High school students around the town of Mill Basin are heavily promoting the debut live shows of an upcoming heavy metal act called Black Roses. The group has gained an infamous reputation for their confrontational lyrics, and accusations from flustered parents are running rampant that they may have ties to darker forces. Still, the town's mayor says that making a decision to cancel any concerts is beyond his control, as it was the institution itself who approved of the decision to hold these events. Once the evening of the first gig sets in, the youth of Mill Basin are exposed to the true power of rock and roll: they relish and party enthusiastically to the plethora of tunes pouring out of the speakers. Ironically enough, however, what is often accused and labeled as being "the devil's music" could be just that, as the kids learn that these tracks could serve as a powerful tool for conjuring demons!
As if it wasn't blatantly obvious, heavy metal and horror films go together like chicken and waffles: you would never imagine that the pairing would work until you try it out. They both have ties to the darker sides of humanity, were often born out of frustration with the creators' surroundings and upbringing, and frequently confront issues that we may not be comfortable with discussing. So, after hearing of 1988's Black Roses, which pairs two of my longest-running loves that I will most likely never tire of (shoutout to Watercooler Films for the suggestion by the way!), I felt that this was a necessity. Plus, remembering how much I enjoyed the random blind buy known as Suck was an extra incentive, so this felt like a no-brainer.
If you are a first time reader of Unseen Terror, then I must apologize in advance, as this review will likely contain some foul language not suitable for those who are rather young or quite sensitive. But, there is no other way to construct the following statement: Black Roses fucking rules. Managing to seamlessly blend the best of B-movie horror and gleefully silly over-the-top horror-comedies, the entire experience is so earnest that you can't help but fall for it. True, if you read the plot description above, it does sound dumb, but if you've gone this far during my marathon(s), then you should know that this is considered to be quite normal in comparison to other projects with larger budgets. Plus, those pictures don't feature music legend Carmine Appice (Vanilla Fudge, Ozzy Osbourne, Rod Stewart) as a demonic drummer, do they?
There is a fear that one would feel once they hit 'play' on their copy of Black Roses, which is the concern that the movie is anti-heavy metal propaganda. After all, the lead character (portrayed by The Young and the Restless veteran John Martin) is a concerned English teacher, who despite his very cool and welcoming demeanor, doesn't exactly seem like the type to be caught listening to any heavier music. His students end up turning into apathetic, violent, or just plain monstrous beings once they are exposed to the tunes of the titular band, and Mill Basin's version of the notorious pro-censorship group the PMRC is viewed as paranoid and anciently out of touch. Honestly though, I just didn't see there being any warnings related to heavy metal being dangerous. In fact, most of the flick seems to have more in common with a piece like Trick or Treat, which I always felt was making fun of the "metal is evil" sentiment, or even so-bad-they're-good pieces of exploitation like Reefer Madness, though this is obviously not taking itself as serious as the latter was. And when you consider that director John Fasano also sat in the main chair for the love letter to the genre(s) known as underground hit Rock 'n' Roll Nightmare, do you really believe that he would suddenly pull a 180 a mere year later?
Anyway, if I can get back on topic, one of Black Roses' defining traits is how everybody in the cast and crew is totally on board with the material and concept. Though the list of performers as a whole are quite exceptional, the aforementioned Martin steals the show. Not just sporting a killer mustache, the man also displays a great willingness to play along and relish every time that he gets to interact with something out of the ordinary. There's also an all-too-brief appearance from Vincent Pastore (yes, Big Pussy from The Sopranos) as an irritable father who fights a demon that attempts to drag him into a speaker-vortex. No, you didn't read that wrong, but trust me when I say that it is just fabulous. Julie Adams (Creature from the Black Lagoon) also shows up as one of the crankier elders who just doesn't seem to understand why the kids love this rock and/or roll, though it admittedly took me a second or two to recognize her face. She's more defined-looking than some of Black Roses' effects though. For as much praising as I am raining down upon this film, it does unfortunately suffer from some rather bad makeup and beast designs, but it is very possible that a good chunk of the production cost went to securing some of the bands needed for the soundtrack. That, or they just didn't have many great ideas to begin with. Still, it doesn't detract from the overall fun factor, and I'll gladly take watching someone swat at a long-necked monster with a tennis racket at any opportunity.
Even with minor flaws such as a weak ending and a somewhat disappointing final ten minutes, Black Roses is a ton of fun. I get true joy from discovering hidden gems buried beneath various piles of dirty pebbles, and this horror-metal hybrid shines rather brightly with delicious amounts of cheese, charm, and a killer soundtrack to boot (if you aren't humming a single one of these songs after everything has wrapped up, you aren't paying attention). It's a god damn shame that this obscure motion picture is sitting at such a low rating on various websites such as IMDb, though hopefully it will receive further praise down the line by someone in the realm of pop culture with a bit more pull. I can only hope that such high-level admiration skyrockets it into getting a proper Blu-Ray release. Still, a standard DVD version of Black Roses is readily available for streaming and purchase online.
And at the very least, I can guarantee you that it's infinitely better than the Mark Wahlberg vehicle known as Rock Star. Because that movie is pure bollocks.
Tomorrow, we venture off to the theater again, as I take a LONG overdue trip to the coldest regions of the world. Why go there you may ask? Well, I have to pay respect to my elders, do I not?
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