Michael Brandvold

The Hollywood Reporter

With Studio 666 (out Feb. 22), The Foo Fighters continue in a long, not-always-successful tradition of bands attempting movie stardom. The new horror-comedy is a spiritual successor to 1978’s Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park — one of the most critically maligned yet passionately loved kitsch oddities to emerge from that decade.

The hard rock band’s elaborate costumes, face makeup and pyrotechnic stage shows helped turn them into one of the biggest acts in the world at the time (between 1977 and 1979, they sold $100 million in records and merchandise, roughly $400 million today), and their manager, Bill Aucoin, wanted to take it to the next level. Curiously, Hanna-Barbera, the animation studio behind The Flintstones and The Jetsons, was chosen to produce the TV film for NBC.

Phantom shot at Magic Mountain near L.A. and followed a mad scientist (Anthony Zerbe) whose animatronic Kiss members do battle with the real ones (who happen to have superpowers like fire-breathing and laser eyes).

“I embrace it like an ugly child,” says Kiss co-founder Paul Stanley. “You have to realize that we were like these imbeciles who got to take over the school. We knew nothing about acting, nothing about filmmaking. We were sold the idea of the film in a sentence that was virtually, ‘A Hard Day’s Night meets Star Wars.’ Well, it was far from either.” If anything, it ended up closer to The Star Wars Holiday Special, which debuted a month later on CBS: an embarrassment that grew into a fan favorite over time.

Stanley, 70, spoke at length with The Hollywood Reporter about the making of the 1978 cult classic.

Seeing Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park as a child left a huge impression on me. To me, it was the coolest thing ever. And then I was reading up on it, and I saw you guys disowned it. Do you still feel that way?

I guess you would have to define it as kitsch, although it wasn’t supposed to be that in the beginning. But you had four guys who never read the script, who were clueless about even the fundamentals of acting, basically allowed to do whatever we wanted to. And a take was considered anything where we didn’t flub our lines.

How far along were you in this idea of Kiss having a mythology around it when you were first presented with the idea of a movie?

I was trying to place whether the Kiss Marvel Comics came first, but I think Kiss Meets the Phantom may have come first. It is kind of a chicken or the egg, and it was an ugly chicken. [The first Kiss comic book predated the film by one year.]

I don’t remember. I don’t remember much, honestly. When we were introduced to the idea of the film, we basically said, “Make a film? Great.” It was kind of like The Little Rascals. “Let’s put on a show.” There was so much going on at that time. Two members of the band weren’t speaking to the other two members of the band. We had both [lead guitarist] Ace [Frehley] and [drummer] Peter [Criss], who would [act] on whatever whim might cross their mind. They would leave the set in the middle of shooting. In some scenes, we have stand-ins and stunt doubles [playing us]. And the idea of “the talisman” [which gave us our powers] — clearly we’d never heard the term talisman. Look, we were idiots, and we were suddenly put into a position where The Marx Brothers were being taken seriously.

Did it occur to you at the time that you might be making a dud?

I remember that Anthony Zerbe, who was a credible actor, who played the mad scientist — which, every film needs a mad scientist — he was not terribly enamored to be working with us. We weren’t used to being corralled or told what we needed to do. I just remember at one point being on set at Magic Mountain and turning to my manager at the time, Bill Aucoin, and saying: “I think this is going to be horrible.” And he said, “Don’t worry.” You should never hear anybody say, “Don’t worry.” You know?

How did the NBC executives react to the final product?

They gave us a viewing of the film before it aired on NBC. And I just slid further and further down in my chair. By the time it was over, I was looking at chewing gum on the bottom of the seats. I remember a scene where we were levitating some magic box, and you could see the wires onscreen. And in typical Hollywood fashion, when it was over, people were coming over and shaking my hand and congratulating me.

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So this week we talk about the HUGE NEWS that PETER CRISS will be at CREATURES FEST in Nashville in May! He was added this week to the already HUGE lineup! Plus Joe ranks some KISS releases!

KISSmuseum.com

Some of our best items are in the $5 and under section, check it out!

$5 and under KISS Merch at KISSmuseum.com

Michael Brandvold

This week we talk about what we think needs to happen with the KISS KRUISE now that we know KISS will NOT be performing on board..

