Rock n' Roll Nightmare

Rock n’ Roll Nightmare

1987

Director- John Fasano

Cast- Jon Mikl Thor, Jillian Peri, Frank Dietz, David Lane, Teresa Simpson, Adam Fried, Denise Dicandia, Rusty Hamilton

           

 If one were to take all of the 2^nd rate glam bands (you know the ones that could open a show but never head line) and mix in all the low budget, straight to video horror movies from the 80s, grind them up into a paste, and run that through a filter, the result would be Rock n’ Roll Nightmare.

            A hard rock band, fronted by Jon Mikl Thor, has traveled to a remote farm house for the purpose of having a distraction free weekend to cut some tracks for their new record agency. For reasons that are not clear (does it matter?) the farm house is inhabited by demons. Over the next hour or so, all the members of the band go off to have sex with each other and are taken out by demons.

            The film culminates with a battle between Jon Thor and the Devil himself, with Thor looking like an S&M version of He-Man; blonde hair, rippling muscles and stripped down to a pair of spike covered leather bikini briefs.

            The plot is a little bare, well a lot bare. The acting is flat in places and silly in others.

The monsters are goofy looking (there are a whole group of minions that seems to be sentient penises). But giving credit where its’ due, it does have a really good soundtrack. Some of the hard rock cuts are as good as any of the 2^nd tier hair bands of the 80s.

     There were a slew of these hard rock inspired horror films during the decade butRock n’ Roll Nightmare, which is neither the best nor worst of the lot, nor cheesiest, seems to the best known and most beloved of this sub-genre. It’s not scary but it is entertaining. Well, entertaining for some. Many viewers would probably scratch their head for 20 or so minutes before deciding to move on to something else. This film is either a time capsule of the cheesy 80s or a litmus test to see when you were born, I’m not sure. But, if as a kid you stayed awake at night watching spandex clad rockers on MTV, or played an air guitar solo while listening to a glam band, Rock n’ Roll Nightmare will be fun.