Director: Beverly Sebastian
Year: 1984
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Supernatural Slasher
Plot:
While working on new music, an upcoming heavy metal act decides to carry on with new members after their former lead singer snaps and starts a vicious rampage, but when the band starts to get ready for a new show the replacement singer comes to believe he’s returned to torment her and the other members.
Review:
Overall, this was a rather fun heavy-metal horror effort. One of the finer aspects present here is the film’s use of the unconventional setup to provide a generally fun update to the slasher formula. Focusing on the killer snapping at the very beginning, knocking off the band and their groupies before being killed, there’s a solid setup at play here involving the group carrying on after the incident with new members and a reinvented sound and image. The hard rock sound and setup of the party being crashed as they try to carry on the original legacy makes for a fun starting point as the resulting ideas signal his return from the grave to torment the band and her especially as they continue to follow this up quite nicely with the scenes in the woods or the series of unnerving phone-calls during a work-out session shortly thereafter that help to make for a solid enough storyline.
When this one becomes a straightforward slasher after being aware of his return, this one becomes a bit more fun as the series of interactions feel far more engaging and chilling. Based on the setup of him appearing around the camp retreat where they’re preparing for the show, the attack on the victim in the hot tub or a subsequent chase through the house into the woods outside comes off incredibly well featuring the requisite stalking or shock ambush tactics consistent with this style. As no one else believes her story and the incidents continue even with the recovery of the decaying body in his grave, it all comes to a head with the fun reveal of the culprit at the final show that goes for quite a decent spate of theatricality not just for the planned show but the rest of the incidents featured here involving the final confrontation that brings everything together. This is all quite cheesy and fun overall, and with the fun gore and nudity give this one some nice positives.
This one does have some factors holding it back. Among its main detriments is the lackluster pace that provides some excruciatingly long times in between something interesting or exciting happening. Since we don’t get much going on here with the killer supposedly coming after her focusing on psychological torment instead of doling out kills, that leaves the middle of this to feel incredibly repetitive with her encountering something no one else believes and then returning to the formula again just a bit later so it makes everyone look all the more incompetent by not recognizing the pattern or believing her when the story keeps getting brought up. As there’s not much in the way of action or gore here due to not knocking off anyone during this time, that just makes everything somewhat off-putting. The finale is also wholly confusing as none of it makes sense as to why it continues, no one notices what’s going on, or why it gets resolved how it does, all making for a troublesome time.
Overview: ***/5
A generally fun if somewhat flawed heavy metal horror effort, this one features a lot of likable features here even though some of its negatives do come into play here lowering this one from what it could’ve been. Give it a shot if you’re a hardcore fan of the style or approach taken here while most others should heed caution with this one.
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