Slaughterhouse Rock 1988

USA/92 minutes/1988

Lines- When Alex and the rest of the group are climbing the hill, “maybe we should've got some silver bullets and garlic.”

Alex’s friends after the levitation scene, in order to kill the demon-“Look let’s just drive a stake through his heart, and get it over with”

Taglines- The music is the madness.

Alcatraz. For 39 years it held society's most depraved killers. Now it's home to something even worse...

The plot, if anyone can make any sense of it, concerns a certain college kid called Alex harassed by scary dreams of a cannibal demon in a padded cell walking through rotting water and cutting people’s limbs to get tasty bites, complete with skin, bones and cartilage. But wait, the same demon does like his meat roasted too, for in one scene Alex imagines getting barbecued. More on that in a moment.

These nightmares turn out to be projections of actual events taking place in an island called Alcatraz. This is informed to him by his psychokinesis professor Claudia who advises Alex to go there and confront the demon ! In an ancient manuscript, the history of Alcatraz is disclosed. It seems that there was a fort before and there was an ancient text composed by Indian medicine men, which a wicked white man got hold of. In turn, he used their secrets to enslave them, and then there were reports of wild orgies and strange disappearances at Alcatraz, which fortified its reputation as downright nasty and perverse. One night there was a huge conflagration at the place, and the Government abandoned it, later turning it into a prison. Huh ? So what was the government doing before, when there were sadistic rituals and lots of whoring around going on ? And what of the fire ? Was there an investigation ? These are the nuances that the movie is not worried about, for it wants to plod along with gaping holes in its narrative, which will irritate even a kindergarten student. The only nuance present is a slant reference to Nightmare On Elm Street, because like the haunted teenagers in those films, here Alex too has to stay awake to prevent the demon from haunting him. But Alex has visions when he's awake too, such as demon hands ripping through restaurant papered walls to strangulate him, and imagining his face to be half maggot eaten with a slug from his mouth (sort of looked like glass noodles)

All his dreams have a connection with a dead rock singer Sammy Mitchell whose dead body was found inside the cell blocks of Alcatraz hanged by her own belt. Alex keeps hearing her latest song in his nightmares. Alex has splitting headaches, loss of appetite and shaking hands and initially resists going to Alcatraz, but one night when all his friends, brother and girlfriend camp out at his place, they find him levitating from his bed with a strong white beam emanating from the bed holding him prostate. It turns out the demon is roasting Alex atop a fire and preparing a meal !

Claudia, the professor, thinks Alex is being summoned to Alcatraz and that he's like a vessel used to send a message. That very night, all these family members and friends take a fishing boat to the island and begin to take a look around. Caroline leads them to the main cell block, where the demon may be residing, based on the old manuscript she's read and based on some maps. She says the demon is buried someplace below the building, with a set of steps going down a floor. They find a cell block with recent damage and a torn out steel door. Going inside the door, Alex gets separated from the rest and meets the ghost of Sammy who tells him how to deal with the demon who is lurking around and is 'not in a good mood'. The rest see a dead body and rush outside the door while Alex’s brother is sucked inside by a cold blast of dusty air.

Sammy's ghost tells him that her latest hit was composed, produced and directed by her, and airmailed to Alex so that he would get her message and come to her aid, in stopping the indestructible monster that she let loose. She was apparently a goth fan, decorating her stage with real cadavers and was lifelong obsessed with death and the occult, and her ghost says that life is a gift and death isn't fun. She also informs Alex that monster gets his energy from the living essence of everyone he has killed on the island. Unless Alex sets these souls free, the demon would continue to grow in strength.

Now brace for the funny moment, for a confused Alex asks the dead rock singer to explain the meaning of indestructible power. The exact words used by Sammy are-“By inviting his power inside himself, he gave an opening into our world for a lot more than he ever imagined. This thing that overtook him is pure evil.” What on earth is that supposed to mean ?

