Party Monster: The Shockumentary

Party Monster

United States

1998

57 Min

Color

1.37:1

English

Currently 3.2/5 Stars.
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DIR Fenton Bailey, Randy Barbato

EXEC Sheila Nevins, Robin Gutch, Gabriel Rotello

PROD Fenton Bailey, Randy Barbato

CAST James St. James, Michael Musto, Keoki, Richie Rich, Amanda Lepore

MUSIC Joe Carrano

Sundance, Outfest (Documentaries): Grand Jury Award

Synopsis

The eighties gave birth to a decadent attitude that permeated all aspects of society, from the extreme consumerism of Reagan politics to the nightlife of the New York underground party scene. Pushed from the Warhol era into their own warped carnival of excess, partyers constantly strove for newer, more intense highs. They eventually became known as the “club kids,” infamous for their outrageous looks and flamboyant behavior. Party Monster recounts the chilling tale of the rise and fall of a leader of this group, Michael Alig.

Through home-video footage of Michael and his friends, Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato uniquely chronicle the frightening downward spiral. Along the way, they expose the evolution of drug dependence from cocaine to Ecstasy to Special K and ultimately to heroin. The parties began to take place in more dangerous locations and promote disturbing behavior, pushing the boundaries of convention and sanity. This mania for a new high ultimately clouded Michael’s judgment so badly that his reign ended with the brutal murder of Angel, a fellow club kid and roommate. One of the more frightening revelations of the film is that even though Michael made no effort to conceal his actions, it was nine months before he was brought to justice.

By slickly combining candid interviews, astounding video footage, and a perfect sound track, Bailey and Barbato have created a highly stylized account of one bright young man’s transformation into a cold-blooded monster. –Sundance Film Festival

Director

Fenton Bailey

With his partner Randy Barbato, producer and director Fenton Bailey made his name with documentaries about such outrageous yet fascinating pop-culture subjects as the wife of disgraced TV evangelist Jim Bakker in The Eyes of Tammy Faye (2000), before branching out into dramatic films with the feature version of their 1998 documentary Party Monster in 2003.

Born in Great Britain, Bailey attended graduate film school in the U.S. at New York University, where he met life and business partner Barbato. The pair dropped out of school to form their production company World of Wonder in 1990; they also performed as a tongue-in-cheek musical duo called the Pop Tarts. Bailey and Barbato turned to filmmaking in earnest, however, when they decided to amuse themselves by editing together choice clips from New York City’s racy and bizarre public access cable TV shows, and turned it into the British TV series Manhattan Cable. Stateside, World of Wonder produced the series Hollywood Fashion… read more

With his partner Randy Barbato, producer and director Fenton Bailey made his name with documentaries about such outrageous yet fascinating pop-culture subjects as the wife of disgraced TV evangelist Jim Bakker in The Eyes of Tammy Faye (2000), before branching out into dramatic films with the feature version of their 1998 documentary Party Monster in 2003.

Born in Great Britain, Bailey attended graduate film school in the U.S. at New York University, where he met life and business partner Barbato. The pair dropped out of school to form their production company World of Wonder in 1990; they also performed as a tongue-in-cheek musical duo called the Pop Tarts. Bailey and Barbato turned to filmmaking in earnest, however, when they decided to amuse themselves by editing together choice clips from New York City’s racy and bizarre public access cable TV shows, and turned it into the British TV series Manhattan Cable. Stateside, World of Wonder produced the series Hollywood Fashion Machine (1995) for AMC and The RuPaul Show (1996) for VH1. Though New York remained a source of creative inspiration, Bailey and Barbato moved to Los Angeles in the mid-‘90s. They began to attract serious attention as documentary directors with the Emmy-winning Cinemax program Party Monster (1998), about the strange life and ignominious downfall of New York club kid-turned-murderer Michael Alig. Adding Los Angeles subjects to their repertoire, Bailey and Barbato also produced Juror Number 5: 58 Days of Duty on the O.J. Simpson Civil Trial (1998), and garnered accolades again for the Cinemax documentary 101 Rent Boys (2000), about 101 male hustlers who work L.A.’s Santa Monica Boulevard.

