Shock 'Em Dead

Although one might think that this movie sucks, I can truly say it kicks ass. The only problem is that Traci Lords doesn't flash us her acting ability enough. However, the storyline makes up for it in so many ways.

Watched this last night on VHS. The tape's cover gives Traci Lords star billing with a picture of her wearing only her underwear. Well that's a bit misleading for starters! Yes, she is in it but I don't recall her stripping off (maybe I nodded off briefly). Martin is a loser, wannabe rock star working in a pizza joint. But when he meets a sorceress he makes a pact with the Devil and next his dreams have come true - but at a murderous price. I found this movie to be very cheesy (as expected to be fair!). It had it's moments of humour, not a total suckfest, but the horror aspect was lame and cheap looking. The accent of the actress who played the Voodoo priestess was as wobbly as some of the musical performances on offer. Probably the most shocking thing here was Martin's big hair!. This is one gig I won't be attending again, tape now up for sale!

How times have changed: back in the early 90s, I had an unhealthy obsession with horror, my Mega-Bass Walkman only played metal, and LA bad-girl Traci Lords was my pin-up of choice.

These days, I listen to my metal on an iPod!

If like me, you have a lifelong love of scary movies, get excited by the sound of a wailing guitar, and even more so by the sight of a certain impossibly pouty ex-porn star, then Shock 'Em Dead should prove to be be a suitably fun way to pass the time.

The luscious Traci Lords plays Lindsay Roberts, manager of rock band Spastic Colon, who are desperately in need of a good guitarist; when geeky pizza parlour employee Martin (Stephen Quadros) fails to impress the band with his widdling, he sells his soul to the devil in exchange for a cool new persona (he gives himself the name 'Angel'), godlike skills on a double-sided guitar (six strings are for pussies), incredible wealth, and a trio of sexy sluts to cater for his every whim. After another audition with the band, Martin gets the gig and rock-star status finally looks like it is in the bag; the only problem is, Martin must regularly feed on the life-force of others to remain alive...

A heavy rock reworking of Faust, the plot for Shock 'Em Dead isn't exactly original stuff, but although it's an oft told tale, the film still succeeds thanks to director Mark Freed's good natured, tongue-in-cheek approach to proceedings, which wisely opts to ladle on the cheese (indeed, in one scene in the pizza establishment, a whole bowlful of the stuff gets overturned) rather than to try and go for genuine scares.

During the course of the film we get some very silly rock songs (the kind of thing you might hear from parody metal band Steel Panther), plenty of boobies, some silly comedy, a few dodgy special effects (green glowing eyes and shonky transitions achieved through slow fades), and some knowingly bad performances from its game cast (which includes 50s hunk Troy Donahue, and genre regular Aldo Ray).

I give this daft slice of B-movie nonsense a very reasonable rating of 6.5/10 for being so delightfully absurd, but refuse to round it up to 7, as I would normally do, due to the complete lack of skin from Ms. Lords (she made this film only four years after giving up porn; I expected more).

This flick RULES!! A modern day exploitation classic that is highly recommended to fans of 80's metal and horror!

Everything a B-Film should be! Crazy, violent and filled with many beautiful actress's! Oh and yes, lead actor Stephen Quadros is excellent as the ultimate 80's Metal God! A great job turned in by him!

I won't bother talking plot details as they've been discussed (to a point) in the other reviews. My advice is to seek this film out, kick back, relax and ENJOY a truly classic little flick!

Great actors!! Great Music!! I hope director Mark Freed gets this film out on DVD soon with tons of extras! This film needs to get a second life on DVD SOON!!!!

Hey Mark, if ya read this.... How bout re-uniting the cast and doing a sequel! Angel Martin needs to return!!!!!

I'm surprised this movie doesn't have a higher rating than it does. Horror movies about heavy metal bands are always stupid, but this one kept me entertained the whole way through. Unlike other movies like Black Roses or Hard Rock Zombies, this one was actually funny and pretty well made. Definately a good movie.