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| September 24, 2020 Shelton Mason County Journal |  |
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Thursday, Sept. 24, 2020 — Shelton-Mason County Journal Page A-27
Phantom: Horror-comedy rock operas playing at the Skyline
continued from page A—25
sharing similar supernatural ele-
ments.
To create the musical content of
“Phantom of the Paradise,” De Palma
smartly partnered with singer-song-
writer Paul Williams, cast as the film’s
true Villain, the sinister record produc-
er Swan. He steals the music of com-
poser Winslow Leach, who was played
by William Finley and was named
alter Wilford Leach, a Tony Award-
winning director and screenwriter who
taught De Palma.
Swan intends to open his new con—
cert hall, the Paradise, with Leach’s
cantata, but Leach, who’s been disfig-
ured and presumed dead as‘a result of
a series of mishaps set into motion by
Swan, adopts an appropriately dark
alter ego to seek his revenge. .
De Palma proceeds to complicate
the plot by depicting the various com-
promises and sacrifices that Leach and
Swan have made for the sake of musi-
cal fame, pitting the two against each
other in a codependent dynamic that’s
in no way a subtle commentary on mu-
sic industry contracts, while also show-
ing both men vying for the affections of
the singer Phoenix (Jessica Harper in
her first film role).
As is perhaps inevitable with Paul
Williams on board, “Phantom of the
Paradise” is an astonishingly incisive
time capsule of Where rock ’n’ roll stood
by the mid-1970s, with 19503 revivals
in the form of doo-wop tribute bands
like Sha Na Na, and the last holdovers
of the 1960s represented by Beach
Boys surfer music, all giving way to
He’s been maimed and framed,
beaten, robbed and mutilated.
But they still can't keep him
from the woman he loves.
'lllE HOST HIGHLY AGGLAIIIEO
HORROR MARY‘SY OF OUR fill!
H,~ranrvan'metp~
the glam morbidity of Kiss-style over-
done stage shows, the latter of which
is underscored not only by the epony-
mous Phantom, but also by “Beef,” the
Mick J agger—esque ridiculously strut-
ting would-be icon whom Swan initial-
ly chooses to sing in Phoenix’s place.
Every takeoff on “The Phantom of
the Opera” requires its own costume
for the Phantom, and “Phantom of
the Paradise” outfits him with black
leather, metal teeth, a synthesizer-
generated voice and an owlish mask
that resembles what Brandon Lee’s
“The Crow” would have looked like if
he’d been designed by the team behind
the 1970s “Gatchaman” anime.
He’s so goth before his time, I’m
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of the audience, against a backdrop
that’s equal parts the laboratory set
from Boris Karlofi’s 1931 “Franken—
stein” and “The Cabinet of Dr. Calig-
ari” in 1920.
Williams proves as valuable to this
film for his onscreen presence as his ,
considerable musical acumen, because
I’m hard-pressed to think of anyone
else who could have imbued the char-
acter of Swan with such a uniquely
creepy air.
Williams was never what anyone
would consider conventionally hand-
some, looking as he did like a John
Denver impressionist who was some-
how both too young and too old for the
Pl 5“ part, but he was canny enough to lean
£45m“ hard into the uncanny valley of his
own appearance to play Swan, making
his unnaturally boyish features seem
vaguely curdled.
The endearineg naif qualities of
Harper as Phoenix, whose earnest ,
ingenue personality and naturally
gifted songbird voice serve as a stark
contrast to the ineptly rehearsed arti-
fici'ality of Graham as Beef, also make
Swan’s predatory attempts at corrupt-
ing her innocence feel all the more de-
grading and unpleasant.
Bottom line, if you’re already on the
right wavelength to enjoy “The Rocky
Horror Picture Show,” then you’re al-
most guaranteed to enjoy “Phantom of
the Paradise,” which I can’t help but
look back on fondly as an artifact of
when a film school kid had the enthu-
siasm to throw everything against the
wall, just to see what would happen.
And yes, that is Rod Serling‘s voice
narrating the opening monologue.
,_____w,.a
OWE YOURSEU CV
10 Absolurc
amazed this film didn’t spontaneously
generate the creation of the Hot Topic
retail chain 15 years early.
As for “Beef,” I’d grown up seeing
the actor who played him, Gerrit Gra-
ham, in a score of subsequent sitcoms
and sci-fi shows, in which his Sam the .
Eagle Muppet aquiline profile lent it-
self well to playing finicky nerds, so it
was a treat to see him cast so aggres-
sively against type as a drugged-up
Narcissus.
And in a move that actually antici-
pates Dr. Frank N. Furter’s Franken-
stein-like creation of Rocky the Adonis,
the stage show at the Paradise depicts
Beef being assembled out of manne-
quin body parts culled from members
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