Murderock

After the death of a highly regarded female dancer at New York's Artistic Dance Centre, the eyes turn to each other, as they learn that they are competing for only three spots that could see them living their dreams. Their dance teacher Candice Norman pushes them to the brink to achieve that goal, due to an accident that crushed her chance. Lt. Borges gets the case, and soon other well-regarded dance students are following the same fate of a hat-pin in the heart. Is joyously, and ambition becoming part of it, but Candice starts believing it's the man in her dreams George Webb, who she eventually meets, that might have something to do with the killings.

Oh didn't the flash dance era hit hard! With a clunky, overwrought soundtrack like this you just get that tingling sensation to join in with the dance routines. For some reason I got Blondie's groovy "Danceaway" stuck my head, when watching it. Constantly it was playing on a loop! Okay the cheesiness of the times really does shine through, but I thought it was a fair effort. It can drag and labour on from time to time, but director Lucio Fulci visually counter-punches those weak spots with raucous masterstrokes of suspense, mood and a slight touch of malevolence. Around this time his was at his peak of displaying gore and splatter to the extreme, but on this occasion his holding back quite a bit to basic deaths involving the unique, but repetitive hat pin to the heart. However the bare flesh is still evident, and there's a sexually arousing dance number or two. The surprisingly well executed use of the camera, lighting and the setting to the lead up to the deaths were far more effective. Fulci stylishly milks his artistic merit with some inspired images. To bad its brought undone by its second rate script with silly reasoning's and contrived developments. It's a trashy and unusual mix of dance and Giallo, but it could've been more twisted than the monotonous and goofy treatment it got. Other than a diverting grizzled, cynic cop performance by Cosimo Cinieri (with such great lines "… school full of S.O.B"), the rest of the lead acting is quite bland (Olga Karlato and Ray Lovelock) and the hilariously hideous dubbing didn't help. Claudio Cassinelli had his amusing moments. I guess the lovely looking girls are just there to pout at the camera and look good. The eclectically flashy music score by Keith Emerson is true to the era and fashionably stylised.

Interestingly watchable novelty that's well-directed, but the material doesn't really rise for the occasion, as it succumbs to unintentional silliness.

One of Lucio Fulci's "gentler" films, MURDER ROCK is not very popular among gore fans (largely because of the lack of eye gougings and disembowellments), but it has much to recommend. The story deals with a maniac who is killing the girls at a dance school in New York -- together, a cop and a psychiatrist track the maniac down. Keith Emerson contributes a dated, but enjoyable, soundtrack, and cinematographer Giuseppe Pinori makes fine use of half-lighting, a la Mario Bava's SEI DONNE PER L'ASSASSINO. Fulci cameos as an agent. Recommended for Italian horror buffs. *** out of ****

Lucio Fulci's Murder Rock is often lambasted by both Fulci and Giallo fans; and although I can certainly see why, I've got to say that this film satisfied me personally and I won't hesitate to label it a successful attempt at blending the tacky eighties styling's of dance phenomenon's the likes of 'Flashdance' with the familiar styling's of the popular Italian Giallo. I'm sure Fulci thought he was on to a definite winner back in 1984 with all these popular elements in one film; and even though I'm not sure how they would have been received at the time, nowadays it stands up as an amusing slice of kitsch nostalgia. I think the director cared more about making a quick buck on this film than providing the mass with a piece of art, and this shines through in the convoluted, but not well put together plot line. As you might expect, the film centres on a dance academy. After one of the girls is found dead, the cops place everyone at the academy under suspicion and when the murders continue; the police are given more leads to eventually track down the perpetrator.

The main reason why this film isn't liked by many of my fellow Fulci fanatics is due to the fact that it's relatively bloodless in comparison to his other works. The likes of The New York Ripper and The Beyond show the director at his gritty, blood-dripping best...whereas the kill scenes in this movie hardly feature any of the red stuff. That being said, they are still rather sadistic, as the killer knocks his victim out with chloroform before puncturing their heart with, of all things, a hat pin. Still, it has nothing on the eyeball violence of Zombie Flesh-Eaters. The musical numbers are atrocious in true eighties pop style, while the dance scenes are rather boring and not what I tuned in for. Fulci does find time to implement some gorgeous visuals, and the blue tint that accompanies most scenes gives the film a certain sense of art. Even though many of the film's elements are not brilliant, I still rate this film as an overall success as it's entertaining and fun to watch, and even though there are too many filler scenes; the plot plays out nicely. It's not a major highlight either for the genre or for the director, but Murder Rock is still worth seeing.

Loved it. Great suspense, disturbing murder scenes. Not too gory, but the suspense makes up for it. Very tense, the closeups, the pre-murder lighting and screams, the sound of the heart stopping. The victims' desperation is well played. Music is great to set you in the era, but you'll find it cheesy if you don't like 80s stuff. Some of the nudity was perhaps unnecessary but still stylishly done. The movie is weird but well executed. It isn't as gruesome as a gore flick, but I think it was more disturbing as it provides greater immersion. The slow killings are a shocker as you can feel them as real. I found myself trembling several times watching this, both by the murder scenes themselves and the suspense going through all the movie. Great camera shots, great scene composition, awesome lighting. The plot is simple but it works. It's interesting to watch the students accusing each other of the murders. There's an unexpected plot twist that I found rather interesting. Don't watch it if '80s cheesiness puts you off. In my case it was a plus. My first venture into giallo cinema and it satisfied me beyond my expectations. If I can find similar movies will definitely watch them. Last recommendation: do yourselves a favor and don't watch it dubbed, watch it in Italian as it's intended to be watched. Dubs for low budget movies aren't precisely good and will make the movie look fake. Get Italian audio with captions for maximum enjoyment.

Murder Rock is one of Lucio Fulci's lesser known films. It was released in the wake of a series of exceptionally violent movies directed by the great man. This one is considerably tamer and not one of his better received critically. It may very well be because it's less intense that it isn't amongst his most popular, I think it's only fair to say that is part of the reason. It's possibly the most blatant attempt by Fulci at making a mainstream movie. He decided to combine the popular horror sub-genre of the time – the slasher – with the 80's fad for fitness. This was the era of Flashdance and Fame, and lycra clad people seemed to be everywhere. I guess it was only a matter of time before a slasher variant on this theme emerged. In keeping with trying to appeal to a wider demographic this one is a relatively bloodless affair as well. It's possible that by trying to appeal to too many people, Murder Rock ended up pleasing fewer.

The story is about a series of murders committed around a dance school in New York. It's one of many early 80's efforts that Fulci set in America. In keeping with its Italian giallo roots though, there is a strong emphasis on the whodunit aspect. This ensures that the story retains a bit of interest and the audience is engaged throughout. There are some moments of giallo weirdness too which always helps such as the recurring dream that the female protagonist has about a sinister stranger trying to kill her. While Keith Emerson is on hand too with an appropriately cheesy soundtrack. It isn't exactly of the standard of the score he did for Dario Argento's Inferno but it does the job. Overall, this is an entertaining movie. A little light-weight perhaps but fun all the same.