History Film / PhantomOfTheParadise

Compare and contrast ''TheRockyHorrorPictureShow'', another 1970s rock musical that tackles horror themes (albeit in a much spoofier manner).

** [[spoiler: This troper would still call that a BittersweetEnding, as Swan is exposed and humiliated on TV before being stabbed to death and presumably going to Hell.]]
*** [[spoiler:Yeah, but the extremely mocking lyrics Swan sings to "The Hell of It" over the credits seem to suggest that Swan somehow won in death anyway.]]
*** [[spoiler: Paul Williams, not his character Swan, sings "The Hell of It", and it's not directed at Winslow(who obviously didn't "die in vain" or "love himself as he loved no other"). If it ''is'' supposed to be Paul Williams singing the song as one of his characters, this troper thinks it's ''Satan'' singing it ''about Swan''. So we're back to BittersweetEnding]]
*** [[spoiler:The audio commentary for the DVD stated that the song was originally written for a never shot Beff's burial's scene. It was not shot since they didn't fing a satisfying location, and probably lacked time and monney to do so. The interpretation of the tune in contest is up to you now. but the sarcastic tone of the song actually lightens the mood after a more straight tragic ending.]]

** Also, Winslow's new singing voice, after he became the phantom, is actually Paul Williams' ...whom character, Swan, judges the aforementionned voice "perfect".

Life in prison isn't so kind to Winslow. His teeth are extracted for experimental purposes, and he winds up with a set of sharp metal replacements. One day, when he hears one of his ''Faust'' songs on the radio -- watered down into cutesy pop and performed by Swan's most popular band, The Juicy Fruits -- he manages to escape prison, but ends up in a freak accident with a record press, severely deforming his face and damaging his vocal chords. Angry and desperate, Winslow heads to The Paradise and dons a cape and a mask, now becoming the titular Phantom. He attempts to kill The Juicy Fruits (now retooled into "The Beach Bums") with a bomb, but fails. When he confronts Swan alone shortly thereafter, he's put off-balance by Swan's now conciliatory manner.

* HeyItsThatPlace: Swan's house is the same "castle" used in TheRockyHorrorPictureShow, further tying the two cult rock musicals together.

* CastingGag - Paul Williams, who plays the diabolical, 5'2, top-hat-wearing, bird-obsessed Swan would later voice the diabolical, 5'2, top-hat-wearing, bird-obsessed Penguin on ''BatmanTheAnimatedSeries''.

Life in prison isn't so kind to Winslow. His teeth are extracted for experimental purposes, and he winds up with a set of sharp metal replacements. One day, when he hears one of his ''Faust'' songs on the radio -- watered down into cutesy pop and performed by Swan's most popular band, The Juicy Fruits -- he manages to escape prison, but ends up in a freak accident with a record press, severely deforming his face and damaging his vocal chords. Angry and desperate, Winslow heads to The Paradise and dons a cape and a mask, now becoming the titular phantom. He attempts to kill The Juicy Fruits (now retooled into "The Beach Bums") with a bomb, but fails. When he confronts Swan alone shortly thereafter, he's put off-balance by Swan's now conciliatory manner.

** Also happens later with Beef, when he doesn't want to perform because of the phantom.

A combination of ''{{Phantom of the Opera}}'', ''ThePictureOfDorianGray'', ''{{Faust}}'', ''Literature/{{The Hunchback of Notre Dame}}'', and ''Film/TheCabinetOfDrCaligari'', ''Phantom of the Paradise'' is rather polarizing film, having been a complete flop when it was first released (though at least receiving an Oscar nomination for its soundtrack). It's now considered a cult favorite.

* PlayingAgainstType - Paul Williams as Swan. Williams' on-screen appearances are usually as much friendlier characters, but moreover, his best known songwriting efforts are tunes such as [[Main/AStarIsBorn "Evergreen"]] and [[Main/TheMuppetMovie "Rainbow Connection"]], which are '''worlds''' away from the grimmer, even cynical tunes here.

* ClumsyCopyrightCensorship: A rather unfortunate case. Swan's record label, [[AWorldwidePunomenon Swan Song]], was featured in many scenes, including long shots and panning shots. At about the same time they were filming, Music/LedZeppelin manager Peter Grant started a ''real'' [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swan_Song_Records record label]] with the name, and beat Phantom by a couple months with their first album release. Grant threatened to block release of the film, so De Palma and his editor ''[[ClumsyCopyrightCensorship very poorly]]'' covered up the offending words with the new label name, Death Records. Even worse, several long take scenes with too much movement were reedited so as to not show the original name, wasting the long single take shots. That name was '''everywhere.''' [[http://www.swanarchives.org/Production_Fiasco.asp Luckily, the original takes survive in the hands of a fan]], though who knows if they'll ever be used in a future release.

