Phantom of the Paradise is a 1974 American rock musical comedy horror film written and directed by Brian De Palma and scored by and starring Paul Williams.
In revenge, the songwriter dons a menacing new persona and proceeds to terrorize Swan's new concert hall, insisting his music be performed by his most adored singer, Phoenix (Jessica Harper).
The plot loosely adapts several classic works: the 16th century Faust legend, Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray and Gaston Leroux's The Phantom of the Opera.
Following a run-through by the 1950s-style nostalgia band the Juicy Fruits, star record producer Swan overhears singer-songwriter Winslow Leach perform an original composition: A song from the cantata based on the legend of Faust.
Swan believes Winslow's music is ideal for the opening of The Paradise—Swan's highly anticipated new concert hall—and has his right-hand man Arnold Philbin steal it.
He terrorizes Swan and his musicians, nearly killing the Beach Bums (formerly the Juicy Fruits, who have traded doo-wop for surf music) with a bomb while they play a reworked version of Winslow's Faust.
Winslow completes Faust, but Swan replaces Phoenix with a male glam rock prima donna named Beef.
[5] The root for making the film was a recollection that De Palma had hearing a Beatles song in an elevator played as "muzak" to go along with experiences trying to pitch material to indifferent executives and an idea from his friends (Mark Stone and John Weiser) about a "Phantom of the Fillmore".
Producer Pressman then screened the movie to studios and sold it to the highest bidder, 20th Century Fox, for $2 million plus a percentage.
[13] The film was successful during its theatrical release in Winnipeg, Manitoba,[14] where it opened on Boxing Day 1974 and played continuously in local cinemas over four months and over one year non-continuously until 1976.
"[16] Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune gave the film two stars out of four, writing that "what's up on the screen is childish; it has meaning only because it points to something else.
"[17] Variety called the film "a very good horror comedy-drama" with "excellent" camera work, and stated that all the principal actors "come across extremely well.
"[18] Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times called the film "delightfully outrageous," adding that De Palma's sense of humor "is often as sophomoric as that which he is ostensibly spoofing.
"[19] Pauline Kael of The New Yorker was positive, stating, "Though you may anticipate a plot turn, it's impossible to guess what the next scene will look like or what its rhythm will be.
You practically get a kinetic charge from the breakneck wit he put into 'Phantom;' it isn't just that the picture has vitality but that one can feel the tremendous kick the director got out of making it.
"[20] Richard Combs of The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote, "Too broad in its effects and too bloated in style to cut very deeply as a parody of The Phantom of the Opera, Brian De Palma's rock horror movie is closer to the anything goes mode of a Mad magazine lampoon ... Phantom of the Paradise nevertheless offers fair competition to and comes on much like Tommy.
"[21] On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds a score of 82% based on 65 reviews, with an average grade of 7.3 out of 10 and the consensus: "Brian De Palma's subversive streak is on full display in Phantom of the Paradise, an ebullient rock opera that rhapsodizes creativity when it isn't seething with disdain for the music industry.
[26] Musician Sébastien Tellier wrote about his song "Divine" on his album Sexuality: "This is my tribute to the Beach Boys and the Juicy Fruits (from the 1974 musical Phantom of the Paradise).
Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter met two decades ago this year, at the perfect cinema-going ages of 13 and 12 ... the one movie which they saw together more than 20 times was Phantom of the Paradise, Brian De Palma's 1974 rock musical, based loosely around Phantom of the Opera (both this and Electroma feature 'a hero with a black leather outfit and a helmet').
Some notable examples include Hirohiko Araki's Purple Haze, Kentaro Miura's Femto,[29] Kazuma Kaneko's design for Illuyanka in the Shin Megami Tensei franchise and Digimon's Apocalymon and Beelzemon.
On October 26, 2024, a 50th anniversary screening of the movie was held at the Majestic Theater in Dallas, one of the original filming sites representing the interiors of Swan’s Paradise concert venue.