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I was recently invited to a "mystery preview" by my local cinema, where you see an upcoming release, but you're not told what it is until you get there. It turned out to be "Party Monster" the new Macauley Culkin / Seth Green drugs 'n' murder thriller. So I thought I'd let everyone else know what it was like...
The story follows the true story of Michael Alig (Culkin) & his rise to be one of New York's club kids, throwing "fabulous" parties, and his drug fuelled meltdown, resulting in the murder of his drug dealer, Angel. The film certainly has style, the soundtrack is an excellent mix of eighties dance music, and it starts well enough, with James St James (Green) inducting Alig into how to be part of the party scene. Despite other reviews, I thought the acting was pretty good, there's not much on show in the way of emotion, but then that's not much scope for that with these characters. I was impressed with Culkin as the club kid everyone dislikes, but wants to be near so that they are part of the scene. Marilyn Manson also turns up & is surprisingly good as the disturbing Christina. The film looks great - mostly due to the outrageous costumes & authentic locations and despite being very low budget & shot on cheaper film. Most of the extras are club kids from the time, so the look is probably as close as it could be. On the downside, it doesn't really go anywhere after the entertaining opening depiction of the rise of the party scene. Chloe Sevigny turns up towards the end of the film, but isn't given much to do. The film then tails off a bit with the sort of drug overdose scenes that were done much better in Trainspotting. In fact some people may also find the near constant scenes of drug use throughout the film unsettling. With barely a frame going by without Green or Culkin taking some kind of narcotics, this film really isn't going to be everybody's bag. Overall, I liked it just enough to recommend it, even if it's only to see what Kevin from Home Alone did next. I'll also be looking out for the soundtrack album. As regards the story, I think that the documentary from 5 years ago (also called "Party Monster" & made by the same people as the film) would probably be a better bet - hopefully it will be shown on tv as the film opens.
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