Every now and then somebody makes a straight-faced movie about rock music, but everybody knows that the best ones are campy. Brian De Palma’s Phantom of the Opera parody/homage throws itself into the noise, the spangles and the trashy spirit of the day’s glitter scene. Like most rock musicians, this story’s songwriter Winslow Leech only becomes interesting after he becomes someone else. He starts off as a navel-gazing piano balladeer with an unrecorded concept album written down on paper and with all the personal charisma of a bag of used Q-tips. Then he gets his music stolen, his life ruined and his face smashed up in a record press—and we finally like him. His freaky new silver mask, mouthful of metal teeth and vengeful, psychotic disposition win us over in this desperate world. The whole cast plays it broad, which is perfect. Paul Williams is the sleazy record company executive who’s all about whatever will keep his orgies going wild. Then there’s Jessica Harper as the earnest singer whose big-eyed beauty catches the eye of the monster and who is his one painful piece of sanity on his downward spiral. Gerrit Graham meanwhile gets the scene-stealer role as a gay rock star who’s Iggy Pop on stage and Paul Lynde backstage.