Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4789 in DVD
• Released on: 2004-02-10
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Full Screen, NTSC
• Original language: English, Spanish
• Running time: 99 minutes

Amazon.com
Party Monster is a curiosity: a fictional version of events already covered in documentary form (see Party Monster: The Shockumentary) by this film's co-directors, Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato, best known for The Eyes of Tammy Faye. Party Monster, theatrically released in 2003, also signals the return of Macaulay Culkin to films after a long absence. Culkin plays 1980s club kid-turned-killer Michael Alig, a small-town boy who arrives in New York in search of reinvention on the Ecstasy-fueled party scene. Alig ascends from rube to ringmaster, organizing Fabulous happenings and anointing, in Warhol-like fashion, various transvestites and studly naifs the era's new superstars. Seth Green plays Alig's arch but more reticent co-conspirator and roommate, James St. James. Green is more grounded in character than Culkin, though neither actor is convincing as a deluded drag queen. Despite interesting material, the directors never reveal what makes Alig a compelling figure in Manhattan's social history. --Tom Keogh

From The New Yorker
A superficial and murky tale about the Manhattan party promoter and club-kid king Michael Alig, whose notoriety stems from his participation in the killing of a drug-dealing pal. The co-directors Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato attempt a fevered glimpse of the trippy drug-saturated parties and the fabulous characters who created them, but their film adds up to little more than a series of lacklustre re-creations. And although the clubbing costumes are a hoot Macaulay Culkin, in the lead role, lacks the childish whimsy that made Alig's crime such a disturbing moment in New York night life. Only Seth Green, who plays Alig's mentor, James St. James, provides the narcissistic chirpiness that made club land so exotically self-destructive. -Bruce Diones
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

A fine 99 minutes.
There are many worse ways you could spend 99 minutes. It's a fine movie and by that I mean good....ish, Macaulay Culkin and Seth Green are really excellent and it shows that Seth Green has huge variety in his acting capabilities. The movie however really focuses on Culkin's and Green's characters rather that the disposed or disposal of the drug dealer. (And to emphasise that point, I can't even remember his name!) But that's probably because those character are more entertaining - which is fine but I felt as a result the murder of a young man was trivialised or made light of in some way.
Far from a cautionary tale because of the way it glorifies the drug world, (even though it does show the `downs' - just not as much as the `ups') this movie is for entertaining and it somewhat achieves that goal.

Not a must for ones collection but worth a look. Get a friend to buy it!

Like it or hate it... it's realistic
I'm no expert on Micheal Alig, James St. James, DJ Keoki, etc. so I can't really comment on how accurate of a portrayal this is of their lives.

But I will say this...

Having written electronic music since the age of 12, and working as a club and event promoter in Denver for the past year, I can say with certainty that there are thousands, even MILLIONS of people that frequent the "underground" worldwide whom live extremely comparable lives to the ones depicted in this movie. There are people just as eccentric and flamboyant, if not way more so. There is definitely just as much substance abuse. And if the only things that turn you off from this movie are seeing an ex-child star experiment with a controversial role, or flashing lights accompanied by pounding techno and extreme wardrobes, I hate to break it to you, but it's happening right under your nose, everywhere you go.

The party scene and the club scene are something you have to just click with. I've loved electronic music since before I even knew there was anything "illicit" associated with it, and that shouldn't say I have bad taste... it should say that people will take anything and turn it into a self-destructive moral debauchery. Though the music, the substances, the clothes and the performances between rap, dance and rock are different, the people, their willingness to habituate, and their conformity have remained the same.

This movie shouldn't have to hit close to home to be respected, or at least acknowledged as an accurate portrayal of youthful spontaneity, promiscuity and overall experimentation... and the sheer consequences that often result.

Just a thought.

one of my favs!
Party Monster is one of my all time favorite movies...It's about the life and times of a group of party "club-kids" in the late 1980's. It's fun, fabulous, and yes, cheesey and campy! The story has some great twists and turns in it! Watching it you may think it's somewhat of an over exagerated story, but the clincher is, it's based on a true story! How Fabulous is that?
All the actors did a wonderful job in taking you back to those club daze (days).. but, Macaulay Culkin, Seth Green and Marilyn Manson, those three kept me glued to the screen.. some really great acting there!