Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)My best friend and I used to skip school whenever we knew Michael Alig and his Club Kids were going to be on Geraldo, Donahue, Sally Jessy Raphael, or any other talk show. Watching the Club Kids was so completely riveting and insane. They didn't make any sense, but it didn't matter. They all become stars, quite simply because they willed it to happen.
And then it all went terribly wrong. Surely you know how the story goes: Michael, in an extremely drugged state of mind, killed fellow Club Kid Angel Melendez over drugs. Angel was bludgeoned and injected with Drano. His body was left in a bathtub for days, only to be chopped up and placed in a big TV box, stuck in the back of a cab, and then thrown in a river hopefully to sink and never be found.
Before the body surfaced, Michael somewhat jokingly admitted to killing Angel. Wouldn't the best way to claim his innocence be to admit to doing something so horrific and terrible? Who'd believe that you really did it if you said you did it in such a joking manner? Someone believed him because Michael's in prison now.
"Party Monster" tells the whole sordid story in detail. It's chock full of Michael Alig interview footage- plus interviews with his mother and lots of the other Club Kids like James St. James and Keoki (among others) . It's the story of extreme excess, and how it all went horribly wrong. If you've ever had any desire to experience life through a K-hole, watch this. You'll change your mind immediately!
This is the documentary that ultimately spawned James St. James' "Disco Bloodbath" book, and the film that came out of that, also called "Party Monster." The book actually fills in the some of the holes that documentary leaves, or at least presents a slightly different viewpoint. Watch both the documentary AND read James St. James' book to get a fuller picture of what went on.
Had the budget been bigger this probably could have been a great film, but directors Randy Barbato and Fenton Bailey do a great job with their obviously limited budget. It's still a very good documentary.
It's all rather bittersweet. Michael ultimately got what he wanted: to be a legend. It's probably not the kind of legend that he wanted to be, but it's what he became nonetheless.
Click Here to see more reviews about: Party Monster - The Shockumentary (1999)
The original documentary about NY club impresario Michael Alig that inspired the upcoming motion picture of the same name starring Macauley Culkin and Seth Green.
Click here for more information about Party Monster - The Shockumentary (1999)
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