As a heavy metal fan while I sat through this I found that I was asking myself what is this movie really trying to say.
To me it appears as a very disjointed attempt at either showcasing what's wrong with heavy metal, thereby siding with those who oppose heavy metal, or an equally weak attempt to make fun of those same opponents by pointing out that their very opposition to this style of music is as stupid as it is portrayed in this movie.
Either that or the whole thing is just having fun with the ideology of heavy metal bands versus sanctimonious America. In any case this is a very silly movie.
Glam metal band, Black Roses decide to get out of the studio and perform a number of shows in this smallish American town. It's the kind of town where nothing much happens, it's full of good God-fearing, church going folk and heavy metal is nothing but the devil's music. So despite the objections by a number of concerned citizens about the impending damnation of the towns' youth, the band comes along anyway.
Black Roses are an unremarkable straight-up clichéd glam metal group, except that the drummer is none other than Carmine Appice himself. (If you don't know who that is, look him up). The other, very notable exception is that they are in fact demons posing as a metal group and their sole aim is to corrupt young impressionable minds so they can become the bands soulless minions. Sounds simple enough and after a while they begin to succeed by turning many of the teenagers against any kind of authority figure, even their own parents. As a result many adults end up killed through various means and in the end it's general anarchy in the once quiet streets of town.
There are subtle changes that take place throughout the movie as the more heavy metal they listen to, the more disengaged with life they become. Eventually the teens go from being energetic, colourful and relatively diligent in school, to more sombre, melancholy, withdrawn, wearing darker colours, different hairstyles and generally adopting the stereotyped heavy metal image. It turns out that many of these teens are in fact now possessed by demons, so throwing people out of windows or running a car over their own parents doesn't appear to bother them so much.
The whole thing comes to a relative end, when one of the teachers decides to actually pay attention to what's going on around him and he confronts the band at their gig. He tries to set fire to the stage and so the lead singer reveals himself as the demon he is and this then results in some kind of weird punch-up on stage. I've never seen a person actually manage to land punches on a demon so this is perhaps the weakest demon I've ever seen. The fire eventually takes hold, the demon stands there howling, (although I have no idea why, fire should be its bread and butter), suddenly the teens come out of their stupor and run out of the place. We learn at the end by way of a news broadcast that the band survived the fire, (duh, they're demons), and they're embarking on a tour of London.
The whole premise of the film tends to be a self-deprecation of the heavy metal industry along with a big middle finger salute to the PMRC which formed only a couple of years prior to this films release. It briefly showcases the 2 opposing schools of thought on heavy metal music, but with the so-called evil influences being so over the top coupled with the fact that the band are actually demons, it just illustrates the narrow-mindedness of people in real life who like to oppose anything they don't understand for no real reason.
When the upcoming Black Roses concert is being debated in an assembly hall, there's the obligatory reading of some "evil" lyrics and naturally the parents are all horrified and opposed. However when an opposite view is presented that this is just music and provides examples of The Beatles & Elvis Presley etc. as equally hated by authority in their time, the parents all nod along in agreement. So just as the teens are brainwashed by the evil of metal, the parents are just as brainwashed by anyone who'll tell them what to do and how to feel. (Sounds just like church).
It's not a bad movie as such, but it's hardly a horror movie, it would barely rate as a thriller it's simply too ridiculous, but if you want to hear some generic glam metal and see a bunch of corrupted possessed teens running riot, then don't let the cheesy effects, poor costumes and lame ending turn you away from giving this a go.
To me it appears as a very disjointed attempt at either showcasing what's wrong with heavy metal, thereby siding with those who oppose heavy metal, or an equally weak attempt to make fun of those same opponents by pointing out that their very opposition to this style of music is as stupid as it is portrayed in this movie.
Either that or the whole thing is just having fun with the ideology of heavy metal bands versus sanctimonious America. In any case this is a very silly movie.
Glam metal band, Black Roses decide to get out of the studio and perform a number of shows in this smallish American town. It's the kind of town where nothing much happens, it's full of good God-fearing, church going folk and heavy metal is nothing but the devil's music. So despite the objections by a number of concerned citizens about the impending damnation of the towns' youth, the band comes along anyway.
Black Roses are an unremarkable straight-up clichéd glam metal group, except that the drummer is none other than Carmine Appice himself. (If you don't know who that is, look him up). The other, very notable exception is that they are in fact demons posing as a metal group and their sole aim is to corrupt young impressionable minds so they can become the bands soulless minions. Sounds simple enough and after a while they begin to succeed by turning many of the teenagers against any kind of authority figure, even their own parents. As a result many adults end up killed through various means and in the end it's general anarchy in the once quiet streets of town.
There are subtle changes that take place throughout the movie as the more heavy metal they listen to, the more disengaged with life they become. Eventually the teens go from being energetic, colourful and relatively diligent in school, to more sombre, melancholy, withdrawn, wearing darker colours, different hairstyles and generally adopting the stereotyped heavy metal image. It turns out that many of these teens are in fact now possessed by demons, so throwing people out of windows or running a car over their own parents doesn't appear to bother them so much.
The whole thing comes to a relative end, when one of the teachers decides to actually pay attention to what's going on around him and he confronts the band at their gig. He tries to set fire to the stage and so the lead singer reveals himself as the demon he is and this then results in some kind of weird punch-up on stage. I've never seen a person actually manage to land punches on a demon so this is perhaps the weakest demon I've ever seen. The fire eventually takes hold, the demon stands there howling, (although I have no idea why, fire should be its bread and butter), suddenly the teens come out of their stupor and run out of the place. We learn at the end by way of a news broadcast that the band survived the fire, (duh, they're demons), and they're embarking on a tour of London.
The whole premise of the film tends to be a self-deprecation of the heavy metal industry along with a big middle finger salute to the PMRC which formed only a couple of years prior to this films release. It briefly showcases the 2 opposing schools of thought on heavy metal music, but with the so-called evil influences being so over the top coupled with the fact that the band are actually demons, it just illustrates the narrow-mindedness of people in real life who like to oppose anything they don't understand for no real reason.
When the upcoming Black Roses concert is being debated in an assembly hall, there's the obligatory reading of some "evil" lyrics and naturally the parents are all horrified and opposed. However when an opposite view is presented that this is just music and provides examples of The Beatles & Elvis Presley etc. as equally hated by authority in their time, the parents all nod along in agreement. So just as the teens are brainwashed by the evil of metal, the parents are just as brainwashed by anyone who'll tell them what to do and how to feel. (Sounds just like church).
It's not a bad movie as such, but it's hardly a horror movie, it would barely rate as a thriller it's simply too ridiculous, but if you want to hear some generic glam metal and see a bunch of corrupted possessed teens running riot, then don't let the cheesy effects, poor costumes and lame ending turn you away from giving this a go.