes of Phantom of the Opera, Faust, and The Picture of Dorian Gray. William Finley stars as Winslow Leach, a naive, trusting singer-composer who is taken advantage of by conniving producer Swan (who's played by real-life singer-composer-actor Paul Williams). Several circumstances later, the disfigured Leach seeks revenge against Swan while falling madly in love with aspiring pop star Phoenix (the radiant Jessica Harper).The late, great character star Finley and the engaging Williams were never better than in this funny and fast paced exercise in style. It gets off to a great start with opening narration by none other than Rod Serling. Well shot, by Larry Pizer, and designed, by Jack Fisk, it features some thoroughly catchy ditties by Williams. The parodies of such performers as Sha-Na-Na and the Beach Boys are spot on. De Palma is also most effective at capturing the insanity of the emerging shock-rock trend, especially with the effeminate rocker Beef, one of the all- time best roles for top character actor Gerrit Graham.Harper is beautiful and extremely appealing and it's a shame that neither she nor Graham nor anyone else here ever became big stars. Williams is great fun, and Finley fully embraces the tragic arc of his character. Heavy set George Memmoli is also solid as Swans' gopher Philbin.This film manages to maintain that feeling of fun throughout while also being rather sad at the same time.Trivia note: Fisks' wife, actress Sissy Spacek, who went on to play the title role in De Palmas' next film, the feature adaptation of Stephen Kings' "Carrie", was the set dresser here. And look for such familiar 70s actresses as Jennifer Ashley, Janit Baldwin, Janus Blythe, Robin Mattson, Patrice Rohmer, and Cheryl Smith among the groupies.Eight out of 10.

Like a dog playing the bassoon or Rush Limbaugh delivering the keynote address at the annual convention of the NAACP, there are some things in life you have to see to believe. Phantom of the Paradise definitely falls into that category. A willfully campy stab at creating a "Rocky Horror" style midnight movie, this film inherently defies critical analysis. Almost everything about it that's goofy or terrible is intentionally that way. All you can authoritatively say about it is that it features a lot of great music by Paul Williams and it shows that Brian De Palma had no freakin' idea what to do when his characters started singing.As the title implies, this is a take off on The Phantom of the Opera but one where the origin of the Phantom is acted out twice in the story. It's also a musical version of Faust where the a main character has actually written a musical version of Faust. Then if that wasn't enough for you, the movie also throws a heaping portion of The Portrait of Dorian Gray into the cinematic stew pot. The end result is an intentionally bizarre muddle that you have to enjoy for its own dreadfulness. William Finley stars as Winslow Leech, the talented musician who is betrayed, disfigured, becomes the Phantom and is then weirdly betrayed again by the same guy. Of course, since Finley looks like the genetic results of a four way orgy of Barry Manilow, Randy Neuman, Gene Wilder and Marty Feldman, he's probably the only Phantom in history to look better after he's disfigured. Paul Williams is Swan, the mega-successful and manipulative record producer who steals Winslow's music to christen the opening of his new theater, "The Paradise". Jessica Harper is Phoenix, the young singer caught between Swan and the Phantom. Harper appears to be the only one in the cast to not understand that she's in a deliberately bad film, resulting in her giving both the best and most incorrect performance in the whole mess. There's also George Memmoli as Swan's chief stooge and Gerrit Graham as a glam rocker Swan recruits to perform Winslow's cantata about Faust, which somehow transforms into a rock opera about Frankenstein.I could go on and on about how Phantom of the Paradise sucks in this, that and every other way…but that would miss the point. Even the abominable 70s fashions on display are so obviously exaggerated beyond what even people in the 70s wore that you can't really comment on it. All I can say is that the music, written but not usually performed by Paul Williams, is quite catchy. If they'd been part of a straightforward musical, even a terrible one, some of these tunes would probably have become standards that get covered over and over again by different artists. The other noteworthy thing about this movie is the direction of Brian De Palma. I t's interesting to see him work before he threw in the towel and became a Hitchcock drag queen, but the experience is somewhat spoiled by De Palma being completely out to lunch when it comes to making a musical. The singing and dancing in Phantom of the Paradise is so blandly staged and lamely filmed that you could show those scenes to the most devoted De Palma fans in the universe and they would never guess he directed them.If you can imagine The Rocky Horror Picture Show starring The Monkees, you have a fairly good idea of what this film is like. If that sounds like something you would enjoy, you can either rent this DVD or get yourself some much needed therapy.