FILM AS A SUBVERSIVE ART: THE END OF SEXUAL TABOOS
(Amos Vogel, 1974)
FRIDAY, JULY 6TH – MIDNIGHT
Can film make revolution? What use is it if it can’t? Film critic Amos Vogel’s seminal work, Film As A Subversive Art, published in 1974, is both an argument for and a catalogue of cinema that refuses, rebels and repulses. Film “designed to eradicate the reactionary values of an establishment that had proven its bankruptcy.”
Vogel died in April 2012. In his honor, Spectacle Theater and The New Inquiry will be hosting a series of talks and screenings, taking selections of many of the near-impossible to see films from his book. July’s screening will feature early animated erotica, some abominable Viennese Actionism, a fairy from the Society For Cutting Up Men, and other arousing anachronisms.
Spectacle Midnights proudly salutes a contemporary low budget master – writer, director, composer, and owner of Tempe Video, J.R. Bookwalter!
Bookwalter began making 8mm films in his teens and eventually created THE DEAD NEXT DOOR, an 8mm zombie epic which took him four years to complete (with a little help from SAM RAIMI). His career put him in touch with all aspects of contemporary low budget independent filmmaking, from production to distribution, to publishing his own magazine, to for-hire feature filmmaking. The Spectacle is proud to present the work of the ingenious and passionate Ohio filmmaker – a master of his means – J.R. Bookwalter
OZONE
Dir. J.R. Bookwalter, 1995
USA, 83 min
FRIDAY JULY 5th – MIDNIGHT
After a less-than-satisfying stint making low budget features for CHV, which yielded the video store classic Robot Ninja, J.R. Bookwalter returned to Ohio to reclaim his low budget glory with OZONE, another wildly ambitious shot on video work of pure will, ingenuity and imagination.
Detective Eddie Boone is a good cop who plays by his own rules, and he’s on the trail of a local drug kingpin, DeBartolo. During a stakeout Boone and his partner are ambushed, Boone is injected with a strange drug, and his partner Mike (Tom Hoover) goes MIA. Now, close to the edge and on suspension, Boone must infiltrate a drug fueled, mutant filled underground in search of DeBartolo, his partner, and some answers all while fighting the effects of the bizarre drug, OZONE, which is slowly transforming him into something inhuman and terrifying.
OZONE is Bookwalter’s most original and complex film: a police thriller, a horror film, a gory science fiction fantasy, all brought to low budget life with solid direction, great performances, slimy FX, and early CG. Shot mostly in and around a dreary Ohio hospital, the film is dark and eerie, a nightmarish mystery filled with bizarre creatures and memorable characters. Part Cronenberg, part Nightbreed, and all Bookwalter, OZONE is another milestone of shot on video excellence from a true master of his means.
POLYMORPH
Dir. J.R. Bookwalter, 1996
USA, 86 min.
FRIDAY JULY 12th – MIDNIGHT
POLYMORPH is J.R. Bookwalter’s $10,000 shot on digital video answer to the The Thing and Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Working from a fun script based on a long shelved idea, this no-budget extraterrestrial nature hike has got more bad CG and fake cocaine than most lesser films could only dream of.
A polymorphous creature resembling a glowing green turd crash lands in the Ohio woods causing a group of science interns and some ruthless drug dealers, led by the sleazily charismatic Carlos (Tom Hoover), to cross paths. After a bloody showdown, the interns and the drug dealers must band together to fight the bodysnatching space slug. Now this ragtag group of survivors must fight to survive with nothing but their wits – and a bag full of hand grenades.
POLYMORPH provides some adorable laughs, real human drama, and warm characters – well, until the polymorphous space monster starts reanimating corpses with glowing green eyes in order to viciously murder any human in its path. This is a backwoods alien killing spree complete with firefights, leather coats, HK style standoffs and splatter. Making great use of lo-fi digital FX and some terrific actors Bookwalter serves up a superior 50s B movie throwback with a totally 90s vibe.
WITCHOUSE 2: BLOOD COVEN
Dir. J.R. Bookwalter, 2003
USA, 77 min.
FRIDAY JULY 19th – MIDNIGHT
In WITCHOUSE 2- BLOOD COVEN J.R. Bookwalter has his first 35mm outing for the legendary Full Moon imprint and does not disappoint. This follow up to B movie master David DeCoteau’s original is an atmospheric, gorgeously shot, multi-format creep fest featuring the legendary Andrew Prine in dual roles – STOP…double Prine!