* ClumsyCopyrightCensorship: A rather unfortunate case. Swan's record label, [[AWorldwidePunomenon Swan Song]], was featured in many scenes, including long shots and panning shots. At about the same time they were filming, LedZeppelin manager Peter Grant started a ''real'' [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swan_Song_Records record label]] with the name, and beat Phantom by a couple months with their first album release. Grant threatened to block release of the film, so De Palma and his editor ''[[ClumsyCopyrightCensorship very poorly]]'' covered up the offending words with the new label name, Death Records. Even worse, several long take scenes with too much movement were reedited so as to not show the original name, wasting the long single take shots. That name was '''everywhere.''' [[http://www.swanarchives.org/Production_Fiasco.asp Luckily, the original takes survive in the hands of a fan]], though who knows if they'll ever be used in a future release.

A musical CultClassic from 1974, directed by Brian de Palma.

Life in prison isn't so kind to Winslow. His teeth are extracted for experimental purposes, and he winds up with a set of sharp metal replacements. One day, when he hears one of his ''Faust'' songs on the radio -- watered down into cutesy pop and performed by Swan's most popular band, the Juicy Fruits -- he manages to escape prison, but ends up in a freak accident with a record press, severely deforming his face and damaging his vocal chords. Angry and desperate, Winslow heads to The Paradise and dons a cape and a mask, now becoming the titular phantom. He attempts to kill The Juicy Fruits (now retooled into "The Beach Bums") with a bomb, but fails. When he confronts Swan alone shortly thereafter, he's put off-balance by Swan's now conciliatory manner.

* ClumsyCopyrightCensorship: A rather unfortunate case. Swan's record label, [[AWorldwidePunomenon Swan Song]], was featured in many scenes, including long shots and panning shots. At about the same time they were filming, LedZeppelin manager Peter Grant started a ''real'' [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swan_Song_Records record label]] with the name, and beat Phantom by a couple months with their first album release. Grant threatened to block release of the film, so [[BrianDePalma dePalma]] and his editor ''[[ClumsyCopyrightCensorship very poorly]]'' covered up the offending words with the new label name, Death Records. Even worse, several long take scenes with too much movement were reedited so as to not show the original name, wasting the long single take shots. That name was '''everywhere.''' [[http://www.swanarchives.org/Production_Fiasco.asp Luckily, the original takes survive in the hands of a fan]], though who knows if they'll ever be used in a future release.

* NiceHat- Phoenix's fedora she wears as she sings "Special To Me" at her audition.

* PaperThinDisguise - Winslow's attempt to infiltrate Swan's mansion as a harem girl.

* PlayingAgainstType - Paul Williams as Swan. Williams' on-screen appearances are usually as much friendlier characters, but moreover, his best known songwriting efforts are tunes such as [[Main/AStarIsBorn "Evergreen"]] and [[Main/TheMuppetMovie "The Rainbow Connection"]], which are '''worlds''' away from the grimmer, even cynical tunes here.

* [[GovernmentDrugEnforcement Record Company Drug Enforcement]]: Death Records does this with all there musicians, for example when one of the "Beach Bums" complaines that he's too sick to sing, Philibin just shoves some pills down his throat and shoves him back on stage.

* SequelEscalation - A kind of in-film example, with Swan's public shows. [[spoiler:The first in the film features a singer bloodlessly miming hari-kari on stage. The second involves dummy audience members being hacked up by the singers and turned into a Frankenstein-like man. This show ends with said man being electrocuted on stage. The final show, the wedding, features a man being shot in the head, the Phantom's wounds re-opening, and Swan himself being graphically stabbed to death on live TV, with the theater audience themselves finally climbing up to take part in it all. This troper didn't think about this until repeat viewings, so it counted as FridgeBrilliance too]]

Winslow Leach is an aspiring singer/songwriter who's quite thrilled when powerful music producer, Swan (Paul Williams, who wrote all the film's songs), expresses interest in using his music -- a rock version of ''Faust'' -- to open The Paradise, the ultimate rock theater. However, Winslow quickly finds out that Swan wants absolutely nothing to do with him after taking his music. While Winslow gets lucky the first time he sneaks into Swan's mansion (by meeting Phoenix, a cute wannabe singer), he isn't so fortunate the second time, where he's beaten up by Swan's men, framed for drug dealing, and sent to prison for life.

* LesYay - Swan likes his female auditionees to have sex with each other for his own enjoyment.

A combination of ''{{Phantom of the Opera}}'', ''ThePictureOfDorianGray'', ''{{Faust}}'', ''Literature/{{The Hunchback of Notre Dame}}'', and ''TheCabinetOfDrCaligari'', ''Phantom of the Paradise'' is rather polarizing film, having been a complete flop when it was first released (though at least receiving an Oscar nomination for its soundtrack). It's now considered a cult favorite.