Party Monster is a 2003 American biographical crime drama film written and directed by Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato, who are also producers along with Jon Marcus and Christine Vachon. It stars Macaulay Culkin as the drug-addled "king of the Club Kids". The film tells the story of the rise and fall of the infamous New York City party promoter Michael Alig. This was Macaulay Culkin's first film in nearly nine years since his starring role in the 1994 film Richie Rich.
Michael Alig was an American club promoter and artist who was convicted of felony manslaughter. He was one of the ringleaders of the Club Kids, a group of young New York City clubgoers who became a cultural phenomenon in the late 1980s and early 1990s. In March 1996, Alig and his roommate, Robert D. "Freeze" Riggs, killed fellow Club Kid Andre "Angel" Melendez in a confrontation over a drug debt. In October 1997, Alig pled guilty to first-degree manslaughter. Both men were sentenced to 10 to 20 years in prison. Riggs was released on parole in 2010. Alig was released on May 5, 2014.
Michael Musto is an American journalist who has long been a prevalent presence in entertainment-related publications, as well as on websites and television shows. Best known as a columnist for The Village Voice, where he wrote the La Dolce Musto column of gossip, nightlife, reviews, interviews, and political observations, in 2021, he started writing articles about nightlife, movies, theater, NYC, and LGBTQ politics for the revived Village Voice, which returned as a print publication, with accompanying website.
The Club Kids were a group of young New York City dance club personalities popularized by Michael Alig, James St. James, Julie Jewels, Astro Erle, Michael Tronn, DJ Keoki, and Ernie Glam in the late 1980s, and throughout the 1990s grew to include Amanda Lepore, Waltpaper, Christopher Comp, It Twins, Jennytalia, Desi Monster, Keda, Kabuki Starshine, and Richie Rich. The group was notable for its members' flamboyant behavior and outrageous costumes. In 1988, writer Michael Musto wrote about the Club Kids' "cult of crazy fashion and petulance": "They ... are terminally superficial, have dubious aesthetic values, and are master manipulators, exploiters, and, thank God, partiers."
Larry Tee is a Berlin-based DJ, club promoter, and music producer who curated the electroclash scene in New York in the early 2000s, and helped launch the careers of such artists as RuPaul, Scissor Sisters, Fischerspooner, Peaches, W.I.T., and Avenue D. He has written songs for and collaborated with Afrojack, Shontelle, Princess Superstar, Santigold, RuPaul, Sean Garrett, Steve Aoki, and Amanda Lepore.
Disco Bloodbath: A Fabulous but True Tale of Murder in Clubland is a 1999 memoir written by James St. James about his life as a Manhattan celebutante and club kid. The book specifically chronicles his friend Michael Alig's rise to fame, and Alig and his roommate's subsequent murder of fellow club kid and drug dealer Andre "Angel" Melendez. St. James was Alig's mentor, rival, and collaborator in the Manhattan party scene, and was familiar with many of its key figures. The memoir was later retitled Party Monster, after the 2003 motion picture of that name starring Macaulay Culkin, Seth Green, Chloë Sevigny, and Marilyn Manson.
George Lopez, known by his stage name DJ Keoki or Keoki Franconi, is a Salvadoran-American electronic musician and DJ. Born in El Salvador and raised in Hawaii, Keoki began advertising himself as "superstar" shortly after moving to New York City.
Andre Melendez was a member of the Club Kids and purported drug dealer who lived and worked in New York City. He was killed by Michael Alig and Robert "Freeze" Riggs on March 17, 1996. His life and death have inspired several pieces of media, including books, films, music, and television.
James St. James is a television personality, author, celebutante, frequent collaborator with Mathu Andersen, and former "Club Kid", a member of the New York City club scene in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
John Nelson Sullivan was an American videographer who chronicled life in Downtown Manhattan’s arts and club scene from 1983 until his death. His hundreds of videos documented daily life in the city, wild nights out on the town, and private moments with his many famous friends — including RuPaul, Keith Haring, Sylvia Miles, Larry Tee, Susanne Bartsch, Tom Rubnitz, Lady Bunny, Michael Musto, Ethyl Eichelberger, John Sex, and Michael Alig.
Tunnel was a nightclub located at 220 Twelfth Avenue, in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. It operated from 1986 to 2001.
Douglas Gabriel Rotello is an American musician, writer and filmmaker. He created New York's Downtown Divas revues in the 1980s, was the co-founder and editor-in-chief of OutWeek magazine, became the first openly gay columnist at a major American newspaper, New York Newsday, and authored the book Sexual Ecology. He now makes documentaries for HBO, The History Channel and other networks.
Peter Gatien is a Canadian club owner and party promoter. He is best known as the former owner of several prominent New York City nightclubs, including Club USA, The Limelight, Palladium, and Tunnel.
Party Monster may refer to
World of Wonder Productions is an American production company founded in 1991 by filmmakers Randy Barbato and Fenton Bailey. Based in Los Angeles, California, the company specializes in documentary television and film productions with a key focus on LGBTQ topics. Together, Bailey and Barbato have produced programming through World of Wonder for HBO, Bravo, HGTV, Showtime, the BBC, Netflix, MTV and VH1, with credits including the Million Dollar Listing docuseries, RuPaul's Drag Race, and the documentary films Mapplethorpe: Look at the Pictures (2016) and The Eyes of Tammy Faye (2000).
Miller Field was a United States Army facility in the neighborhood of New Dorp, Staten Island, New York. It was founded in November 1919 and completed in 1921.
Trevor Chowning is an American pop artist known for his extensive use of unique materials and strange objects in his work. Paintings have featured precious metals such as gold or silver leaf, and have included everything from antique hummingbird feathers, genuine diamonds, animal bones and obsolete pieces of NASA spacecraft among other things.
Murder at Midnight is a 1931 American pre-Code murder mystery whodunnit directed by Frank R. Strayer.
The World was a large nightclub in New York City, which operated from the early 1980's until 1991 at 254 East 2nd Street, in Manhattan's East Village neighborhood. The venue, which included a secondary establishment called "The It Club," was housed in a former catering hall and theater. The World attracted a clientele that was economically, racially, and sexually diverse, and included artists, celebrities, and fashion designers, such as Keith Haring, Afrika Bambaataa, Madonna, Brooke Shields, Prince, Stephen Sprouse, RuPaul, and Carolina Herrera, together with banjee boys and members of voguing houses
Screamin' Rachael, born Rachael Cain, is an American musician and Chicago native dubbed the "Queen of House Music" by Billboard magazine,. Rachael has been connected to the evolution of the House music genre. She has worked with performers such as Grandmaster Melle Mel, Marshall Jefferson, Colonel Abrams, Afrika Bambaataa, and many others.