Bailey and Barbato’s avowed sympathy for cultural pariahs and gift for tapping into the celebrity zeitgeist created a stir on the art-house circuit that same year with the fond yet humorous documentary The Eyes of Tammy Faye. Impressed by Tammy Faye Bakker when they met with her about a possible TV project, Bailey and Barbato decided to make a feature documentary about her instead. Gaining access to Tammy Faye’s circle, as well as Tammy Faye herself, The Eyes of Tammy Faye showed that the title subject was more than her infamous makeup sense and tarnished image as the equally greedy wife of fallen PTL leader Bakker. A hit at the Sundance Film Festival, The Eyes of Tammy Faye went on to repeat that success when it was released in theaters later that year. Bailey and Barbato subsequently merged their focus on famous outsiders with their interest in illuminating previously little-known aspects of pop culture history with the AMC documentary Out of the Closet, Off the Screen: The William Haines Story (2001), about the silent film star who refused to deny his homosexuality and was blackballed by the movie studios in the 1930s.

With World of Wonder firmly established by the early 2000s, Bailey and Barbato divided their efforts between executive producing such TV projects as From the Waist Down: Men, Women & Music (2001), Andy Warhol: The Complete Picture (2002), and School’s Out: The Life of a Gay High School in Texas (2003) for American and British TV, and directing such intriguing works as Dark Roots: The Unauthorized Anna Nicole (2003) themselves. Bailey and Barbato once again displayed their skill at delving deeper into the lives of people at the center of famous scandals with their HBO documentary Monica in Black and White (2002). Aided by the expiration of her legal gag order regarding her relationship with President Bill Clinton as well as her willingness to speak, Bailey and Barbato filmed Presidential paramour Monica Lewinsky as she answered any and all questions asked of her by a live audience. As with Tammy Faye Bakker, Bailey and Barbato’s camera revealed that there was a bit more to their subject than just the news media’s bimbo in a stained blue dress. Turning their attention to another key moment in the cultural history of sexuality, Bailey and Barbato decided not to make a dramatic feature about 1970s porn star Linda Lovelace as producer Brian Grazer originally suggested, and instead directed the documentary Inside Deep Throat (2003), chronicling the watershed porn feature Deep Throat’s (1972) place in the sexual revolution.

Bailey and Barbato finally tried their hands at scripted feature films with the adaptation of Party Monster in 2003. Based on their own documentary as well as fellow club kid James St. James’ book Disco Bloodbath, and shot with “realistic” flair in digital video, Party Monster recreated the New York night club scene in all its jaw-dropping glory, and allowed Macaulay Culkin to lose his cherubic child-star image for good with his star turn as the floridly costumed, sexually flamboyant, drug-addled Alig. — Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide

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Randy Barbato

With his life and creative partner Fenton Bailey, filmmaker Randy Barbato carved a distinctive niche in film and television with his nonfiction works about such intriguing pop-culture subjects as the infamously groomed ex-wife of fallen TV evangelist Jim Bakker in The Eyes of Tammy Faye (2000), before trying his hand at dramatic features with the adaptation of his and Bailey’s documentary Party Monster (1998) in 2003.

A native of New Jersey, Barbato attended graduate film school at New York University in the late ‘80s, where he met classmate and fellow pop-culture enthusiast Bailey. Along with dabbling in music as the Pop Tarts, the pair dropped out of N.Y.U. to form their production company, World of Wonder, in 1990. Based in their tiny New York apartment, World of Wonder notched its first production with the series Manhattan Cable, a compilation of clips from New York City’s strange and risqué public-access cable programs, for British TV. Barbato and Bailey subsequently executive… read more

With his life and creative partner Fenton Bailey, filmmaker Randy Barbato carved a distinctive niche in film and television with his nonfiction works about such intriguing pop-culture subjects as the infamously groomed ex-wife of fallen TV evangelist Jim Bakker in The Eyes of Tammy Faye (2000), before trying his hand at dramatic features with the adaptation of his and Bailey’s documentary Party Monster (1998) in 2003.

