The combined popularity of MTV and slasher movies gave birth to a horror subgenre exclusive to the 1980s, Hair Band Horror. I'll be discussing a few of these movies this month, beginning with the aptly titled Rocktober Blood.
The movie opens at a recording session, where Billy Eye, lead singer (and lead asshole) of the band Rocktober Blood is laying down the his vocal track. Try to ignore the fact that the lyrics to the song summarize the movie's plot line. He leaves the studio for two minutes and returns with a pair of aviator sunglasses and the impulse to kill everyone in sight. Billy is about to kill Lynn, the band's backup vocalist, when he is interrupted by a security guard.
Billy has the best rock scream in the biz.
Fast forward two years. Billy has been executed for the murders of 25 people, although we saw him only kill two. The remaining members of the band reunite under the new name Head Mistress. Lynn, whose testimonial sent Billy to the chair, has taken over duties as lead singer. The other band members (played by real metal band, Sorcery) are unimportant. They get very little screen time, except for Frankie whose apparent role is to wear a Halloween mask and do a pantomime/breakdancing routine.
I'll never get tired of that trapped-in-the-box gag.
Head mistress is about to kick off a world tour, when Lynn has a run in with a guy who looks a lot like Billy Eye. Convinced that Billy isn't dead, she gets some friends to help dig up his grave. Billy's flesh has completely rotted away, but his eyeballs are perfectly intact and floating in the sockets. The prop guy wanted to remind you that Billy was a rock star, so he wrapped a bandanna around his bleached white skull.
Live fast, die young, and leave a good looking corpse.
If there's one thing Billy likes more than killing, it's taking the stairs. The director subjects us to an excessive amount of close up shots on Billy's boots as he walks up and down step after step.
Boot-Step Compilation
During a concert, Billy sneaks on to the stage wearing Frankie's mask. The band isn't phased when "Frankie" grabs the mic and starts singing exactly like Billy Eye. During the performance, Billy kills some chicks who are chained to the stage and tosses their internal organs and a severed head into the crowd. This also fails to alarm anyone. Once Billy reveals himself, band manager Chris breaks the neck of a spare guitar over Billy's shoulder. Billy manages to finish his song even though he is being electrocuted (by an unplugged guitar?) and bleeding profusely from the forehead and ears.
El Kabong!
Reasons to Watch:
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Pinball
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Naked hot tub
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Naked bath tub
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On stage nipple slips
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Rick Righteous
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Menstrual blood crank call
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Iron to the throat
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Weak plot twist
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Microphone disembowelment