This week the boys talk to Carlos from KISSNATION. Joey tells the story of his audition and haw they ended up doing a PILOT for VH1!

KISSmuseum.com

New KISS Merchandise and Collectibles posted most every day at KISSmuseum.com

Michael Brandvold

Matt Porter

KISS ARMY – meet meet me in THE KISS ROOM!

On the February issue of THE KISS ROOM, Matt Porter is joined by Bobby Dreher and Angel Alamo, half of the “core four” from THE METAL SUMMIT!

Valentine’s Day Love is in the air and we have tons of KISS talk, KISS tunes, plus a cool KISS cover from Jacob Ericksson, the world premiere of the new single from BLITZ, a killer set from THE KISS ROOM HOUSE BAND and MORE!

Originally broadcast live on Friday, February 11, 2022 via Montco Radio.

KISStorian Brothers

Set phasers for a KISStoric ‘inside job’ as we time travel with luminary KISStorian, PETER ARQUETTE of KISSAsylum.com and KISSMuseum.com. Few men have swum so far in KISS waters without without being forced at some point to “take heed” of our Gods of Thunder, Stanley/Simmons, in some capacity. And yet Peter has lived a life fully-immersed in KISS since 1987 as a curator of content and a beloved conduit for fans, all without ever even dipping a single toe into Facebook et al.! Yes, a KISS Bigfoot with no social media footprint (no small feat). Peter takes us back to his ‘Trail By Fire’, his first KISS concert at the Capital Center in 1977, a life-changing moment that would ultimately land him a seat

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Michael Brandvold

This week we will be talking with Rosie Luck from the Creatures Fest! Plus we have LISTENER DAVE from DOWN UNDER to talk Australia and the KISS TOUR and wheather or not he thinks the show will go on. You get all that AND this weeks KISS NEWS!!

AUDIO ONLY….

Michael Brandvold

This week we talk about the OFFICIAL VHS and DVD releases that KISS put out and how GREAT or how BAD they were. Plus we get in a discussion of if we think KISS win resume their tour in AUSTRAILIA?

David Ashdown

Rock Historian, Author, Podcaster, Youtuber, English spy and KISS fanatic (“we’re not the Free Masons”) JULIAN GILL of KISSFAQ.com unmasks to walk the plank with KISStorian Brothers, ever-humbly sharing his candid thoughts on any & all things KISS. The discussion takes us from the early days of KISSFAQ, online now since 1996, to the interviewing process that went into the writing of his benchmarks books on the band, most notably Gene, Ace, Peter & Paul; A detailed exploration of the 1978 KISS solo albums and Odyssey, the definitive examination of “Music From The Elder”, KISS’ cult-classic concept album. Few Black Diamonds are left in the rough as we ramble from Ace to Vinnie, Angel, Starz, Ken, Daniel, Mark, Bruce, Bob, Sean, Toby, Mark, Peter, Poncia, Doc, EOTR & beyond. Any Way You Slice it, we find out Julian was born under the full eclipse of an Asylum moon. Bewitched, and A Creature Of The Night ever since, it can be argued that the mans dedication to KISStory, to getting the story right, and ultimately to us the fans is rivaled by few, save members of the ‘family’. Thank you, Julian!  – KISStorian.com

Michael Brandvold

KISSmuseum.com

This week we talk all things Creatures Fest with Promoter Neil Davis! He gives us some AMAZING SCOOPS on just what’s going down in MAY!!

KISSmuseum.com

NEW, UNUSED CONDITION DIRECTLY FROM THE PRINTER. We came across a sealed case and this book could not be in better condition! No fingerprints. Never been opened.

The most amazing KISS-related book to come out in decades – The Paul Stanley Solo tour 1989 book delves deep into the history of this obscure, 12-city mini tour featuring Paul Stanley, Eric Singer, Bob Kulick and Gary Corbet.

Every stop on the tour is explicitly detailed with photos, set lists, news clippings, tickets, concert posters, merchandise, advertisements and fan contributions. There will never be a more comprehensive collection of information for this tour – everything you need to know is here!

Imported from Spain, English edition.

includes the 2 page pull out poster of Paul live 1983.

80 pages

Over 250 photos

8 x 11.5 inches

Soft-cover

MINT condition from factory case.

Paul Stanley Solo Tour Book 1989 HERE at KISSmuseum.com