Party Monster (1999)

With a short 57-minute running time calculated for TV timeslots, this documentary was partially financed by Cinemax and UK's Channel 4. Staged simulations are smoothly integrated with legit footage to jigsaw together a portrait of Michael Alig, serving time for manslaughter when this film was made. Waving goodbye to South Bend, Indiana, Alig arrived in NYC, became a college dropout, and developed a reputation for promoting parties during the '80s. The Alig parties featured bizarre costumes, performance art, and a sexual slant, but they eventually began going haywire with wild drug use/abuse of heroin, crack, and animal tranquilizers, prompting the law to take note. In early 1996, drug dealer Angel Melendez vanished, and a corpse later turned up floating near Staten Island; months later, Alig and a roommate were arrested. To recount the grim details, filmmakers Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato interviewed Alig in prison, combining this with both party videos and footage of Alig associates. Shown at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival.