KISS - The home video
Not long ago my family and I were home on a Friday night and decided to start a movie. I suggested watching a movie I hadn’t seen in a very long time. I thought my kids would get a kick out of it. “Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park” was released in the mid-seventies, when I was around the same age my kids are now. At the time Kiss was HUGE, and I thought they were so cool. I remember watching the movie on TV.
Later, as a teen, I actually bought the movie. Although this movie is quite possibly one of the worst movies ever made, it’s still very entertaining, for just that reason. The acting is horrible, the special effects are cheesy and the storyline and dialogue are just plain dumb. But who can forget the fake Gene Simmons busting through the wall that is so obviously Styrofoam, Paul Stanley shooting lasers from his eye, Peter Criss’ dubbed voice, and Ace Frehley saying “AAA!” periodically throughout the movie for no apparent reason? What exactly was that supposed to mean anyway? I think if I ever had the chance to meet Kiss that would be the first thing I asked them. I remember as a kid I was scared of the robot-wolf creatures that Kiss fights at the roller coaster.
My favorite part when I was a kid was when they’re singing “Beth” while the brainwashed Sam guy is trying to steal their Talismans. Who came up with this stuff?! The movie isn’t all bad, though. There’s great concert footage of their hit songs “Rock & Roll All Night,” “Shout It Out Loud,” and “Stole Your Love.” My kids loved the movie, and my seven year-old daughter has become somewhat of a Kiss fanatic. My husband let her and her brother listen to the “Kiss Live IV – Rock and Roll Over Beethoven” CD, and they both love that, too. The best thing about this movie is while my husband and I watched it with our kids; it reminded us of our childhoods. Watching our kids was like looking into the past again and seeing ourselves. One thing can be said about Kiss—they have proved that one of the keys to success is longevity. Thirty years later, people still know who Gene, Paul, Peter and Ace are, even though they may have forgotten about “Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park.”