|
Rock & Roll Eulogy
[self released]
2004; b&w
Directed by Zach Clark
Starring: Maggie Ross, Emily O'Brien, Karrie Crouse, Martha Stephens & Katharine Trask
|
|
Rock & Roll Eulogy is a modern entry in one of the more obscure genres of -sploitation film, teensploitation. And yes, I stole that phrase off the flyer. Had I not seen the flyer I probably would have dubbed this a juvenile delinquent movie but I have to admit teensploitation is much catchier. Anywhoo, the plot revolves around Helen Campbell, the new kid on the block. Like many a fresh face in the high school hallway, Helen longs to be part of the in crowd. Of course the popular girls only glance her way long enough to find things to make fun of, cause popular girls are bitches like that. Helen also finds herself drawn to the Rock & Roll Girls—Mabel, Roxanna and Fifi—a trio of tight clothes wearing, cigarette smoking, jive talking, switchblade toting sisters who Helen spies while staring aimlessly out of the classroom window. She has a little more luck with the bad girls; I mean, they make fun of her too (I think it's the wig - much like Ned Flanders' mustache it makes her look a bit shifty) but Mabel takes a shine to our somewhat awkward heroine and provides her with her first glimpse of the evil powers of rock and roll, in the form of a 45 she just so happens to have stashed in her purse. Being the eager sort, Helen listens to the record that very night and her whole world is turned upside down by what she hears. The next day she's tapping her pencil to a different beat, doodling skulls in her notebooks and inquiring about exactly what it takes to be a Rock & Roll Girl. Mabel throws down gauntlet A: a flyer for a Johnny Sulfur & The Numbers Of The Beast concert being held that very night, well past her bedtime. After effectively making it to the first base of juvenile delinquency by giving herself a bad girl makeover, a la that scene in Grease where Olivia Newton John trades in her poodle skirt for black spandex pants, Helen rounds second by sneaking out of her house while her parents sleep to dance and throw the devil horns until the wee hours of the morning. When she caps that adventure off with a visit to the local tattoo parlor for her final initiation rite, you know our girl's scored a hellbound homerun. Now instead of wasting hours in the classroom, her days and nights are spent worshipping Satan, drinking the blood of rubber chickens, pawning her parents' stuff for more records and learning how to talk, walk and fight like a real Rock & Roll Girl. Ah, but the life of a Hellcat isn't all fun and games and Helen Marie Campbell, like every wayward teen in moral moviedom, must learn a lesson and pay an ultimate price. Which she ultimately does. Even though this self released, low budget B-Movie is far from perfect, I was completely charmed by it. In many ways this has the exact look and feel of a classically old school '50s style JD flick (in an Arch Hall / Ray Dennis Steckler / Ed Wood sort of way) but with a new school satanic twist. It definitely kept us entertained for an hour - which I cannot say about the majority of self released, low budget B-Movies that we've been sent for review - and had many quotable lines. If I had to point out a flaw it would be that the sound is kind of uneven, at least on this copy; some of the talking is so quiet that it's hard to hear, while some of the music is so in the red that my TV started making the same feedback-y noise as my cosmic psycho fuzz pedal. (Meaning the pedal I use when I want my bass to sound like that dude from the Cosmic Psychos.) Rock & Roll Eulogy is currently making the film festival rounds so interested parties should check out their website for information on screenings.
—Bunny
|
|
