I am bewildered that viewers today think this film is a rip off or they don't see that it is a comedy....in fact I think it is easily as much a cult comedy as ROCKY HORROR, albeit unappreciated and undiscovered. Dismissed in its day it ended up as a double feature with Rocky Horror and then played endlessly across Australia in the 1970s. It is a very funny film and anyone with a sense of humor can see that it is as silly as it is scary. The cinema in Sydney where it opened in 1974 was the 2200 seat Regent and looked just like the theater in the film. The film was forgotten the theater demolished and now everyone moans. .....yeesh.PHANTOM is great fun and has hilarious songs and satire. Just enjoy it. PHANTOM was filmed in the Majestic Theater in San Antonio Texas, and is famed Architect John Eberson's first 'atmospheric' theater with stars and sky as a ceiling.

The powerful and awarded producer of records and owner of the successful label Death Records, Swan (Paul Williams), steals the Faust cantata composed by the unknown and naive composer Winslow Leach (William Finley) for the grand-opening of his rock-palace, The Paradise. When Winslow bothers Swan trying to meet him to produce his album, he is framed by Swan and sentenced to life in Sing Sing. Winslow escapes from the prison and is accidentally disfigured by the record press of the Death Record. He haunts The Paradise and finds Swan, who proposes a thick contract to Winslow to be signed with his blood. In accordance with the deal with the evil producer, the composer could finish the cantata he was composing for his muse and passion, the singer Phoenix (Jessica Harper), to sing in the theater. However, Swan double-crosses Winslow again, and he finds the dark secret of his contract.

The kitsch "Phantom of the Paradise" is a super-cult of my generation, with a tragic love story that blends "The Phantom of the Opera", "Faust" and "The Picture of Dorian Gray". I do not know how many times I have heard the delightful soundtrack of this movie on CD and watched this film on VHS, and today I have just seen it again on DVD for the first time, thirty-three years after the original release and still enjoying and singing the songs together with Phoenix, Beef and the Juicy Fruits. My family also loves this movie and the songs of this underrated masterpiece. The awesome composer of the some of the most important classic songs of The Carpenters, Paul Williams, fits perfectly to the role of the evil Swan, with his blond hair and dark heart. I do not recall seeing William Finley in another movie, at least in a remarkable role. However, the debut of the talented Jessica Harper was stunning, with a top-notch performance and an awesome voice. I could bet at that time that she would become a sensation as actress and singer, but unfortunately I just recall her in "Suspiria", "Love and Death" and "Tales from the Crypt". Brian De Palma pays homage to Alfred Hitchcock with the shower scene of Beef. My vote is ten.

Title (Brazil): "O Fantasma do Paraíso" ("The Phantom of the Paradise")

On 18 January 2011, I saw this film again.