After 2 horny goths (captured in full-on Blair Witch fashion) are murdered, a professor and her team of students are sent in to investigate the strange goings-on in a small, spooky colonial town which was once the site of bloody witch trials. After unearthing four unmarked graves believed to belong to suspected witches and meeting with fear and suspicion from the townsfolk, the team begins to believe something sinister may be afoot. Mystery, possession, and death follow, in a totally fun and eerie late night, low-budget spellbinder!
Bookwalter brings his knack for likable characters and fun dialogue to this slick and well-paced ghost story which plays like Scooby Doo for grown ups! Using his low budget ingenuity to piece together a film that cleverly swings between formats and distant shooting locations (Europe and Los Angeles), Bookwalter proves he’s a craftsman and stylist with a love of the genre, who turns limitations into charm.
THE DEAD NEXT DOOR
Dir. J.R. Bookwalter, 1989
USA, 84 min.
FRIDAY, JULY 26th – MIDNIGHT
At the tender age of nineteen, Ohio filmmaker and horror film devotee JR BOOKWALTER created the ultimate 8mm zombie epic, THE DEAD NEXT DOOR. This wildly ambitious debut feature took 4 years to complete with a little help from hyperactive horror auteur Sam Raimi (For the Love of the Game) and Raimi’s regular collaborator Scott Spiegel. Bookwalter’s film is the greatest and most sprawling fan made Romero love letter ever realized, and features, according to Bookwalter, a cast of around 1,500!
In a post-Dawn of the Dead world overrun by the living dead, the Zombie Squad is helping search for the key to a special formula which may be able to destroy the zombie menace once and for all. In their search for the secret notes of a mysterious doctor they come head to head with a group of religious fanatics led by a Jim Jones lookalike who is willing to kill to in order to keep his own terrible secret safe. A bloody, FX, zombie filled showdown follows where no fleshy neck area is left unbitten, and no intestine left unchewed!
The DEAD NEXT DOOR is truly impressive in its scale and ingenuity, featuring guerilla shots of zombies attacking the White House and the Washington Memorial! Bookwalter’s film also provides plenty of goofy laughs and gleeful groan inducing references for horror fans (characters with names like Dr. Savini, Commander Carpenter, and Raimi)! Capturing the bucolic splendor of Romero’s Night and Dawn in its more pastoral moments (thanks to the film’s Ohio location), and delivering the goods for the gorehounds in spades, this is the perfect in-world riff for living dead fiends, and a testament to the passion and possibilities of low budget horror moviemaking.
Before THE WALKING DEAD there was THE DEAD NEXT DOOR!
In conjunction with our summer-long screenings of The Street Fighter Trilogy, we present three female-centered kung fu flicks in our midnights section that prove they can hit as hard as Chiba!
Starting with the direct spinoff SISTER STREET FIGHTER, continuing on with the blaxsploitation/kung fu hybrid TNT JACKSON, and concluding with the hyper-kinetic ‘Girls With Guns’landmark FIGHTING MADAM, these films represent some of the best in female-driven kung fu-sploitation.
SISTER STREET FIGHTER
Dir: Kazuhiko Yamaguchi, 1974.
86 min. Japan.
In Japanese with English subtitles.
SATURDAY, JUNE 15TH – MIDNIGHT ONE NIGHT ONLY!
Etsuko Shihomi IS Tina Long, a martial arts master seeking revenge on drug lords who kidnapped her agent brother. With the help of dojo partner Sonny Chiba (who pops in for a brief cameo), she breaks into the drug lords’s compound and must plow through a legion of henchmen, including a group of Thai kickboxers called the “Amazon Seven”- in order to get to the bottom of the dungeon lair to fight the boss and save her brother.
Released immediately after THE STREET FIGHTER became an international success, SISTER STREET FIGHTER saw Japanese film giant Toei create a successful spinoff that eventually lead to multiple ‘Sister’ sequels of varying quality and success. The original, much like THE STREET FIGHTER itself, remains the best of the bunch.
TNT JACKSON
Dir: Cirio H. Santiago, 1974.
72 min. USA.
COMING IN JULY!
A staple of the early 70s drive-in circuit, TNT JACKSON was schlock producer kingpin Roger Corman’s attempt to cash in on the blaxsploitation craze and remains a fitting example of the kung fu craze muscling its way into every 70s genre.
Martial arts expert Diana ‘TNT’ Jackson travels to Hong Kong to search for her brother’s killer. She soon discovers an underworld heroin smuggling operation that may lead her to the murderer. Will she karate chop her way through an army of henchmen and come face-to-face with her brother’s assailant?
Starring afro-haired ass-kicker Jean Bell (the first African American Playmate) in a script originally written by legendary character actor Dick Miller (before Corman had it rewritten), the film makes zero attempts at production values and plot imagination (essentially the same setup as SISTER STREET FIGHTER) but does features a criminal amount of funky 70s wardrobes, cheesy kung-fu ‘whooshes’, and a completely illogical topless fight scene that ranks at the top of exploitation’s most gratuitous, trashy moments.
If Pam Grier is too expensive, then you best call TNT Jackson!
FIGHTING MADAM
(aka Angel, aka Iron Angels, aka Midnight Angels)
Dir: Raymond Leung & Teresa Woo, 1987.
93 min. Hong Kong/Taiwan.
In Cantonese/Mandarin with English subtitles.
FRIDAY, AUGUST 23 – MIDNIGHT
An Eastern 80s riff on ‘Charlie’s Angels,’ FIGHTING MADAM features a team of secret agents known as ‘The Angels’ attempting to take down an evil international narcotics organization posing as a mega-coroporation.
Produced at a crossroads for Hong Kong cinema between traditional kung fu and modern action, FIGHTING MADAM defined the ‘Girls With Guns’ sub-genre: an incredibly popular series of action films with all-female leads.
The simple plot setup is merely a template to work off for some of the most intense and insane set-pieces in all of action cinema. Featuring opium field battles, samurai sword clashes on speed bikes, ski-masked assassinations, fiery car crashes, reckless helicopter shootouts, and enough bare-knuckle brawling to fill 20 films, FIGHTING MADAM reaches unprecedented, operatic levels of expertly choreographed mayhem.
As we close out our summer-long tour of kung fu cinema, we salute what is surely one of the most batshit-crazy action films to ever emerge from Hong Kong.
Spectacle MANDATORY MIDNIGHTS presents: I BURY THE LIVING
Dir: Albert Band, 1958.
76 min. USA.
FRIDAY, JUNE 14TH – MIDNIGHT ONE NIGHT ONLY!
Albert Band contributed so much to the world of B-movies, not least of all his two sons, the Romulus and Remus of low budget genre cinema throughout the 80s and 90s, Charles and Richard Band. Long before Parasite, Re-Animator, Ghoulies, Puppet Master and the Full Moon video store onslaught of the 90s and 2000s, there was I BURY THE LIVING, a taphophilic delight starring Richard Boone (Have Gun Will Travel and the voice of Smaug in the 1977 Rankin & Bass version of The Hobbit) and directed by the head of the Band bunch, Albert.
I BURY THE LIVING plays like an E.C. horror comic come to morbid life. A new caretaker at the Immortal Hill Cemetery begins to believe he holds the power of life and death in his hands. When the pins used as grave markers on the ominous cemetery map appear to predict the deaths of those around him. Is it merely coincidence or are sinister forces at work?
A tense and atmospheric descent into madness, I BURY THE LIVING is a lean, low budget treat with art direction that’s equal parts Man Ray and poverty row. A must for lovers of great B movies and creepy cemeteries!
Sometimes the success of a film can spawn a whole sub-genre. In the case of Jaws, for all its evil impact it did have one very positive effect:JAWS RIP-OFFS! And this weekend at Spectacle we have the best and most notorious of the bunch.
BETTER THAN JAWS WEEKEND! ONLY AT MIDNIGHT! ONLY AT SPECTACLE!
GRIZZLY
Dir: William Girdler, 1976.
90 min. USA.
FRIDAY, JUNE 7TH – MIDNIGHT
ONE NIGHT ONLY!
The film’s title star will be in attendance for Q&A with William Girdler expert Jon Dieringer of Screen Slate.
In 1975, Universal Pictures released a movie called Jaws. Okay, that’s pretty cool if you’re into the beach, I guess.
BUT in 1976 something really amazing happened. William Girdler (The Manitou, Day of the Animals), a filmmaker with the uncanny knack of improving upon the efforts of others created the masterpiece of BEAR-sploitation: GRIZZLY.
So, basically plot-wise we have … well, have you ever seen Jaws? Well, this is Jaws with a GRIZZLY BEAR — JAWS WITH CLAWS!
