Black Roses (1988)

It's hard to figure out what the people behind Black Roses were thinking as production began.  One assumes they figured it would do well, as mixing horror with rock and roll paid off for 1986's Trick or Treat.  And director John Fasano delivered the delightfully campy Rock 'n' Roll Nightmare on very small budget (somewhere between $52,000 and $100,000, depending on the website).

And though Fasano delivers again, at least as far as making the low budget creatures look good onscreen and getting the best from his cast in a limited time, the script by Cindy Cirile (credited as Cindy Sorrell) falls flat.  The film takes too long to get to the good stuff, and the underlining message is certain to annoy most viewers. 

The film opens with a brief, unnecessary opening sequence at a concert, where a group of demon rockers turn the audience into murderous monsters.  The film would have worked better by not spoiling its own plot in this fashion and opened in the small town of Mill Basin, where the rock group Black Roses plans to open their latest tour with a series of trial performances.

 Because if you want to test out new material,

you want to head to the cultural hotbed of the state.

By the way, it's about 50 miles south of Mill Basin.

As one might expect, the local teens are thrilled to have the group perform in their town, but the parents aren't so sure.  A citizen's group, led by Mrs. Miller (Julie Adams, Creature from the Black Lagoon), want the concerts cancelled.  But Mayor Farnsworth (Ken Swofford) reminds the worried crowd that new music is always scary to old fogies and that's normal.  Hey, kids will be kids.

The parents sit in on the first concert, where Damian (Sal Viviano) and his group pretend to be more interested in power ballads than rock and roll.  Deeming the band loud but safe, Mrs. Miller and the rest of the adults leave.  And once the door shuts behind them, the lights go down, the leather goes on and the Black Roses starts rocking.

Now that the old folks have shut the door,

LET'S ROCK!

Trust me, they won't hear a thing.

But high school teacher Matthew Moorhouse (John Martin) starts noticing changes in his students.  It's subtle at first, normal acts of rebellion like questioning why the reading material is full of out of date, dead writers.  But as the concerts continue, the teens becoming increasingly unruly and violent, resulting in several murdered parents.  But only after Moorhouse's favorite student, Julie Windham (Karen Planden), attempts to seduce him (after killing his ex-girlfriend) is he prompted to take action against Black Roses.  Well, okay, the fact that Julie turns into a demon when he rejects her advances might have played a part in his decision.

Attempting to burn the stage down, Moorhouse discovers the band are demons in human form, using the power of rock and roll to warp the minds of the audience and turn them into murderous slaves.  Or something like that.  Anyway, Moorhouse must face Damian in his true form and save the souls of the towns' kids. 

Seriously, we need to pay teachers more.

Look at all they do for our kids!

As mentioned above, Fasano scored a year earlier with Rock 'n' Roll Nightmare, another low budget mix of heavy metal and horror.  Not that either film could be considered good in the traditional sense, but Black Roses lacks the goofy sense of fun and this lack of humor (intentional or otherwise) drags the film down.

But that's not the only problem with the script.  It's pretty slow going in the beginning, as Cirile seems to try developing characters that are little more than stereotypes.  Even worse, the script's attempt to build Moorhouse as the hero is by having every say how much he cares for his students.  If you had a drinking game based on that, I suspect most would pass out before the third act, as EVERYONE in the town mentions it.  Add to the shot count the times Moorhouse says how much he cares and you'll be off to the hospital.  

Another pacing mistake occurs when the band decides to add two more concerts to it's schedule.  I'm sure Cirile was trying to subtly build up the increasing hostile behavior of the students, but the students are presented as damn near perfect (even the anti-authority one), so even the most minor change in them would have to set off an alarm in Moorhouse.  After all, he really does care about his students.  Even when Moorhouse watches the kids turn into hoodlums after the second concert, in a scene shot and edited to make his drive down main street seem more like a descent into Hell, he doesn't do a damn thing.  Hell, even the cops seem to have the night off.

 Look, I might care about my students, but one of them

will have to turn into a demon before I leap into action.

Oh, there we go!

The other problem with this approach is, thanks to the opening scene, we know the band members are demons.  But after such a tease, we have to wait for half the film's running time before the real monster mayhem continues.  Sure, we get a small tease as a giant bug comes out of a stereo speaker and attacks a parent, followed by a few acts of patricide.  But the opening promised rock and roll demons, and the film makes the audience wait too long for their return.  Sure, trimming the script might have shortened the running time, it would have also reduced one's urge to press the fast forward button.

Still, the film does have some good points.  Fasano makes good use of the low budget creatures from his SFX shop, always filming them in a manner that shows off the creature as often as possible.  Sure, it's easy to see how Fasano framed his shots to hide the puppeteers, and some of the make-up effects aren't top notch, but it's impressive work for a low budget flick.  The designs of the final demon is very nice and all the effects are better than most films with similar budgets.  It's no surprise several of the SFX people went on the work on bigger budgeted films.

Given the limitations of low budget films like this, the cast is pretty game and do their best with the material.  The kids act like real teens for the most part, not some Hollywood stereotypes.  Moorhouse and the Mayor appear genuinely concerned over the kids, without being preachy or attempting to appear "cool" (though Moorhouse does seem pretty conflicted when possessed Julie comes calling).  And I must give props to Planden, who sports a gigantic set of demon teeth before she transforms.  Seriously, I'm not sure how she was able to endure wearing them long enough to film the scene.

I've heard of suffering for your art,

but those had to HURT!

Unfortunately, Julie Adams appears in only two scenes early on, than just vanishes.  She's mentioned later, but it seems a wasted opportunity not to have the possessed kids, or the band, attack her for attempting to shut the concerts down.  Okay, full disclosure, I'm a big fan of Adams and have been since Creature from the Black Lagoon, so I'm all for more of her in any movie.  Still, it seems a missed opportunity not to have her character meet her end in this film, even if it's not shown onscreen.

And that brings up the script's main flaw.  Though the murdered parents are portrayed as abusive (both mentally or emotionally), uncaring or just plain lecherous, the authority figures are ultimately proven right about the band.  In this film, rock and roll is truly the devil's music and only the intervention of adults who know better can save the town's teenagers from a corruption.  By making Moorhouse the one who discovers the band's secret and defeats them, rather than one of his students, the script makes a statement that won't play well to horror or heavy metal fans.

Let's be honest, when this character is right

about rock and roll, you WILL annoy

your target audience.

The soundtrack is solid, with music from King Kobra, Lizzy Borden, and Tempest.  King Kobra vocalist Mark Free and drummer Carmine Appice perform as members of Black Roses as well.  I'm sure that's a reason for having several concert scenes in the film, as it gets the most out of the musicians.  But again, it drags the story out too much and keeps the horror from kicking in.

I wish I could say Black Roses is a cult favorite for me.  Though I do admire the low budget creatures, the game cast and Fasano's direction, the film lacks the cheesy sense of fun found in Rock 'n' Roll Nightmare.  Add in a very slow pace and the script's misguided message, and this film fails to live up to the promising idea.  Guess you could say this band never gets its act together during the trial run.

A movie shouldn't open with a demonic rock band,

than make the audience wait for almost an hour 
before more monster mayhem ensues.