A native of New Jersey, Barbato attended graduate film school at New York University in the late ‘80s, where he met classmate and fellow pop-culture enthusiast Bailey. Along with dabbling in music as the Pop Tarts, the pair dropped out of N.Y.U. to form their production company, World of Wonder, in 1990. Based in their tiny New York apartment, World of Wonder notched its first production with the series Manhattan Cable, a compilation of clips from New York City’s strange and risqué public-access cable programs, for British TV. Barbato and Bailey subsequently executive produced Hollywood Fashion Machine (1995) for AMC and The RuPaul Show (1996) for VH1. Building on those credits, Barbato and Bailey relocated to Los Angeles in the mid-‘90s, where they focused on such L.A.-based subjects as Ellen DeGeneres’ decision to come out on her TV series in The Real Ellen Story (1997) and the O.J. Simpson murder case in Juror Number 5: 58 Days of Duty on the O.J. Simpson Civil Trial (1998). Barbato and Bailey began to earn serious attention as directors as well as producers, however, with the Emmy-winning Cinemax documentary Party Monster, about the strange life and violent downfall of New York City club kid-turned-murderer Michael Alig. Barbato and Bailey garnered more kudos for their next directorial project, the Cinemax documentary 101 Rent Boys (2000), about the lives of 101 Los Angeles male hustlers.

Barbato and Bailey affirmed their cinematic “compassion for outsiders” that same year with their first theatrical release, The Eyes of Tammy Faye. Intrigued by former media punch line Tammy Faye Bakker’s self-awareness when they met with her about a potential TV project, Barbato and Bailey instead decided to make a documentary about her, revealing the person behind the infamous makeup and image as disgraced PTL televangelist Jim Bakker’s avaricious spouse. Featuring interviews with Bakker’s inner circle and judiciously deployed touches of kitsch, The Eyes of Tammy Faye became a hit at the Sundance Film Festival and an award-winning art-house success. Continuing to explore the lives of famous pariahs as well as expose lesser-known facets of pop-culture history, Barbato and Bailey next directed the well-received AMC documentary Out of the Closet, Off the Screen: The William Haines Story (2001), about the former silent movie star who was ostracized by the studios in the 1930s for refusing to play down his homosexuality.

By 2003, Barbato and Bailey had built World of Wonder into a sizable, prolific company, with Barbato and Bailey executive producing, and occasionally directing, such projects as Andy Warhol: The Complete Picture (2002), Gay Hollywood (2003), Dark Roots: The Unauthorized Anna Nicole (2003), and School’s Out: The Life of a Gay High School in Texas (2003) for British and American TV. Maintaining their directorial focus on the fallout of America’s “celebritocracy” and taste for salacious scandal, Barbato and Bailey let infamous presidential intern Monica Lewinsky speak for herself in the HBO documentary Monica in Black and White (2002). Finally free of the legal gag order regarding her relationship with former President Bill Clinton, Barbato and Bailey filmed Lewinsky as she answered all of the questions posed to her by a live audience, showing that the media bimbo with the stained dress was also a human being. Barbato and Bailey subsequently returned to directing feature documentaries with Inside Deep Throat (2003), delving into another vital moment in the history of American sexual culture. Initiated and backed by producer Brian Grazer, Inside Deep Throat examined the impact of landmark porn feature Deep Throat (1972) on the sexual revolution.

Though documentaries remained their primary focus, Barbato and Bailey added a scripted dramatic film to their credits with the feature version of Party Monster (2003). Based on their documentary and club kid James St. James’ book Disco Bloodbath, Party Monster re-created the singular New York City nightclub scene in intimately shot digital video and starred former apple-cheeked Home Alone (1990) imp Macaulay Culkin in an image-changing performance as the Midwestern-born flamboyant party boy/drugged out killer Alig. —allmovie

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