Tourists are out in record numbers to enjoy some camping and hiking in a National Park, but deforestation, pollution, and other terrible things that humans do when they go camping have caused this bear to lose its damn mind, and now this 7-foot mother is tearing the arms and legs off nature lovers faster than you can say “pic-a-nic basket.” Now, it’s up to Christopher George (City of the Living Dead, Graduation Day) to convince the greedy park supervisor to evacuate the park and get the grizzly before he saunters up to the human buffet for another helping.
But why is Grizzly better than Jaws? Why do we love the rip-offs more than the originals? Let’s just say William Girdler is our Pierre Menard but his Quixote has more BLOOD, FLYING LIMBS, and ROCKET LAUNCHERS.
In short, GRIZZLY kicks ass.
GRIZZLY is slick, fun, warm, and filled with familiar faces of the ’70s, including Andrew Prine and Richard Jaeckel. Don’t let the gloss fool you, though. This bear has claws, and Girdler’s got the goods when it comes to what we want from a good Jaws rip off: scenes of male bonding and plenty of vicious animal attacks!
Come enjoy this Exploitation-sploitation masterpiece by the master of high-class rip-offs that deliver!
THE LAST SHARK
Dir: Enzo G. Castellari, 1981.
88 min. Italy.
In English.
SATURDAY, JUNE 8TH – MIDNIGHT
ONE NIGHT ONLY!
From hard hitting Italian genre genius Enzo G. Castellari comes the most uncanny of all Jaws clones, THE LAST SHARK (L’ultimo squalo). This one swam so close to the original that Universal Pictures slapped a big fat lawsuit on the distributor and pulled the movie from American screens shortly after its release. Universal cried plagiarism, but we all know the real reason- they were scared!
Why?
Two reasons: this shark is really, really scary and VIC MORROW. That’s right, trash movie martyr Vic Morrow brings his intense presence to the aquatic proceedings as a grizzled shark whisperer. Is he Irish, is he Scottish? Who knows, but he’s got a brogue and he hates sharks. Sound familiar? Well, the similarities don’t end there, trust me.
You know the story, but it’s the style that makes this one shine. Castellari’s impeccable penchant for slow motion, gorgeous photography, and perfectly realized action all add up to a slick, ultra Italian entry into the “hey, this is pretty much Jaws” sub-genre.
And forget John Williams, Castellari’s frequent collaborators, the brilliant De Angelis brothers, provide their signature funky sounds to this baby, including the KILLER theme.
Unavailable on video in the U.S. for years, The Spectacle plucks THE LAST SHARK out of import laserdisc limbo and puts it back on the screen! Kick the summer off right and say “GO TO HELL BIG MOVIE STUDIOS!” The originals may be owned by the majors, but the rip-offs belong to the people!
MR. NO LEGS
(aka The Amazing Mr. No Legs)
Dir: Ricou Browning, 1979.
86 min. USA.
SATURDAY, JUNE 1ST – MIDNIGHT ONE NIGHT ONLY!
Set in the ugliest Tampa imaginable, MR. NO LEGS follows two self-righteous police detectives (one with the obligatory porn-stache) tracking dope dealers and corrupt fellow cops, while trying to stay out of the clutches of unstoppable mob enforcer. Mr. No Legs, a martial arts master with many a violent trick hidden up his sleeves—and wheelchair, including shotguns, switchblades and ninja stars!
Meanwhile, racists start a rumble in a bar involving midgets and drag queens, whores get into broken bottle fights, and everyone double-crosses everyone else. Mayhem galore!
Featuring a shameless cast of B- and C-listers, including Richard Jaeckel, Lloyd Bochner, John Agar, Rance (Ron’s dad!) Howard, and real-life double amputee Ted Vollrath as the snarling No Legs.
It’s a convoluted, ultraviolent, tasteless, trashy B-movie actioner that was directed by the Creature from the Black Lagoon! That’s right, director Ricou Browning was the former Olympian who found fame in Hollywood playing the Gill Man for Universal Studios, and later supervised the underwater sequences on the TV show Flipper.
Mean-spirited and vicious, Mr. No Legs is the finest sort of exploitation cinema.
SHE KILLED IN ECSTASY
Dir: Jesús “Jess” Franco, 1970.
74 min. West Germany/Spain.
In German with English subtitles.
