Party Monster

2003 Crime Drama

After profiling Monica Lewinsky, Billy Haynes, and Tammy Faye Bakker, documentarians Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato make their feature debut with this true-life tale of the rapid climb and lurid demise of a flamboyant young club promoter in late-'80s/early-'90s Manhattan. Based on James St. James' nonfiction account Disco Bloodbath as well as on the writer/directors' own 1998 documentary, Party Monster features former child star Macaulay Culkin as Michael Alig, a Midwestern teen determined to forget his past amidst the bright lights and throbbing house music of New York City's nightlife. Introduced to the club scene by St. James (Seth Green), Alig quickly becomes an event promoter himself, dreaming up bizarrely themed dance parties in such unlikely venues as fast-food restaurants and subway cars. But this archetypical "club kid" orchestrates his own downfall when, stoned on designer drugs, he and accomplice Freez (Justin Hagan) brutally murder their small-time dealer friend Angel Menendez (Wilson Cruz). Party Monster had its world premiere in the Dramatic Competition at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival. more..

Director: Fenton Bailey

Starring: Macaulay Culkin, Seth Green, Chloe Sevigny, Natasha Lyonne, Wilmer Valderrama

 30 Reviews  3 Awards

Reviews

  • Culkin 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.

    Roger Ebert - The Chicago Sun-Times

    26 April 2013

  • As stagy and awkward as some of the Warhol/Morrissey films of the early '70s.

    Owen Gleiberman - Entertainment Weekly

    26 April 2013

  • Most moviegoers will have trouble looking past Culkin the actor, who does a decent job of sending up youthful fame in a movie that's barely worth the effort.

    - The San Francisco Chronicle

    26 April 2013

  • The plot is sordid and predictable -- indiscriminate nightclubbing leads to escalating drugs, promiscuity, and violence. Things perk up cinematically in the last few scenes, but by then it's almost too late.

    David Sterritt - Christian Science Monitor

    26 April 2013

  • Feels fake, forced and indigestible.

    Peter Travers - Rolling Stone

    26 April 2013

Awards

  • Best Supporting Actor

    Chlotrudis Awards (2004)

     

  • Best Feature

    Gijón International Film Festival (2003)

     

  • Dramatic

    Sundance Film Festival (2003)

     

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