Party Monster (2003)

The events described in Party Monster were the "in" thing in the eighties and nineties. Club kids dressing up in drag, doing drugs, and partying all night with no sexual preference were all hot. Party Monster describes the life Michael Alig had when he became a club kid after being orientated by a fellow club kid named James St. James.

The two clicked, they started doing massive amounts of drugs and alcohol, and soon enough, it led to the murder of Alig's drug dealer in 1996 landing him in prison till his release date on November 30, 2013. The film is based on the novel Disco Bloodbath (now under the name Party Monster) by James St. James. It's a biography of both himself and Alig and their friendship and its spiral to chaos and narcissism.

Seeing a photo of the film a few years ago I couldn't believe it. Before I became an avid writer and film watcher I used to look at things from a small minded point of view. Kind of like, if it isn't normal it isn't worth my time researching. I've always had a quirky interest, but nothing quite like this. Researching more on Alig's history and finding Culkin to be a great actor I decided to finally track down a copy and watch this. I had great fun taking a walk down the opposite side of the road.

Macaulay Culkin is truly remarkable in this film. It was his first film since the 1994 dud Richie Rich. For the people who saw this film at the time of its release showed us that Macaulay Culkin is no longer a kid. He was an adult capable of quirky roles like his one in Saved! more recently. Party Monster proves that just doing slapstick Home Alone and its sequel weren't the maximum of his abilities. He could do so much more. He just needed the proper role.

In the eighties and nineties, it was common for a man to dress like a woman wearing fluffy, feathery costumers with lipstick and hairspray and still being heterosexual. It wasn't as strange as it seems today. It was sort of what all the oddballs were doing. Some still doing it. James St. James has become a club kid icon and appears sometimes as a guest judge on America's Next Top Model. It seems he gets farther in life and doesn't care about Michael Alig anymore.

The film shows how Michael Alig truly was. He acted like a spoiled rich kid who thought the world revolved around him. All Michael all the time. But after his murder landed him in prison we haven't got a clear explanation about him or if he changed his ways at all.

Party Monster is a shocker. It's something different, but a vital see for people who want to be exposed to something "different." It's a strange little movie with powerful performances and an involving storyline. It is a little walk down the lane your parents warned you about.

Starring: Macaulay Culkin, Seth Green, Wilmer Valderrama, Wilson Cruz, and Marylin Manson. Directed by: Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato.

Fmovies: The material here (covered in a similarly named documentary) is fascinating. The 90s New York club kid scene was a distinctive period with many crazy sights and scenes. Unfortunately, this film is poorly made on just about every level.

Most of the acting is not just bad, but some of the worst you'll ever see in a mainstream film. This is exacerbated by poor directing. The dramatic scenes don't feel dramatic (I yawned as one character nearly died). The costumes are very good, about on par with the actual club kids. So the film looks good at least.

Another issue: they changed so much for this movie from the actual story! If you research the actual murder and such after watching this you'll just be confused as to why they made all those arbitrary changes. I certainly wasn't to make a great film. Many people like this film, but I suspect deep down they want to live in the 90s club kid scene, and aren't objectively judging the film for its merits.

Living in the UK means you very rarely get to see some amazing films. Having read the book I heard about the film and as you do, immediately ordered it to be shipped over, not expecting to find it anywhere near as good as the book. Boy, was I wrong.

Macaulay Culkin as Alig is annoying and my one pet peeve of the film. He just didn't make Michael real to me. His entire performance seemed to scream "I was a child star, now I'm playing a gay addict! Look at me!". The role was also written for him and I got the impression that because of this he felt he didn't have to act too hard to be brilliant. He never, despite his attempts, gave Alig another level. The accent didn't add anything to the character and by the end I was left wondering why everybody had loved Michael Alig.

