Review – The Phantom of the Paradise

Brian DePalma serves up an interesting stew: equal parts Gaston Leroux, Goethe and mid-70s pop music culture, with a dash of Poe and a sprig of Wilde thrown in for flavor. And yeah, it turns out just about like you’d expect it to. For the most part the production is a parade of cartoonish characters acting out the usual Phantom of the Opera plot cut together with a Tommy-esque affection for jump cuts and other techniques that now seem more quaint than artistic. However, every once in awhile DePalma works a shot here or a plot twist there that’ll leave you with that “oh, that was sort of chilling” feeling. Otherwise this is an amusing send-up of the whole ever-so-serious rock opera genre and not much else. Mildly amusing