
Set in the New York club scene of the late 1980's thru the 1990's, a tale which is based on the rise and fall of club-kid promoter Michael Alig, a party organizer, whose extravagant life was sent spiralling downward when he boasted on television that he had killed his friend, roommate, and drug dealer, Angel Melendez. Originally from Indiana, Alig moved to New York, and came to be an underground legend, known for his excessive drug use and outrageous behavior in the club worl... (Full plot summary below)
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Set in the New York club scene of the late 1980's thru the 1990's, a tale which is based on the rise and fall of club-kid promoter Michael Alig, a party organizer, whose extravagant life was sent spiralling downward when he boasted on television that he had killed his friend, roommate, and drug dealer, Angel Melendez. Originally from Indiana, Alig moved to New York, and came to be an underground legend, known for his excessive drug use and outrageous behavior in the club world. At his peak, he had his own record label, and magazine, and hosted Disco 2000, one of the biggest club nights in New York in the '90s. He was doing a lot of drugs, and as his addiction got worse, his party themes became darker and more twisted. Alig's saga reached its tragic crescendo when he viciously murdered his drug dealer, Angel, by injecting him with Drano and throwing him in the East River. The power he wielded on the club scene made him feel untouchable, so he didn't hesitate to boast of the murder. The press thought it was a publicity stunt--until Angel's body washed ashore.
Leave your thoughts about Party Monster.
| Salon.comCharles TaylorIf I hadn't had a professional obligation to stay until the end, I'd have disappeared faster than the coke that's snorted up Alig's nose. |
| Los Angeles TimesKevin ThomasFor all its decadence, it moves effectively from outrageous camp humor to stark pathos and in the process manages to be oddly touching. As for Culkin, he succeeds as an adult actor in completely unexpected ways. |
| Entertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanAs stagy and awkward as some of the Warhol/Morrissey films of the early '70s. |
| Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertCulkin plays Alig as clueless to the end, living so firmly in his fantasy world that nothing can penetrate his chirpy persona. Whether this is accurate--whether indeed any of the facts in the film are accurate--is not for me to say, but it works. |
| Critic DoctorPeter Sobczynski'Party Monster' is so concerned with flash and style that it forgets to provide anything of substance to chew on and even the flash and style isn't anything we haven't seen before. |
| Killer Movie ReviewsAndrea ChaseCall it what you will, a morality tale, a cautionary fable, one walks away with a sense of catharsis |
| eFilmCritic.comErik ChildressCulkin acquitting himself all well and good, its going to be Seth Green that commands that transition spotlight into the next phase of his career. |
| Shadows on the WallRich ClineIt's very self-aware and probably too arch. But the effortless and inventive weaving of zany surfaces with the more sobering truths below makes the film worth seeing. |
| Dallas ObserverDavid EhrensteinEmotionally distressing yet compulsively watchable, |
| TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonaghCulkin's Alig has the face of a debauched cherub, but the former child star never quite captures the charisma everyone swears was an essential component in Alig's success. Green's St. James steals the picture out from under him (poetic justice of a sort), and the supporting cast is nothing short of amazing. |