Suck

What a great ride! Suck is one of those movies that will put you in a good mood. Jessica Pare is mesmerizing as a vampire, you will find yourself unable to break eye contact with her in some of her scenes. The makeup is done in the vein of the original Dawn of the Dead, giving the vampires a graphic novel look and feel. The humor is akin to Shaun of the Dead and rarely misses. I found myself laughing all the way through the movie, something I can't often say with many of today's comedies. The cameos by the old school rockers were awesome and contributed immensely to the production. The music-videos-in-a-movie format works well and almost makes you feel like you're back in the day when MTV was actually MUSIC television. There is one song performed by Jessica Pare that is quite touching, in my humble opinion. The director's conservative use of ever so slightly slowed movement is hypnotic. I know my comments may not seem like they were written for a film like 'Suck', but that's why I feel it's so eclectic, and it so works.

After ten years on the road without success, rock band The Winners are on the verge of splitting up. Their luck changes, however, after Jennifer (Jessica Paré), the band's sexy female vocalist, falls victim to a vampire and becomes a member of the undead, drawing in the crowds with her supernatural stage presence. Pretty soon, the other members of the band are joining the ranks of the undead in their bid for fame and fortune.

It's a brave move to call your movie Suck, such a title inviting the obvious derogatory comment from those who don't quite appreciate your vision. Thankfully, Rob Stefaniuk's offbeat musical vampire road movie should avoid such harsh criticism from the majority of viewers: although it doesn't quite achieve the cult brilliance it so clearly strives for and some of the comedy falls flat, the fun cast (which includes rock stars Alice Cooper, Iggy Pop, Henry Rollins and Moby) and some surprisingly good songs make this moderately entertaining for the duration.

That's what the director (and lead actor) was afraid of in the question and answer session after the theater showing at Montreal Fantasia Festival. What if his movie called "Suck" sucked ? Well it doesn't but it's not that great either. I'm not quite sure it's an humorous alternative for Twilight fans either (or people sick of it) as they're two very different beasts. Suck is a rock horror comedy with vampires. The only female of an unsuccessful band gets turned into a vampire and the band then starts gaining success because of her very charismatic presence. We see the band travelling from city to city, trying to deal with their changed band mate while being tempted themselves by the dark side.

Jessica Paré, the actress playing the female band member, is mesmerizing to look at with her white skin, pale blue eyes and red lips. One could understand the fascination she would create. The other highlight of this film are the roles played by famous musicians such as Alice Cooper and Iggy Pop. They're a bit longer and juicier than cameos but although they play well, they basically play themselves and nothing particularly challenging (except for Moby, a pacifist vegan in a surprising performance). I admit the crowd reacted very well to the film but a Fantasia crowd is quite generous with this kind of genre film, especially a Canadian one. I personally found it sometimes amusing but not hilarious except for a few bits (one of them being a visit to a convenience store).

Suck's writing did not impress me as it often felt too easy or cliché. The low-budget production had a Canadian and straight-to-DVD flavor to it. From a technical standpoint, it was quite bland with too many cuts from one head to another in dialogue scenes often making it feel as if the two actors were not even in the same place. The spinning vampire and the crossroads showed a bit more inspiration. The several musical numbers felt as if they were there to pad the thin story. To be fair, the original songs were rather good but it sometimes made this comedy skirt too close to the musical genre, something I'm personally allergic to unless Tim Burton is somewhat involved. I think "Suck" would be a decent rental provided you have a few friends to watch it with interested in the subject material and/or knowing the (in)famous guest stars. I think young Twilight fans, perhaps sucked into renting it because of vampires, might be disappointed because the vampires are lame (they have powers but not really shown) and the little romance there is kinda sucks as either serious or parody.

Rating : 6 out of 10 (good)

In Montreal, Joey (Rob Stefaniuk) is the lead singer of the struggling band "The Winners", composed by the sexy bass singer Jennifer (Jessica Paré), the guitarist Tyler (Paul Anthony), the drummer Sam (Mike Lobel) and the handyman Hugo (Chris Ratz). Their incompetent and alcoholic manager Jeff (Dave Foley) is incapable to help them to reach success and they are on the road on tour playing in clubs and bars in Canada and United States of America.

After a show in a bar in Montreal, Jennifer, who is also the Joey's former girlfriend, leaves the place with the creepy Queeny (Dimitri Coats), who is a vampire, and they spend the night together. On the next morning, Jennifer does not meet the band and they travel in their hearse to participate in a rock 'n' roll show without her. In the last moment, Jennifer arrives with a different appearance and on the next day they find that their home page had had several hits, all of them with good reviews and compliments to Jennifer. They become famous and Jennifer brings great audiences to the shows of "The Winners" and one by one, the musicians are turned into vampires but the reluctant Joey. "The Winners" become successful and Joey has a dream where he meets the bartender (Alice Cooper) of their show in Montreal in a crossroad and the man tells that he needs to decide whether he wants to be a winner or a loser. Meanwhile the vampire hunter Eddie Van Helsing (Malcolm McDowell) is hunting the vampire queen and tracking "The Winners" in their shows.

"Suck" is a refreshing vampire and rock 'n' roll cult movie with cameo of Alice Copper, Iggy Pop, Moby and Henry Rollins. But the greatest attraction is the sexy and gorgeous Jessica Paré with her luxurious lips and beautiful eyes. Chris Ratz is hilarious in the role of the handyman Hugo and Malcolm McDowell has also a great performance. But the originality of the story makes this film a worthwhile entertainment. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): Not Available

An struggling rock band, which they called themselves "The Winners". The lead of the band, Joey (Rob Stefaniuk) is trying hard to find success with his band. His bassist Jennifer (Jessica Paré) is also his ex-girlfriend, guitarist (Paul Anthony), drummer (Mike Lobel) and their french-Canadian roadie (Chris Ratz) along as well with their sleazy manager (Dave Foley). They play music across Canada and the USA to keep themselves together. Although the band mates are pushing in their 30's. After an night of playing music in a bar, Jennifer finds herself bitten by a mysterious vampire named Queenie (Dimitri Coats). Slowly the band finally finds success with their music, although most people came for Jennifer. Now she looks totally different with her Gothic looks and her now alluring eyes. But there is an vampire hunter named Eddie Van Helsing (Malcolm McDowell) is after the lead vampire Queenie and the band.

Written and Directed by Rob Stefaniuk (Phil the Alien) made an amusing, entertaining, black comedy with campy thrills and some humorous special effects. Stefaniuk is certainly good in the movie, Paré is eye candy in this movie but special credit goes to McDowell, who gives an fine performance as a Vampire Hunter, who is actually afraid of the dark! Stefaniuk displays some visual style. Rocker:Alice Cooper appears in a surprisingly good supporting role. While other rockers like Iggy Pop, Moby, Herny Rollins and Alex Lifeson are put to good use in their small parts.

DVD has an fine anamorphic Widescreen (1.78:1) transfer and an good Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound. The DVD includes an 45 minutes documentary, interviews with the cast & crew. I would have love to hear an running commentary track by the director. Since this is an independent feature, it is well produced and well directed. For sure, "Suck" will certainly have an cult following. Clever use of old footage of a young Malcolm McDowell during an flashback sequence. (****/*****).