so you may be thinking what more can possibly be hiding in this movie. well, i'm glad you (didn't) ask! for being such an obscure and otherwise unknown movie, the influence its had on pop culture is insane!

so firstly, you may notice that in some scenes, the logo for the record label "death records" is really shittily superimposed onto things. there is absolutely a reason for this! so initially, the entire movie was filmed and the original name of the record label was "swan song enterprises". well, turns out that LED ZEPPELIN of all people also have a record label named swan song records. they absolutely GUTTED the movie; all mentions of swan song needed to be removed before it was released. which really sucks because the original logo for swan song enterprises was so cool! there were even props made with the original logo so it's kind of sad that they destroyed the movie just because of this. in some scenes you can still see the original logo, but i would love to see the original version of the movie without the censors!

this movie came out in 1974, so height of the 70's. a lot of people actually took inspiration from this movie for other things! it's said that guy-manuel and thomas from daft punk met when they both went to see this movie as teens, and went to go see it together 20 times after! they were inspired by the story of someone being stuck behind a mask and using computers to sing, which then inspired them to create daft punk! whose robots have a similar story of being injured by exploding musical equipment and as a result hiding behind a mask and singing through midis. the movie they made "human after all" also features, from their words "a hero with a black leather outfit and helmet".

i think the most notable influence of all though, is the design of the phantom himself. he looks... vaguely familiar, huh? almost like... a certain character from a certain anime? well, it's actually the other way around! the creator of berserk, kentaro miura, was inspired by the design of the phantom and used it as direct inspiration for when griffith transforms into femto. and chronologically this checks out too, since the movie came out in '74 and berserk was started in '88. honestly, when you look at the story too you can find a lot of similarities. someone selling their soul for fame and success, at the downfall of those around them...

the musician sebastien tellier also states a big inspiration for his album 'sexuality' was this movie! he says the fictional band in the movie 'the juicy fruits' symbolizes that time of innocence where having fun with your friends was more important than picking up girls. i mean, your album is literally about sex but okay i guess LOL.

but yeah i feel like the influence this movie has had on other pieces of media is severely underrated. the movie itself is underrated! i feel like i mention this movie to people and they're like "huh?". so yes, please watch this movie!! it is so fun and just a treat and you'll have the music stuck in your head for weeks!