KISS Meets the Phantom of the Park (1978)

The Beatles were one of the biggest musical acts to ever exist. John, Paul, George, and Pete took Germany by storm. Then Pete was dropped for Ringo, and The Beatles took the world. Beatlemania became a thing, and the music landscape would be changed forever. By the end of the 1960s, the band had gone their separate ways. Their influence would live on, though.

During their time together as The Beatles, there were thirteen studio albums. The songs from those albums helped to shape the music that would come after. The final few albums were pushing the boundaries of what people thought of rock music. There were more complicated melodies, instruments that people wouldn’t normally consider, and an evolution in how the band sounded.

There were also four movies during the life of The Beatles that were based around The Beatles and their music. A Hard Day’s Night, Help!, and Magical Mystery Tour all featured John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr in leading roles. Yellow Submarine was based on their music and had them in a cameo. It was a great form of marketing. The band would become popular for their music. They would tour. They would make money through concerts. But then they would put out a movie with new music. People would buy the album. They would see the movie. They would go to concerts to hear the music from the album that was a soundtrack to the movie. Bigger sales for The Beatles. More money for the band members.

Less than a decade after The Beatles dissolved, there would be another band that was as crafty at how they marketed themselves. That band was another rock band. They were another band that had four members. They were another band where there wasn’t just one singer. Instead of John, Paul, George, and Ringo, there was now Paul, Peter, Gene, and Ace. The band was KISS, and they would become one of the most recognizable in rock history.

KISS’s legacy can be seen in film in much the same way as The Beatles. The Beatles made their four movies before the people who liked their music made other movies about them. The Rutles: All You Need is Cash came out, which spoofed their work. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band was a movie based on the Sgt. Pepper’s album they had made. Across the Universe was a musical based on their work. Yesterday was about the legacy of The Beatles and if it could be replicated, had they not existed. KISS had the same sort of film legacy, though not to the same level. Detroit Rock City was about a bunch of teenagers trying to get to a KISS concert. Role Models was about two men who were forced into a Big Brother type of program. One of them loved KISS, and they participated in a LARPing battle where their kingdom was based on KISS. Even Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 got in on the KISS legacy with a recurring joke about Mini-KISS, a KISS cover band consisting of four little people. They were a band that lived on through movies when their new music stopped making an impact.

It wasn’t the music that gave KISS such a long-lasting legacy. KISS was, and still is, a brilliant marketing machine. The members of the band knew how to sell themselves and sell any merchandise that came along with them being them. The first, and most memorable, of the marketing ploys was the look of the band. KISS is known for the makeup that they wore. Paul Stanley was the Starchild. Gene Simmons was the demon. Ace Frehley was The Spaceman, a design that was taken by Tommy Thayer when he later joined the band. Finally, there was Peter Criss, the Catman. He would eventually be replaced by Eric Singer as the Catman. At different points there were also Eric Carr as The Fox and Vinnie Vincent as The Ankh Warrior. The designs stood out and helped the band to differentiate themselves from all the other rock bands that didn’t wear the heavy makeup. It made them unique and memorable.

That memorable look transferred over to toys, shirts, and the fanbase. People who went to KISS shows dressed themselves up like the members of the band. They got action figures of their favourite band members, based on their looks. They bought t-shirts with the band’s faces, their tour dates, and their album covers on them. They bought the albums themselves. They donned costumes. Anything and everything that could have the band’s look had it. They even branched into comics and movies.

By movies, they branched into one television movie back in 1978. It was called KISS Meets the Phantom of the Park. The film was produced by Hanna-Barbera. Calvin Richards (Carmine Caridi) owned and operated Six Flags Mega Mountain in California. Business was slow, so he decided to bring in the band KISS for a concert. The engineer of the park, Abner Devereaux (Anthony Zerbe), did not approve of the concert and decided to do something about it. He created animatronic versions of Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, Ace Frehley, and Peter Criss to try and harm the park. KISS would have to fight the robotic versions of themselves to save their legacy and the people in the park.

