Suck
I can still remember back in the 80s when indie filmmakers plied their trade for one purpose, and that was to ENTERTAIN in a way the mainstream never could, and out of that mindset sprung some works of true genius. In recent years, indie film has come to represent boring, pretentious, pet “personal” projects, which only the filmmaker’s mom, dad, and a couple of his friends could really enjoy, but was poison for the masses. Hopefully with this 2009 release from writer / director/ star Rob Stefaniuk, things could be coming back around, a fun rock and roll vampire horror comedy with a slew of cool cameos. Stefaniuk plays the lead singer of The Winners, a down and out rock band until one day their gorgeous bass player (Jessica Pare) gets picked up and taken home by a rock singing vampire (Burning Brides lead singer Dimitri Coats, made up to look like Johnny Depp as The Mad Hatter), and reemerges as an image of sexual aurora that starts to make the band more talked about than ever, practically glowing on stage and driving their audiences wild. The humor level, particularly when directed at the music industry itself is spot on and hilarious, not to mention showing a lack of pretention that the Twilight filmmakers could learn from. What does come off as a bit unwieldy is the idea that the band (who all get “turned” as the story goes on) ultimately seeks to find some sort of redemption (i.e. be human again) despite the fact that as time goes on they wind up brutally murdering scores of people in their wake, leaving the cleanup for their wimpy little roadie (who despite his begging, is allowed to remain human). Not to mention that this seems to be a world where cops don’t exist, especially after they kill a loud-mouthed shock jock ON THE AIR and go on about their business like nothing happened. Nonetheless, the film IS a lot of fun to watch, and even better, the music is quite good (a make or break for these types of films), certainly doing a good job of substituting ambiance for atmosphere. And of course there is that impressive supporting cast (particularly by b-movie standards) which includes Moby as a rival band leader; Henry Rollins as the disc jockey; Iggy Pop as the burnt out record producer who instantly knows a vampire when he sees one; Kid In The Hall Dave Foley as their sleazy manager who is overjoyed even when he walks in on the band eating a groupie (“Oh! You’re still with us? Good!”); Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson as a border guard; Acting legend Malcolm McDowell as the vampire hunter with a particular attachment to his flashlight because he is afraid of the dark; and best of all newly minted Rock N Roll Hall Of Famer Alice Cooper as pretty much the Devil Himself, starting out as a sinister bartender and soon taking the lead character to a crossroads to find out just how badly he wants rock n roll immortality. The music video segues are quite creative for the film (especially a shot where the vampiric Pare hovers over the sleeping Stefaniuk) and there’s also a fine use of editing in an old Malcolm McDowell film in order to show a flashback of his character as a young man. Overall, for (real) rock fans and vampire nuts, there’s a lot to chew on here, and appropriately enough it ends with a great song from Alice Cooper himself…
8/10