GENE SIMMONS Looks Back On Making Of 'Kiss Meets The Phantom Of The Park' Movie: 'We Didn't Have A Clue What We Were Doing'

In a new interview with Movie Moments, KISS bassist/vocalist Gene Simmons recalled the making of the band's 1978 Hanna Barbera-produced made-for-television movie "Kiss Meets The Phantom Of The Park" (alternately known as "Attack Of The Phantoms"). "Kiss Meets The Phantom Of The Park" originally aired on the American television network NBC on October 28, 1978. Filmed largely on location at the Magic Mountain theme park in Santa Clarita, California, the film finds the members of KISS — playing themselves — using their "superpowers" to battle an evil inventor.

Gene said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): " All kinds of people wanted us to make a film, because KISS was the Gallup Poll biggest band in the world — above THE BEATLES and [LED] ZEPPELIN, everyone — for three years in a row: '77, '78 and '79. So, obviously, cartoon shows came and movies — the industry all wants to take advantage of somebody's popularity. And we settled on this one idea, which is kind of silly when you think about it. You had the Frankenstein monster, Wolfman and Dracula all coming alive. There're automatons in a theme park. That's the hook. And, of course, there are fake KISSes in the movie who are automatons that come alive.

"It was fun," Simmons continued. "We didn't have a clue what we were doing. There was a fine director who did a lot of mysteries, a guy named Gordon Hessler, who was trying to be nice and would come up to us after we did a scene and he would say, 'Did you like that?' He was very English. We're kind going, 'Uh, yeah. We were kind of hoping you'd tell us that.' 'Uh oh, very good. Very good. Would you like to do another one?' 'Uh. Sure.' 'Did you like that?' He was a very kind English guy. For all we knew, we sucked, but he just made it just go down a little easier."

Back in 2018, original KISS guitarist Ace Frehley stated about the filming of "Kiss Meets The Phantom Of The Park": "I remember it very well. I had a lot of fun. When we started shooting at [the Los Angeles-area amusement park] Magic Mountain, they closed the park at 6 o'clock, so I had the run of the park. I bought a moped and used to drive around all those asphalt trails between the rides. I crashed a few times, but luckily, I had that costume on with all the padding, and I didn't get hurt.

"The whole experience for me was pretty good," Frehley continued, "[but] there was one day that I really kind of lost it, and that was when I had a fight with a producer. What happened was, I was partying the night before, we had to get up at 7 o'clock [and] drive to Magic Mountain. Then we had to put our makeup on and costumes and stuff. I had the day's shooting schedule, and I was supposed to start shooting at around 10:30, 11 o'clock. All of a sudden, somebody knocks on the door and they says, 'Excuse me, Mr. Frehley. We're going to be doing close-ups on Gene Simmons all morning, and we won't need you until after lunch.' That happened more than once, but the second time it happened, I just lost my [tempter]. I ran into the producer's office [and said], 'This shit's not going to fly with me. You get your shit together. If you want me here at 9 o'clock in makeup, you better make sure you got your shooting schedule right,' because nobody wants to sit around in that makeup and costume for 12 hours. I lost it — I jumped into my Mercedes and took off."

Although his former bandmates have voiced their displeasure with the movie, Frehley said that he didn't share their opinion. "Paul [Stanley] and Gene have gone on record that they hate the film," he said. "I think it's hysterical, and I think it's campy and I think it's a silly rock 'n' roll movie. I don't think there's anything wrong with it. They took the film so goddamn seriously that it just ruined it for them when they saw the final cut, because they expected 'Gone With The Wind'."

According to the 1997 book "Kiss And Sell: The Making Of A Supergroup", for years after "Kiss Meets The Phantom Of The Park"'s airing, no one who worked for KISS was permitted to mention the movie in the band's presence.

On VH1's "When Kiss Ruled The World" program, Simmons offered his thoughts on the film: "It's a classic movie — if you're on drugs."

In a 2022 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Stanley stated about "Kiss Meets The Phantom Of The Park": "I embrace it like an ugly child. You have to realize that we were like these imbeciles who got to take over the school. We knew nothing about acting, nothing about filmmaking. We were sold the idea of the film in a sentence that was virtually, ''A Hard Day's Night' meets 'Star Wars'.' Well, it was far from either."

Reflecting on his first time seeing the movie, Stanley said: "They gave us a viewing of the film before it aired on NBC. And I just slid further and further down in my chair. By the time it was over, I was looking at chewing gum on the bottom of the seats. I remember a scene where we were levitating some magic box, and you could see the wires onscreen. And in typical Hollywood fashion, when it was over, people were coming over and shaking my hand and congratulating me.

"For me, it wasn't 'Springtime For Hitler', but it's just interesting how people hold that film in some affectionate memory. And I think that's terrific. I was there and it wasn't. I lived it. And whatever you saw on the screen and whatever dubious thoughts you have about it, let me tell you, you just saw the tip of the iceberg that sank the Titanic."

The European edit of the film was included on KISS's 2007 DVD anthology "Kissology Volume Two: 1978-1991".

"Kiss Meets The Phantom Of The Park" was one of America's most successful TV movies and was shown in cinemas in other countries. An IMDb plot summary for the film reads as follows: "The tale of rock band KISS and their efforts to thwart a diabolical plan by mad scientist Abner Devereaux. Devereaux has found a way to clone humans into robots in his laboratory at an amusement park. It just so happens that he plans to uses the KISS concert as a platform to unleash his plan on the world. KISS must use their special powers to stop him."