Party Monster

Name: Party Monster
Genre: Biography, Drama, Thriller, Crime
Released: September 5, 2003
Duration: 98 min
Rating: 36
Cast: Macaulay Culkin, Seth Green, Wilson Cruz

2003

METASCORE

Generally unfavorable reviews based on 29 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 22 Ratings

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6.6

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6.6	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 22 Ratings

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Movie Details & Credits

Strand Releasing | Release Date: September 5, 2003 | TV-MA

Starring: Macaulay Culkin, Seth Green, Wilson Cruz

Summary: Based on the book "Disco Bloodbath" and the 1998 documentary "Party Monster," this film focuses on the relationship between two Midwestern kids who move to New York to re-invent themselves in the late 1980's.

Director: Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato

Genre(s): Biography, Drama, Thriller, Crime

Rating: TV-MA

Runtime: 98 min

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Critic Reviews

Kevin Thomas

For 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. Read full review

TV Guide Magazine Maitland McDonagh

Culkin'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. Read full review

Sean Axmaker

Taking on the sneeringly blase Alig may be a cagey career move for Culkin, but it's a disappointingly thin performance. Read full review

Dennis Harvey

A colorful, lurid and ultimately so-what look at obnoxious personalities careening down their own road to ruin. Read full review

Mark Caro

In the end you don't believe what you're watching, and you don't care. This party is a drag. Read full review

Michael O'Sullivan

The psychologizing in Party Monster never goes deeper than what you might get out of Dr. Phil on a bad day. Read full review

Charles Taylor

Unwatchable. Read full review

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User Reviews

GooberParents

Feb 7, 2011

Absolutely a PERFECT rendition of Disco Bloodbath by James St. James. Anyone who has the pleasure of reading his novel would agree...and he (James St. James) even made an appearance with some of the other club kids!! (need to look hard though)

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BrandonT.

Apr 12, 2006

This is my favorite movie of all time, for those of you who like it, you can see that they also ranked it out of 10! This movie inspired me to read the novel disco bloodbath by james st. james which is even more impressive. All the actors successfully captured the real emotions of each This is my favorite movie of all time, for those of you who like it, you can see that they also ranked it out of 10! This movie inspired me to read the novel disco bloodbath by james st. james which is even more impressive. All the actors successfully captured the real emotions of each person. After becoming somewhat of a party monster junkie I have done alot of research, found many videos and photos of the actual club kids and the movie does an excellent job at properly portraying them. But what makes this movie not only a work of media art but also a plain old good movie is that it is a true story. For anyone that sais it is a bad movie, you must have a very simple mind and life, because these guys are living in what was and still is a reality. Awesome movie!… Expand

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JenyL.

Sep 18, 2006

I just loved this movie! It had the perfect cast.. the only word I can think of to say is that it was FABULOUS!!!

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Rick

Nov 21, 2005

Sucks BIG time! Boring.... very very boring. Just a load of trash.

0 of 1 users found this helpful

Gargus

Mar 18, 2013

This was just a horrible movie in every way you can imagine. The set pieces, the acting, the script, just everything about it. I watched it with my girlfriend and we tend to finish a movie we start even if its bad and every so often we would look at the clock to see how much longer there wasThis was just a horrible movie in every way you can imagine. The set pieces, the acting, the script, just everything about it. I watched it with my girlfriend and we tend to finish a movie we start even if its bad and every so often we would look at the clock to see how much longer there was and it would seem like it should be half over but it had only been 15 minutes.

The acting was god awful. I'm sure a lot of people would say it's supposed to be bad to emulate the vacuous and empty club kid lifestyle of the characters and supposed to be cheesy. But no, it was just bad. I've been around enough people who do hardcore drugs to know what they are like and drugs were a big part of the story but they played it so horribly bad it was embarrassing. The rest was just awful middle school drama club quality of acting where everything is so over the top it's painful to watch. The kind of acting where you can't tell if they aren't taking serious and goofing around by being so over the top, or if they truly honestly think they are these great actors really digging deep into their roles and impressed with what awesome actors they are when in reality public access shows have better actors.

I understand low budgets and I appreciate the fact but this went beyond low budget, they simply didn't care. You can't take a unfinished wet basement in some rundown apartment building, turn off the lights, put in a mirror ball, put some streamers up and have 5 people jumping around in costumes that looked like they were made by 12 year olds and expect me to suspend my disbelief enough to imagine that this is supposed to be the hottest and hippest club in New York. Or that the biggest club planner in the city has like 10 people in the back of a tractor trailer in some abandoned parking lot.

This movie feels like it was specifically designed to be some cult hit. As if the people behind it were checking off a list of what they think a cult hit movie is and did everything in their power to hit that target. They don't realize you cant make a cult film on purpose. But this felt like it was just trying to force itself and fake being a cult movie. Even the casting felt like it with a bunch of notable indie actors like Chloë Sevigny, Natasha Lyonne, right down to Marilyn manson. And then you have to throw in some has been actors like John Stamos so people can say "Om my god its john stamos!" Casting people that convey a character and be believable is important, but when you do it just for the sake of having a certain person to attract a certain audience is just laughable and never ends well.

Worse yet I felt like I didn't discover anything, gain any insight or have any real moral so to speak. It was just a bunch of people taking drugs, staging mock rave parties, killing someone and then it ends. And to add insult to injury the pacing was just pure crap. Die hard was a better constructed film than this and that is just about a cop who gets trapped in a building and shoots people.

This movie is purely bad film making, bad acting, bad scripting, bad sound, bad design and we are all dumber for having watched it. I like a bad movie that has some sense of substance or a purpose, but this movie has neither. It is a virtual turd pinched off in some cheap attempt at gaining notoriety with the indie kids.… Expand

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