In response to the automatic cuts implemented by the 2013 budget sequestration, the American Hunter is on his forced pay furlough for the month of April. In his place, we present to you:
SATURDAY, APRIL 6 – MIDNIGHT
Earlier this week, Spectacle was greatly saddened by news of the passing of Jesús “Jess” Franco (b. 1930) at age 82. Over half a century, Franco was a prolific and highly influential director of over 200 films variously comprising sexploitation, horror, giallo, cannibalism, vampirism, zombies, spy sagas, jungle adventures, exorcism, war, Nazism, surgical horror, nunsploitation, hardcore, and more, in countries including Spain, Germany, France, Switzerland, and Belgium. Parsing through sheer multifarious, multicultural, and multitudinous breadth of his filmography is, at at minimum, the job for some sort of perverted Cinema Studies PhD candidate. Suffice to say, he is an exuberant genius whose work continues to earn the fancy of intrepid cinephiles who aren’t afraid of getting their hands dirty.
In memoriam of Franco’s life and career, we invite longtime fans and newcomers alike to enjoy 1970’s SHE KILLED IN ECSTASY, determined by group consensus of Spectacle programmers to be the maestro’s quintessential film. As Danny Shipka, PhD (–wha…?) writes, “Franco [takes] the standard revenge picture to new surrealistic heights” in this psychedelic sexploitation chiller starring muse Soledad Miranda. Emotionally shattered by the death of her research doctor husband, goaded to suicide by his peers over controversial stem-cell research, she recomposes herself into a cold killing machine, seducing and destroying those she holds responsible. Featuring a funky electronic score, wildly indulgent zoom shots, and suffused with an unsettling erotic distance and all-consuming weirdness, it contains all of Franco’s signature tropes with no shortage of sweet, bloody murder.
As we say here at midnight, “Get Weird Tonight, Stay Weird Forever” — thank you for making our lives stranger, Jesús Franco.
Edgar Wallace Weekend of Mystery Presents:
CREATURE WITH THE BLUE HAND
(aka The Bloody Dead)
Dir: Alfred Vohrer, 1967.
84 min. West Germany.
In German with English subtitles.
FRIDAY, APRIL 12TH – MIDNIGHT
The proto-giallo classic in its original, uncut German-language version!
Klaus Kinski stars twice-over as a pair of possibly evil twins, one of whom— but which?— has recently escaped from an institution for the criminally insane. Coincidentally, a mysterious caped killer begins stalking his estate, clutching victims one-by-one in the grip of its BLUE STEEL CLAW!
Director Alfred Vohrer is perhaps the greatest, and certainly one of the most prolific, practitioners of the krimi film, which became the primary influence on the giallo explosion. Creature with the Blue Hand is adapted from the work of Edgar Wallace and full of byzantine twists and insane red herrings while being just as lurid and Gothic as its Italian progeny.
In the U.S., it became a cult favorite though late-night television broadcast in the 1970s, dubbed into English and alternately chopped for violence or padded out with additional gore from unrelated movies. This evening we present the full, untouched German-language version, which totally slays.
Edgar Wallace Weekend of Mystery Presents:
DER HEXER
Dir: Alfred Vohrer, 1964.
95 min. West Germany.
In German with English subtitles.
SATURDAY, APRIL 13TH – MIDNIGHT
The Edgar Wallace Weekend of Mystery continues with another Alfred Vohrer helmed action-mystery! This time around, Vohrer splashes some eye-popping color in the title sequence and goes for a fast, fun, stylistically wild caper filled with laughs and ingenious twists.
The sister of a well known criminal genius, Der Hexer, is murdered, and now Scotland Yard is hot on the trail of the killer and Der Hexer, whom they suspect has returned from exile to seek revenge.
Who is Der Hexer? Will he be caught? Will the killer be found? The perfect late night mystery!
Twists, action, a jazzy score, nude photos and some ridiculous POVs- Vohrer pulls out all the stops in this murder filled romp set in fake-ass, swinging London! It all adds up to some Diabolik, Fantomas-style fun in Der Hexer!
In crisp, beautiful black and white!
Troma Entertainment Presents:
THE DEMON LOVER
Dir: Donald G. Jackson & Jerry Younkins, 1977.
76 min. USA.
FRIDAY, APRIL 19TH – MIDNIGHT
Just when you thought you’d reached the final room in the funhouse of bad moviedom, a door opens and you find, The Demon Lover– The Room 101 of crap cinema.
Laval Blessing (a man who clearly owns every Grand Funk Railroad release, as well as numerous live bootlegs) is having youngish long hairs over to his place for some casual occult parties. The group is there for kicks and not some “metaphysical bullshit,” but Laval goes too far, the group rebels and then one of the cinema’s gnarliest devils starts killing people.
