27 - Phantom of the Paradise

     A composer/songwriter is betrayed by a music mogul, and begins haunting his new theater in an effort to get revenge.
     This was hard to summarize, because the story is a strange blending of Faust and Phantom of the Opera.  This story is also filtered through a strange sensibility, reminding me of Warhol and David Bowie.
     I'm having a hard time articulating any thoughts about it.  It's a strange movie.  It's really strange.  There's a male diva (is there another word for that?) named Beef.  He spends much of his screen time topless.  He delivers his lines in a gay stereotype.
     The movie is directed by Brian De Palma, two years before Carrie, and a year after Sisters.  He uses some split-screen work, but his direction isn't the focus... the strange opulence of the set design, the pacing of the dialogue.  It all makes a more fantastical experience than you would expect.  I haven't seen anything like it before, and even the most immediately comparable things like Rocky Horror aren't quite like this.  This seems a little more nightmarish, almost maddening in a weird way.