Black Alice

To me, this is an essential "so bad it's good" movie. As per usual with such films, a friend dared me to watch Sons of Steel. After accepting the challenge, I gave it a watch. Wow.

The movie is a semi-musical sci-fi from Australia. The concept is interesting, and there is definitely some artistic value hidden in it. Trying to describe the plot is like playing cat's cradle while riding a bike sitting backwards, blindfolded. Most of the time it doesn't make any sense. What makes this movie good is the fun factor: the director obviously was having fun making the film. It's obvious that the jokes are cheesy, and are meant to be so. In my opinion, the cheese is the most appealing part of Sons of Steel. Some of the quotes stuck with me for over a decade, and I can sharply recall some of the weirdest scenes from the movie in a heartbeat.

I consider SoS an essential party movie, which you should watch with your friends amidst a constant mix of booing and laughing.

I have enjoyed showing this film to groups of friends for years who came to love it for the same reasons I do. It's fun! It's a time-travel, pre/post apocalyptic, anti-nuke musical with a few truly inspired moments. Yes, it's low budget and rough as guts, yes, some of the acting is weak or just plain weird. But the heart of the movie is its anarchic spirit, for it truly defies description. You get the impression that the people making it had a great time and that enthusiasm is infectious. Certainly I find it way more enjoyable than a slew of over-hyped, over-expensive, Hollywood block-busters that at heart have less originality to them than this low budget Aussie flick. Sit down with an open mind and a sense of fun and I think you'll enjoy this film.

Very much a b-movie but certainly not a bad movie.

Watching this, I can see its influences: Clockwork Orange, Time Bandits, Warriors, Rocky Horror Picure Show. Sons of Steel is the only movie from this writer/ director and I sicnicerly hope he's proud of what he made.

While the story could've used some polish, Black Alice carries the movie with just the perfect amount of machismo. It's unapologetically Australian in a way that's simply fun. Don't judge it for the few too many clock cuts, or that time you can see the boom mic, or the "it's a good time to go pee" music videos. This movie's considerate of your bladder like that.

Judge it for its style, set design, humor, pacing, and its very entertaining uniqueness.

Proper movie rating: 7.

B-movie rating: 9.

This movie is kind of awesome. The whole thing is done in a very confident manner, which, for this sort of thing, is the most important element of production. Watching Black Alice walk around and menace society is kind of mesmerizing. The grimy, dimly lit sets are excellent. The costumes are peak '80s madhouse (especially the hair; oh, gods, the hair).

What's it about? It's a dystopian rock opera that goes off and does whatever the hell it feels like doing whenever the hell it feels like doing it. It's leagues ahead of most exploitation movies, both of and not of its time. I can see why the short film this is based on played before David Lynch's Dune; the whole thing feels like it takes place on Giedi Prime. And it's awesome.

A sci-fi camp comedy musical set in Sydney of the future. The cast is well suited to comedy-Dasha Blahova (who has since returned to Czechia) & Ralph Cotterill and Jeff Duff & Machs Colombani make memorable duos. Trivia:Blahova and Cotterill both appeared in The Howling III.

It was interesting to read the IMDb comments from director Gary L.Keady about the underground locations used. The director has stated that in some of the locations he saw graffiti from the 19th century! I wonder if people can still go there? The soundtrack was great, it was very uplifting music in particular "Fighting for You". An enjoyable movie and my favourite Aussie film of the 80's.