Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park (also known as Attack of the Phantoms in Europe and Kiss Phantoms in Italy) is a 1978 American television film starring American hard rock band Kiss and produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions. The movie's plot revolves around Kiss, who use their superpowers to battle an evil inventor (Abner Devereaux, played by Anthony Zerbe) and to save a California amusement park from destruction.
NBC aired the film at the height of Kiss's popularity in the United States. Due to the film's poor acting and semi-comedic script, most Kiss fans disliked the film. Despite the film's poor quality, it has attained cult film status. The members of Kiss despised the film for making them appear buffoonish. For years after its airing, no one who worked for the group was permitted to mention the film in their presence.
Ace Frehley as himself/the Spaceman
Gene Simmons as himself/the Demon
Paul Stanley as himself/the Starchild
Peter Criss as himself/the Catman
Anthony Zerbe as Abner Devereaux
Carmine Caridi as Calvin Richards
Deborah Ryan as Melissa
John Dennis Johnston as Chopper
John Lisbon Wood as Slime
Lisa Jane Persky as Dirty Dee
John Chappell as Sneed
Terry Lester as Sam Farell
Don Steele as himself
Brion James as guard
Kiss's commercial popularity was at its peak by 1978. The group's gross income in 1977 totaled $10.2 million. Creative manager Bill Aucoin felt, however, that the cycle of album releases and touring had taken Kiss as far as they could go, and that it was time to elevate the group's image to the next level. He formulated a plan to cast Kiss as superheroes, a process that began with the 1977 release of a Kiss comic book. The band agreed, and plans were developed for a Kiss film.
Filming for Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park began in May 1978, and it was produced by Hanna-Barbera, known primarily for animation. Most of the picture was filmed at Magic Mountain in California, with additional filming taking place in the Hollywood Hills. Much of the production was rushed, and the script underwent numerous rewrites. All four members of Kiss were given crash courses on acting.
Before completing the script, screenwriters Jan Michael Sherman and Don Buday spent time with each Kiss member, to get a feel for how they each acted and spoke. Frehley, known for his eccentric behavior, said little to the pair but "Ack!" As a result, Frehley was not originally given any lines, except to interject "Ack!" at various points. In the first draft of the script, Frehley was described as "monosyllabic and super-friendly. Communicating largely through gestures and sounds, Ace might be best described as an other-galactic Harpo Marx."[5] Upon learning of his lack of dialogue, Frehley threatened to leave the project. Soon after, lines were written for him.
The band, none of whom had any prior acting experience, had difficulty adjusting to the demands of filming. Frehley and Criss, in particular, became increasingly frustrated with the long periods of downtime normally associated with filmmaking. They were both also dealing with increasing levels of substance abuse.
Criss's dialogue had to be dubbed by voice actor Michael Bell (who had worked with producer Joseph Barbera on a number of past projects) because he refused to participate in post-production. The only time Criss's actual voice is heard is during an acoustic performance of "Beth". (Criss denies this story, stating that he "went to all the looping.")
On May 27, the last day of filming, Criss and tour manager Fritz Postlethwaite were involved in a serious car accident. Postlethwaite suffered burns but soon returned to work for Kiss. Criss's injuries were minor. On a few occasions, Frehley left the set during filming due to arguments with the film's director. In one scene that Frehley abandoned, his stunt double — African American Alan Oliney, who would later go on to stunt double for Eddie Murphy and Wesley Snipes, among others — can clearly be seen instead.
The concert depicted in the film was recorded in the parking lot of Magic Mountain on May 19, 1978, in front of a crowd of 8,000 people. Tickets for the concert were given out by local AM radio station KTNQ, where "The Real" Don Steele was a disc jockey. This is also the same radio station where Kiss made an appearance as DJs on Steele's radio program the previous year while in town to record Alive II at The Forum.[citation needed] The group performed a full concert, followed by lip-synched performances of some songs. "Rip and Destroy", an altered version of "Hotter than Hell" that was featured in the film, was not performed during the concert.