 Anyway, it seems that Alex was chosen by her because as a living body, he could open a door at the end of a labyrinthine corridor and release the captive energy. She tells him to lie down and help her in leaving his body (astral projection). Meanwhile, the demon kills Richard and disguised as him, with green eyes, white Dracula teeth and white drool, lures his girlfriend and rapes her. Sammy dances for Alex as he rests on the dusty floor and this sequence is interspersed with Alex's demonic visions. Meanwhile the bunch of other people chase the demon who has possessed Richard and try to draw the ‘real’ Richard out of its distorted contortions. The demon spews snakes from his mouth and appears and disappears at will, like an agile cat, playing with the poor people who scamper for safety.

Alex’s spirit hovers over his body and Sammy tells him about the history of the monster. It was earlier a certain commander Moricai Langston who began enjoying human meat, till too many Indians disappeared from the island. When the Indians had taken enough shit from him, they barbecued him to exorcise the evil, but instead the white man had learnt enough magic to make a pact with the devil and continue existing as the cannibal demon.

Sammy had earlier (when alive) read the manuscript which detailed the hidden place of the ashes of the evil sorcerer buried in the island and surrounded by symbols of great power, as his ashes were still considered dangerous ! She found the urn and the spirit accidentally got released. Richard’s soul appears and tells Alex that his body is taken by the demon, and that it is Alex’s job to set his damned soul free and grant him eternal peace.

The demon is finally destroyed in the chapel with a wooden cross and fire. The body of the demon chases Alex's spirit in the dungeons below and tries to harm him. But he manages to run through the leaky walls and putrid moss filled water to reach the door. He keeps beating the door till it opens and as sunlight filters in, both body and spirit of the demon are finally destroyed. But Caroline is captured by the demon in the chapel and burns to death. Alex and his romantic interest Jan are the only survivors.

The movie's plot is atrociously ludicrous, the acting is pathetic, lines are corny and sound that they were prepared impromptu by the non-actors, the special effects are non-existing except the levitation scene and the astral projection one. I am at a loss to understand the motivation behind this movie, as in how some people could have conjured up this stinker and as to why they chose to inflict unsuspecting audiences to pounding headaches. But to be honest, I did have lot of laughs over the contrived sequences, especially every time when the demon bared his fangs and pulped people to death in hilarious ways, like bashing a man's brain with a fist which would put Jason Voorhees to shame (remember the head bounce scene in Friday the 13th part 8 movie) or salivated at bare tits and necks. The possessed demon representing it's spirit was a complete comedian who appeared from roofs, out of thin air and growled with friendly aggression, then proceeded to rip out flesh or brain tissues with a solemn promptitude that Alex was quite taken aback and unable to react at the right moment. In the end, his role was consigned to just releasing these poor souls from the grip of the fearsome (haha) demon and send them to peaceful rest in heaven or wherever. The dance scene of Sammy was really funny too, considering that she could have achieved her aim of freeing Alex's spirit through some hocus pocus spells. As I see it, her dance signified her ability after death to sway to her own posthumous tunes which were usefully created to arouse Alex into demon hunting action. Also, the barbecue scenes of the evil commander and Alex were hilarious, especially as in the former case the ritual was meant to cleanse the evil from his system and in the latter Alex's butt burning is accompanied by the demon carving up a knife and cutting up his chest to enjoy a juicy ( if slightly undercooked) bite !

88 films presents the film for the first time on Blu Ray in the UK. It had been earlier released in the US by Code Red label in 2016. The 88 film disc is region B locked and ports a sharp video transfer in widescreen with optional English subtitles. The colours are bright and sharp, grain is at manageable level and supports a healthy film like appearance, black levels are strong and contrast is also good. The audio is reasonable if not great. Extras include a theatrical trailer (not remastered) and an interview with Jim Harper, the author of Legacy of Blood. There's a reversible sleeve which basically is the same artwork in original blue colour. The other one is red as is the case, which gives a premium feel to an otherwise underwhelming film. Though 88 films claims that this is title 32 in the Slasher Films Collection, it would be more appropriate if the studio opened a comedy collection and named this as their first, because apart from the non-existing horror and several head-scratching funny moments, the gore is minimal and amateur, the filmmakers using copious amounts of fake blood, latex gum and jelly to accomplish the cheap effects. 

Bottomline- A boring drag of a film, it's not even entertaining enough to be classified in the 'so bad it's good' category. Except some unintentional chuckles, the rest is just eyesore. I am not sure I can recommend this movie at all.