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Party Monster

1998, Movie, NR, 57 mins

Party Monster: Review

PARTY MONSTER
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In April 1996, a large cardboard box containing the legless body of Angel Menendez, an alleged drug dealer and a fixture on the Manhattan nightclub scene, was found washed up on Staten Island, NY. Eight months later, an arrest was made, and the strange rumors circulating throughout clubland were suddenly confirmed: Angel had been murdered and dismembered by none other than Club Kid impresario and party promoter Michael Alig and his roommate, a drug-dealer known as Freeze. Just how Alig went from an Indiana childhood to club superstardom and on to a 10- to 20-year stretch for manslaughter is the subject of this flashy and ultimately depressing documentary by former club performers Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato. Bailey and Barbato splice together interviews and video footage from the heyday of such clubs as Limelight, Tunnel and USA to recreate the wee-hours world of the Club Kids, that glittery posse of young flaming creatures who, led by Alig, rushed into the post-Warhol void in NYC nightlife and claimed the dance floor as their own. Alig planned the parties, worked the promotion and put together the all-important guest list of club-crawling glitterati. He also dipped quite heavily into the party favors -- heroin, Rohypnol, cocaine, Ketamine -- and as the themes of his parties became increasingly bizarre, so did his behavior. It's a sordid story, and Bailey and Barbato, who are currently developing a feature film based on Alig's case, pile on the sordid details, including a grisly reenactment of Angel's murder. But with so many testimonials coming from Alig's adoring friends, fans and his unsettlingly loving mother, Angel Menendez -- the real tragedy here -- slips away. We're left with the grotesque spectacle of Alig as a spangled Dennis the Menace, convinced of his own fabulousness while snorting animal tranquilizers, peeing on bartenders and tricking his friends into drinking vomit and urine. Fun. leave a comment --Ken Fox
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