A look back at Phantom of the Paradise

While Rocky Horror vaulted into cult hyper-fandom, its musical cousin, The Phantom of the Paradise remains relatively obscure.

And that’s a shame, as dammit, Brad and Janet, but P of the P is superior film.

An early directorial effort by the legendary Brian De Palma, Phantom tells the story of the diabolical proprietor of Death Records (an early precursor of Death Row Records?), Swan, who wants aspiring composer Winslow Leach’s music to open his new Paradise concert hall.

And like record executives since the dawn of the era of recorded music, swindles the artist, but without the aid of a 360 deal. And then he goes one better (or worse) and then successfully frames Winslow for drugs.

Winslow, understandably, wants revenge. And when he gets out of prison, he returns to The Paradise voiceless and grotesquely disfigured, like the more famous Phantom (of the Opera) namesake, a result of a horrible accident which also destroys his vocal cords.

He adopts a Minerva mask, a la Michele Soavi’s Stagefright, and things go haywire.

Phantom of the Paradise is a darkly conceptualized masterpiece, which also happens to be an cunning satire of the music industry of the time.

The songs are great, plus there’s audience dismemberment and decapitation. What more do you need?

**** (out of 5)

The Ruins

For The Ruins, the gulf between expectation and execution is great – as is the movie. Who knew?

After all, the Netflix description – “an idyllic vacation in Cancun takes a dangerous turn for four young Americans when a mysterious tourist persuades them to join an archaeological dig” at surface level, reads like you’d be in for a standard bikini stalk-and-slash. Or maybe even a cursed Mayan artifact film, perhaps along the lines of a dopy Dolly Dearest or if you’re lucky, something a little more cerebral a la La Llorona.

The first 15 minutes features fit bodies and loads of tequila.

But instead of the same old, same old…an eyeroll becomes a real eye-opener: The Ruins first takes an Italian cannibal detour, then veers into survivalist horror and then the supernatural – borrowing liberally from multiple genres and against all odds, picking from the best of each.

Surprisingly, for a bunch of seemingly two dimensional Spring Break knuckleheads, the characters demonstrate a strong will to live, courage in spades and resourcefulness that belies their central casting appearance.

The Ruins is at times brutal and harrowing, with scares self-inflicted, often shown in daylight, and incredible use of a dense jungle setting.

If there’s a better horror sitting at 50% on Rotten Tomatoes, we’re not aware of it.

***3/4 (out of 5)