KISS Meets the Phantom of the Park was a big promotional tool for the band. The concert that kicked the story into motion was portrayed in the movie. A few different KISS songs were featured throughout. Rock ‘N’ Roll All Nite opened the film as the characters floated through the opening credits and came back at the end. Hotter Than Hell was changed to Rip and Destroy for a performance from the evil KISS robots. There was a performance of Beth where the members of the band sat by a small pool of water while Melissa (Deborah Ryan) looked for her lost boyfriend Sam (Terry Lester). And the end credits played with the song God of Thunder. It was a greatest hits for KISS that would leave fans satisfied and hopefully bring in new fans. Plus, a soundtrack could be released to get some more money.

The other big marketing tool of KISS Meets the Phantom of the Park was to add to the mythology of the band members. The makeup already turned the band members into characters. It differentiated everyone and made them toyetic. But the television movie gave them more than just a unique look. It gave them superpowers. The band had to fight off the evil versions of themselves, as well as any other creations that Abner released on the public. Paul Stanley started using a laser eye type of power, while Gene Simmons breathed fire. They subdued their enemies with these powers, turning them from a band to a group of superheroes. They were more than men in makeup.

KISS knew what they were doing when they made KISS Meets the Phantom of the Park. They were growing their persona. They were marketing themselves. People would no longer see them as the band that liked to rock and roll all night. They would see the band as action heroes, ready to save the world from imminent danger. People would want to get the action figures and have them fight against any of their other action figures. Could GI Joe breathe fire or shoot lasers from their eyes? No, but KISS could.

Some of these elements were established before KISS Meets the Phantom of the Park, but they came to prominence through the movie. Gene Simmons was breathing fire as a gimmick during live shows. The band made a few comic books with Marvel, including one where their blood was mixed into the red ink. The powers were there. But the television movie surely introduced them to kids who couldn’t get the comic and couldn’t go to the concerts. The television show was peak 1970s KISS merchandising.

Peter Criss would leave the band in 1980. After some searching, he was replaced by Eric Carr, who took on the persona of The Fox. Ace Frehley lasted two more years before leaving the band in 1982. He was replaced by Vinnie Vincent, who would take on the persona of The Ankh Warrior. The band would drop the makeup in 1983, go through a few more member swaps, and rock through the 1980s. They had a reunion in the 1990s, then went back to their makeup with a new drummer and lead guitarist that wore The Cat and The Space Man again. It was a marketing choice to take off the makeup and a marketing choice to put it back on. The band was all about making these choices to get as much money as possible.

KISS was one of the biggest bands to come out of the 1970s, and it was all thanks to their marketing finesse. They knew what to do to get people to give them more money. Music, concerts, comics, toys, and even a movie. They had makeup that gave them supernatural personas. People instantly recognized them, much in the same way that they instantly recognized The Beatles. They knew what they were doing and they did it well. Success came to them through their hard work and creative genius.

Now let’s get some notes in here:

• Brion James was in KISS Meets the Phantom of the Park. He was previously seen in Cabin Boy (week 173) and Return to Frogtown (week 334).
• KISS Meets the Phantom of the Park was the second Sunday “Bad” Movies appearance of Carmine Caridi, who was previously in Top Dog (week 126).
• Douglas M. Nelson returned this week. His first movie covered was Perfect (week 195).
• Finally, Dorinda Townsend was in KISS Meets the Phantom of the Park, as well as Sandy Wexler (week 231).
• Have you seen KISS Meets the Phantom of the Park? Do you like KISS? Do you like any of the movies that involve KISS? Let me know on Twitter or in the comments.
• I’m always looking for movies I might not know that I should include in the Sunday “Bad” Movies. If you know any, tell me about them. You can find me through Twitter, or in the comments.
• There’s an Instagram account for the Sunday “Bad” Movies that you can check out if you want to see some pictures or clips related to the movies that have been covered.
• Now it’s time to talk about next week. In one week’s time, I’ll be taking on one of the most infamous animated movies of the past couple years. That’s right. I’m going animated next week. I’ll be checking out The Emoji Movie, and there will be a post all about it. I’ll see you when it’s up.