Black Roses
Synapse DVD
Let's step into the Gorillanaut time machine to an age when Britny Fox, Cinderella and Enuff Z'nuff roamed free. Before grunge came along and made everything miserable. When there was just one Ratt and Great White wasn't burning people alive. When Al Gore wasn't concerned about global warming as much as record labeling. Out of this time comes John Fasano's cautionary rock 'n roll fable BLACK ROSES. I guess Fasano had more rock and horror in his system after ROCK AND ROLL NIGHTMARE so he plunged ahead, this time without Jon Mikl Thor. Inexplicably, we see a quick concert scene where a demon headed band plays and chaos erupts. Then Evil comes to the town of Mill Basin, as two Lamborghinis roll into town. Out steps Damien, the mullet wig wearing antagonist who flashes the old devil horn sign and smiles most evilly. It turns out that Black Roses, the greatest rock band ever who have never really played anywhere have decided to debut at the Mill Basin High School Gym and All Purpose Center. Julie Adams (CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON) plays the Tipper Gore role, leading the parents in an attempt to stop the Roses. In what must have seemed to be logical screenwriting with a message, we get the argument that "Didn't our parents think Elvis and The Beatles were evil? Maybe these Roses are just the same?" Local English teacher Matt Moorehouse plays the slightly hip teacher role here, the kind of teacher that the kids thought was all right, a guy they could talk to. He looks like a cross between Perry King and Lee Horsley. He sets out to learn more and possibly settle the air. In a truly odd moment we meet Johnny, a jean vest wearing kid who just wants to have a lttle fun and "paint the town red". He prances through the downtown, leaping up and just looking fruity in general. I really expected him to start singing. It was very similar to a half assed Gene Kelly moment, all he needed was an umbrella.
The Black Roses throw a little show and invite the parents in an attempt to relieve their fears. They come out dressed in white and sing a power ballady kind of thing, lots of synth, maybe a bit Dokken-esque.The parents look relieved and then all leave the kids to their fun. But Wait, screaming guitar and black leather come outta nowhere, lights go down and the band shifts to a more rocking kind of Dokkeny song. Oh Man! Parents aren't gonna like this. They're still lame but might intimidate old people at the Food Court. For whatever reason, when Damien is offstage he doesn't wear the wig and seems a lot more youth minister.I guess it's worth mentioning the guy who played Fat Pussy on THE SOPRANOS plays a parent attacked by a speaker puppet demon that drags him into the speaker. The kids start misbehaving more after the concert, loitering, and even saying disrespectful stuff in Mr. Moorehouse's class, things like "Ralph Waldo Emerson sucks! Damien has more self-reliance!" Things go to the next level, with girls acting sluttier and people becoming skull faced puppets while at the what seems to be nightly Black Roses shows. Pretty soon, there's girls rubbing titties and some parents get murdered. Some of the murders are fairly vicious for such a goofy flick, what with head bashing and throat slitting. Matt cracks open a few satanism books and starts to figure it out. But before he makes it to the big gig, he's got to fight a demon puppet that transformed out of one of his girl students as she was trying to seduce him. It's a skinny pin head, chicken neck creature who seems to be spastic. Matt fights it off with a tennis racket and a table leg. His big plan to stop the evil concert is road flares and a gas can which really isn't thinking it through but what the hell. Damien is giving the filled to half capacity gym crowd his "rise my evil children, evil army, blah, blah and so forth" speech when Matt tries to sneak in. He's promptly caught and Damien removes his wig and transforms into a lizard guy/ Edward G Robinson /Ultraman monster and proceeds to play wrestle Matt for a bit. Matt stage dives to escape and the gym burns down. The End? No! Damien is next seen on the news announcing his appearance at Madison Square Garden. You can't stop Rock n Roll! It's gonna take a band like Stryper to fix this mess.
Yes, it is goofy but you can't help but be entertained. I kept thinking I was watching the beginning of any number of eighties metal videos where the authority figure tells the kid who just wants to rock to "turn that crap down" before the kid morphs into a metal dude and the music starts. That's pretty much it. Big hair, rubber monsters, titties, fringe jackets, Carmine Appice, Sal Viviano, The Fat Pussy, hey what's not to like. And once again Synapse DVD really delivers a class product. Great transfer and some extras like a trailer, some Cannes preview footage, auditions and commentary with Fasano,and the writer, Cindy Sorrell.