Cinema Corona #04: Rocktober Blood


I'M BACK (wink, wink) for another installment of Cinema Corona, where I post up a little nugget of Halloween fun to help us all pass the time during our Coronavirus quarantine.

I'm keeping it in that glorious wheelhouse of 80s heavy metal cheese horror with tonight's selection. Another so-bad-it's-good gem!!





Rocktober Blood (1984)

Billy's back from the dead
with a message from hell!

So if you haven't seen this one yet, be warned. It's a pretty low budget film all around. With atrocious dialogue spoken by amateur-at-best actors. And a plot that dances along the line of pure absurdity. But that's part of what makes this one SO DAMN GOOD!!

Rocktober Blood is the story of heavy metal megaband, Rocktober Blood, and their iconic singer Billy "Eye" Harper. The film starts as the band is in the recording studio, laying down some new music. 

And right off the bat, you MUST pay attention, because Billy belts out the most hilariously ridiculous, over-the-top, incredible vocal howl while recording the film's title track, "I'm Back." I literally have no idea where that came from. (On a sidenote, all of the film's awesome soundtrack was performed by Sorcery, an actual 70s/80s metal band from Los Angeles - and is the real draw of this film. I'm Back, Killer On The Loose, and Rainbow Eyes make this one worth the watch...err, listen!)

Billy then decides to split the studio for a 4 am hook up, only to return a short time later, going on a random, marijuana-fueled killing spree at the studio. The only survivor is the band's backup singer, Lynn.

We then cut to two years later to find out that Billy was convicted and executed for somehow killing an impressive 25 people that night. And now Lynn has returned to music, fronting Headmistress (what a great cheese metal band name!), a new band featuring the ex-members of Rocktober Blood.

But things don't go so smoothly for Lynn, as for the bulk of the film, is continually haunted by Billy, who has seemingly returned from the dead.

SPOILER!! SPOILER!! SPOILER!!
It is revealed that this "new" Billy is actually John, Billy's demented, evil twin brother that apparently nobody knew about before. He reveals to Lynn that he actually committed the murders and then framed Billy for stealing and performing his music. Which seems like a bit of a headscratcher, until we get to the film's finale!!

The crowning moment of the entire film is the last scene, in which even after Lynn is continually terrorized and characters are continuing to be murdered by Billy/John, promoters agree that the Headmistress concert must go on. 

And this is where things get REALLY crazy. The band takes the stage, not realizing that Billy/John is actually with them - he secretly replaced Frankie, the band's mascot, to sing the opening track of Killer On The Loose

And at this point you would probably ask, how would they not know it was him? Easy. Billy/John was in costume, complete with an iconic Zagone Studios' "Fang Face" Halloween mask.

But it gets even better...

Because as he roams the stage singing, he literally starts stabbing the stage girls who are chained up on either side of the stage. He pulls their guts out and then throws them into the crowd, everyone evidently thinking it was all a gag. The final hilarious act happens when he actually cuts the head off of one of the girls and then throws it into the crowd. Simply incredible.

The final scene happens when Lynn, who emerged after being sedated in a stage coffin, rips through Rainbow Eyes, to the delight of the crowd. Then, Billy/John removes his mask to reveal himself to the crowd, handcuffs himself to Lynn, and the band then for some reason plays I'm Back.

In a moment of cinematic genius, Billy/John is finally stopped when while singing his most famous song, gets hit over the head with an electric guitar and then SOMEHOW gets electrocuted by it, ALL. WHILE. SINGING. HIS. INFAMOUS. HOWL.

Yes, the same howl that he belted out in the studio at the very beginning of the film. And so it goes full circle. The end. GENIUS.

Enjoy!!




1 comments:

Lady M said...

"marijuana-fueled killing spree" - now that's an oxymoron if I ever heard one.

Post a Comment