Seth Green on the other hand stole the film from right under Culkin's nose. His performance as James St James was one of the best I have ever seen in my life. He transformed himself until you didn't even realise it was the guy from Buffy you were watching. His mannerisms were spot on and really did St James justice. His voice was not as whiny or non descript as Culkin's, it was simply a prop used by him. His character managed to appear human throughout the entire film and his habit of touching his hair at least once a scene was fabulous. Green deserves an award for such an amazingly real, yet flamboyant performance.

The supporting cast were also fantastic and each and every person added to the story. The removal of Mavis from the film did annoy me slightly but after a while you forget she was ever there. The costumes, and behaviour of every single Club Kid in this film were fantastic. You really felt as though you were actually watching this happening. Marilyn Manson as Alig's first Superstar Christina was perfect, adding to a character not mentioned a lot in the book.

All in all an absolutely fabulous film that deserves far far more credit than was given to it. Seth Green really held the film together, showing rare glimpses of humanity amongst all the glitter. Green was perfectly cast and deserves at least some recognition for a fantastic performance. The only downside was Macaulay Culkin, who simply did not shine. He stood back and let the supporting cast, and especially Green turn this into their movie, not his.

Party Monster fmovies. this film is an amazing work of art and must be viewed as such. if you're looking to understand the storyline, you MUST read the book disco bloodbath (rereleased as party monster) by james st. james. it's also helpful to watch the director's commentary on the dvd with fenton bailey and randy barbato. so much is explained between these two sources that is taken for granted in the film (ie michael and james' sources of incomes, explanations of michael and peter's relationship, and a more logical timeline). the most important thing to realize and keep in mind throughout watching this film is that michael alig was (is?) incredibly insecure but at the same time incredibly loving. the most telling line in the movie is delivered by seth green, when speaking to macaulay culkin after the latter's feigned attempt at suicide: "There's not enough love in the whole wide world to satisfy you." party monster the film is incredibly intelligent, as is the book. the story and its retelling are hysterical and horrifying at the same time. this film acts as both a warning and a touching memoir - a must see for fans of realism and those who enjoy seeing human emotion and drama rather than special effects and airbrushed muscles.

I often wondered why U.S. American movies involving young people who are into drugs are either pathetic (f.e. Drugstore Cowboy) or even downright ridiculous in their conservative portrayal of the dangers of drug use (f.e. Traffic, The Movie). Party Monster is very different. It's easy to see that the people who made this movie really informed themselves about what they tried to show. By doing this they achieved one of the best movies about adolescence i've seen in a long time. It's has a very sad and tender tone and though some scenes seem a little bit too stagy, the performances of the two leading actors are pure magic. It's pure joy just to watch them and as you got to see a lot of them there is plenty of fun. Nevertheless the movie leaves you with a very intense and ambivalent feeling towards it's characters who were indeed something very special. I even dreamed about this picture after seeing it! Thanks for the strange dream!

When I started to watch this movie I wasn't at all aware what it was about. I just saw that MaCaulay Culkin and Seth Green were in it and thought, "Cool! Maybe this'll be good." A lot of people say this movie was bad, that it was horribly acted, but I think they just couldn't get past Culkin's shortcomings. I don't believe he was a bad actor, I simply believe he got stuck on the idea of how he had to humanize his character, and that was his ultimate downfall (in the special features he explained this was something he wanted to bring to the character).

Seth Green, as always, is adorable and can completely immerse himself into a character and really bring him to light. Marilyn Manson played Christina wonderfully, if only for a short time. Wilmer Valderrama was terrific as Keoki and it was a disappointment to see he was only in such a little portion of the film.

All in all, this movie was great. It had a great cast and a great script. The movie was meant to poke fun, not to make you think about any hidden meanings or to wonder why they were acting so strange. Club Kids were all about glamour, mocking celebrities, and, in the end, drugs. They didn't want to grow up, and they certainly didn't want to live a normal life.

Culkin had his moments where he pulled Alig off well, and in others, you could tell he was trying to stretch the character into places he wasn't meant to go. And if he was, Culkin certainly wasn't the actor to do it.

All in all, a "fabulous" film. Highly recommended if you're interested in how some of the 80's really played out.