Oh, and there’s karate too, lots and lots of karate.
This unheralded masterpiece is like getting into a custom van adorned with a beautifully detailed painting by Frank Frazetta and taking a huge bong rip while listening to Blue Oyster Cult. The Demon Lover is a window to a different, dumber time, and man, is it fun.
Featuring Leatherface himself, the totally imitable Gunnar Hansen!
Come see this ever quotable extravaganza that will burn itself into your brain and never leave, like a kind of crappy tattoo of the grim reaper on a Harley sportster.
NIGHT OF THE HOWLING BEAST
Dir: Miguel Iglesias, 1975.
87 min. Spain.
SATURDAY, APRIL 20TH – MIDNIGHT
Noches De Naschy is dedicated to showcasing the films of Spanish horror icon and horror cinema’s most prolific Wolf Man, Paul Naschy.
The beloved, barrel chested Naschy was a renaissance man who turned his childhood love of gothic horror and fantasy into his life’s work. Naschy painted his monsters with a sense of romantic tragedy, leaving behind a wonderfully rich and surprisingly personal filmography.
Here’s Naschy in one of his most colorful, entertaining, action packed films, duking it out with another hairy legend, The Yeti! Night of the Howling Beast is a comic book come to life, filled with creatures, combat, romance and danger, with serial style adventure and wonderfully colorful lighting that recalls Mario Bava at his most sumptuous and playful.
Waldemar Daminsky, the sad-eyed lycanthropic Polish count, heads to the Himalayas in search of the Yeti but contracts werewolfism, escapes sexual imprisonment in a cave and falls in love, again, all en-route to a toe to toe showdown with the Sasquatch of the east!
Come see Waldemar Daminsky WOLF OUT as a GOOD GUY in arguably Naschy’s most fun fantasy adventure, and the film that landed his hairy butt on the legendary Video Nasties list!
Splatterdays Presents:
BONE SICKNESS
Dir: Brian Paulin, 2004.
98 min. USA.
FRIDAY, APRIL 26TH – MIDNIGHT
Alex is very sick with a very rare disease that makes his bones painfully brittle. He’s bed-ridden and under the constant care of his loving but overworked wife Kirsten.
But, Kirsten has help by way of Alex’s life long best friend Thomas. Together, they believe they have found a way to counteract the disease… by feeding Alex the grinded-up bones from the corpses that Thomas butchers at the mortuary where he works.
Everything is going well, but the trio soon finds out that their homeopathic remedy returns life and strength to more than just Alex.
As the butchered corpses from Thomas’s mortuary return from the dead to take revenge on those who would consume them, a shocking revelation threatens to fracture the bonds between the two best friends.
Can Alex and Thomas rise above their infighting in order to save their lives and the lives of the ones they love?
No, they can’t. Everyone is slaughtered.
XTREME VIOLENCE AND GORE
ROCK ‘N’ ROLL HOTEL
Dir: Richard Baskin & Paul Justman, 1983.
85 min. USA.
SATURDAY, APRIL 27TH – MIDNIGHT FREE!
Join Spectacle for another FREE monthly screening of a mythical cinematic orphan…
Birthed from the 80s neon Hollywood womb and shuttered away almost immediately,Rock ‘N’ Roll Hotel is a product of MTV-inspired music video excess and absurdity that has all but vanished into pop culture oblivion.
The story follows a young trio of musicians, played by Rachel Sweet, Matthew Penn (son of Arthur) and Judd Nelson, called The Third Dimension. They enter a battle of the bands in an old hotel called the Rock N’ Roll Hotel. However, rival band The Weevils are intent on stopping the young band from winning the contest and taking the title for themselves…
Essentially one of the first feature-length music videos, the film was produced in Richmond, VA, shot in 3D, filled with musical numbers, written by Russ Dvonch (Rock ‘n’ Roll High School), co-directed by Paul Justman (Standing In The Shadows of Motown) and featured 80s cable icon Colin Quinn as a local DJ… man, where has this film been for the last 30 years?
Victim to a trainwreck of a film production and a botched release, the film was lost for decades… until a VHS copy was found buried in the set designer’s closet. Read more about the bizarre history behind the film here.
This film has only ONE COPY IN EXISTENCE and we have it! Can you handle Judd Nelson shredding guitar while blazing along an open highway in the first 10 minutes of the film?!
If you still don’t believe the hype, see it for FREE and tell us we’re wrong.
