Planet des Grauens

A bit like if Pitch Black were filmed in the 80s, made no sense, was about a female rock band and rubbish.

Some of the songs are good but the background music playing on a loop is deeply annoying and the cast just keep on repeating the same lines over and over. There is about two sentences of plot in the entire thing.

Overall this collection of clips and songs is barely a movie, it is stylised for sure, but that is really all it has. It's an extended 80s music video and nothing else. If you like that type of thing then great, for everyone else it's a pass.

This is essentially a rock 'n' roll fable set in a sci-fi environment, as the title band vies for fame and fortune. A gig on a distant planet could be their ticket to the big time, but first they have to get there. Next, they have to learn to start getting along. Judy (Dru-Anne Perry) is brought in to replace the original singer, and Judy has to struggle to be accepted. The balance of director Albert Pyuns' script deals with the girls' being marooned on a desert planet after a near accident in space.

The problem for this viewer was that there really wasn't a strong enough story, or characterization, to latch onto and draw him into the movie. The movie is a curio, to be sure, but for too much of the running time, things are rather dull. Most of the gals in the band are interchangeable, although they are indeed a good looking bunch (gotta love that huge 80s hair!). Perry does her best to create a somewhat engaging character. The best value in "Vicious Lips" comes from the look of the movie, with appropriately trashy and colourful production and costume design. The songs are certainly catchy. There are some fun makeup effects courtesy of Greg Cannom, and John Carl Buechler and his team, and one major creature role, "Milo", played by Christian Andrews. Milo creeps on board the ladies' spaceship and sneaks around, but it takes too long for him to actually interact with any of them. The names of these people are fun; lovely Pyun regular Linda Kerridge ("Fade to Black") plays a band member named "Wynzi Krodo". Mary- Anne Graves seems to be having a good time as rock promoter Maxine Mortogo, but Anthony Kentz is simply annoying as Vicious Lips manager Matty Asher.

A late-in-the-game plot twist is groan inducing, but the resolution creates some good vibes as Vicious Lips rock the joint with a ditty dubbed "Lunar Madness".

Five out of 10.

This is really a film in a weird genre - punk music combined with science fiction. Yet, taking into account the almost total lack of subject and action and the low-cost budget preventing any spectacular effects specific to science-fiction movies the film is not as bad as it could be. First the music is quite could, catches the attention and somehow justifies the events that trigger the story. Then the characters in the future world are quite carefully sketched and even if they remind somehow the intergalactic bar in 'Star Wars' they are quite funny by their own. The film not being too long is quite a quality here, and at the end of the 75 or so minutes of screening the remaining feeling is of a not so complete loss of time.

In a neon drenched future, a struggling all girl band, The Vicious Lips, recruits teenage Judy Jetson to replace their missing lead and escape Earth for the biggest gig in the galaxy only to crash on a hostile desert planet crawling with danger.

This is possibly the greatest "future band" film never to leave the 1980s. It radiates lazy '80s charm, big hair, smoke machines, synth punk attitude, and a day glo palette that practically screams from every frame. The music, largely led by Dru Anne Perry, is surprisingly strong and drives the film's momentum with genuine energy. Credit to Michael McCarty and his music team for delivering some genuinely good '80s tracks.

Vicious Lips clearly laid the groundwork for Paul Verhoeven's three breasted woman bar scene in Total Recall. There's other makeup prosthetic effects that would show up in Empire Pictures and Fullmoon films like Arena (1989), and Oblivion (1994) to name a few.

Lead actresses Perry (as Judy), stunning Gina Calabrese, Linda Kerridge, and Shayne Farris all commit to their roles, bringing sass and swagger even when the script leaves them with little. The charisma and look are there it's just the narrative that stutters. Radioactive Dream Nightclub owner Maxine Mortogo (Mary Anne Graves) is a memorable screen presence, a Sean Young, Lady Gaga type before either Gaga was a fixture, along with her creepy, pointy tooth aide Milo, played by Christian Andrews. The wacky manager Matty Asher (Anthony Kentz) brings the over the top, sleazy energy to the cheap scifi sets and low rent Star Wars ships, exactly what you'd expect from this kind of intergalactic yarn.

Shot in under a week on a low budget, the film is severely limited by its resources. Albert Pyun's direction has moments of visual flair, but questionable editing choices and erratic framing often undermine the momentum. It does have some interesting makeup effects, and the film works best when neon drenched. The desert sequence, which takes up much of the second half, is atmospheric but padded, dragging out the already thin storyline.

As an Empire Pictures' movie, with Charles Band lightly involved, it's not as cohesive as Prison Ship: Star Slammer released the same year. Don't expect the likes of Albert Pyun's Cyborg, The Sword and the Sorcerer, or even Nemesis either, it's more zero budget Howard the Duck mixed with the oddity The Apple (1980) at times.

Still, what Vicious Lips lacks in polish, it makes up for in B-movie atmosphere. The glowing sets, overexposed neon, and synthetic score create a weirdly hypnotic tone. It may not be great cinema, but it's cult material through and through.

Overall, Vicious Lips is a flawed relic limited in scope and cinematography but drenched in sci fi pop energy. A neon artifact from an era when drive and luna madness tried to triumph over budget.

Given what I would imagine was a limited budget with access to a limited talent pool, the movie has its moments. Albeit some of them are so bad it hurts to watch, there are a lot of really odd and entertaining scenes based on an interesting premise of galactic rock bands touring the universe. The acting is subpar verging on bloody awful and its funny bad. Yet, somehow the quirky 80's sound track and dubious music are a character of their own and help support the open failure at the thespian art. It's pretty telling when a movie isn't released in any form for 25 years after it was made. Man it's bad but worth a view especially if you're an affionado of B movies.