Attitude for Destruction (2008)

   

Directed by: Ford Austin

Written by: Jeremiah Campbell

Starring:

Simon Burzynski .... Marc
Colby Vail .... Drake
Laura Lynn Rossi .... Crystal
Jed Rowen .... J.J.
Annmarie Lynn Gracey .... Vanessa
Brian Ramian .... Kurt
Monte Hunter .... Sully
Geoff Stirling Jr. .... Cosmo

Release Dates: Tulsa Defcon 7: April 2, 2008; Horrorfest Convention: April 17, 2008; Motor City Nightmares Convention: July 19, 2008; Action On Film Festival: July 26, 2008; Phoenix Comic-Con: January 20, 2009; Bare Bones FIlm Festival: April 19, 2009

 

Rating:

 

A band called Hollywood Roses is performing and a music producer named J.J. (Jed Rowen) offers them a record deal with Diamond Star records. However, there's a downfall as he doesn't like the frontman Drake (Colby Vail) and the other members break the news to him and accidently kills him during a brawl.
While they continue to do more gigs many of them have nightmares on him returning from the grave for revenge especially Marc (Simon Burzynski) whom he dreams of his girlfriend Crystal (Laura Lynn Rossi) getting involved with these deadly incidents since their relationship is on the edge.
His nightmare is about to come true as one by one his bandmates are being killed off and is about to face his own sacrifice.

 

There's an interesting beginning with a gothic band playing which sort of looks like Danzig and then we spot a stripped woman with someone doing a sacrifice which looked interesting while spotting this and crafty for a low budget indie flick by what we spot here as it was supposed to look disturbing but due to it's budget and how it was done that seems to slip a little. Still it looked gruesome and entertaining.
Also we see the band Hollywood Rose playing in which this looked cool to watch spotting the cast members dressed like Guns N Roses with the lead singer Drake looked interesting on his dancing like Axl Rose would as this was fun to spot this band performing and you can really get into what everyone was doing here.
Also we spot the interactions later on with Drake acting cocky which seems a little more laughable than serious but again this flick was to spoof GNR as well as interesting moments on a record producer J.J. approaching them and being interested in signing them as this also looekd fun to watch and the going on's of a band almost being famous which showed nice timing here and well written in too.
There's more neat discussions with J.J. talking to the other band members telling them to drop their singer saying he's terrible and only looks good on stage which seems common for people to talk about Axl Rose along with him having a bad attitude which kinda adds nice humor to the story here and showing nice timing within all of this.
Also we spot the band trying to break the news to Drake as there's good camera shots surrounding all of this along with giving you a bad feeling that a fight will break out. After the news happens with the negativity it looked cheesy by what we spot here like it was all set out and not natural while we look at all what's going on plus the scene where they all beat him up leading to his death looked incredibly sloppy too.
Some neat hallucination sequences and nightmares with the band members on Kurt returning from the grave as there's neat cheesy effects involving all of this making it look pretty entertaining for anyone who liked low budget horror. Also good close up shots on the lead character Marc waking up and screaming along with everyone discussing their similar nightmares as this showed some interesting writing paying a tribute to films like A Nightmare on Elm Street.
Nice close up shots on Drake's footsteps in the mist slowly approaching as well as interesting moments with J.J. trying to get it on with his co-hort Vanessa but it looked quite phony when Kurt comes in to do away with them by how all of this was set out but if you're in the mood for a cheesy slashing moment you may find this fun to watch.
In the story many good effective situations with Marc experiencing ghostly situations with his girlfriend Crystal and spotting her disappearing in the breezy night as this was a nice scene to spot in a horror flick without a doubt.
However we spot a hallway scene with Drake creeping towards one of the band members named Sully about to do him in and yet this looked pretty amateurish to watch all of these happenings.
Also there's a moment when the final terrors are about to happen that involves Crystal and Drake towards Drake and Curt with gothic surroundings which was nicely set but yet these terrors that happen are laughable and not intense like it was supposed to be it was that cheesy and corny. But yet good close up shots on the band performing along with nice close up shots on a killing too. Then there's a different twist near the end of the story which looked pretty clever to spot this as I won't give this away.
Bottom line is that this was supposed to be a spoof on Guns N Roses and trying to make it a horror tale out of it trying to make it seem scary but that misses by a longshot however this can be fun to watch with a bunch of partying friends in the mood for a film and not to be taken seriously at all. Probably Ford Austin's best directorial project which says very little.

The acting is very over the top in other words pretty bad. Lead actor Simon Burzynski (Marc) was very wooden in his role as one of the main people in the band as he doesn't show any characteristics at all even though he tries his best as you can tell here. Plus he was low on energy whenever he reacts anxiously like waking up from a nightmare just not acting natural with his iontense yelping. Also when he is tied up for the sacrifice his screaming and scared reactions were laughable but in a terrible way as he wasvery mellodramatic. This boy seriously needs to take acting lessons.
Colby Vail (Drake) was one of the better performers which isn't saying alot as he seemed to try too hard to act cocky and obnoxious as portraying the Axl Rose figure in which Rose himself would probably laugh on how over the top he is while doing this. He was also off on his blocking when he reacts violent. Plus can't act creepy when he is back from the grave trying to slay someone as this lacked big time. He had the right looks and danced well like Axl does so I will give him credit for this.
Laura Lynn Rossi
(Crystal) was the worst in the cast as she was supposed to come across as mysterious and can't seem to know her role well at all when we watch her do all of this. Also during the sacrificing situations when she was acting wild and crazy her energy was totally low and was making a total fool out of herself while doing all of this. I don't know why she was cast in this since she wasn't fit for this role at all.
Jed Rowen
(J.J.) was the best out of the cast as I always found him terrible in what I've seen him in so far but seemed to pull his weight a little bit here. He seemed to show enthusiasm when speaking to the band memebers on a deal he offers. Plus shows a good personality while being sarcastic and charming too. Also has some decent energy whenever he acts aggressive too. Yet the falldown on him are things like when he freaks out while being attacked in his final scene. As I said I never took this guy seriously as an actor.
Monte Hunter (Sully) portrayed the Slash character as he seemed to do okay for the looks and tried to have a mr cool attitude but yet he is a little too much while behaving like this. Also isn't convincing when he acts aggressive either. Also when he is struggling from being killed he seems lazy within his blocking. Another downer for a cast member mentioned here.

A fully naked woman top to bottom is tied to a pole for a virgin sacrifice.
A woman takes off her top breasts revealed while about to get it on with a guy.
A woman is fully breasted while fornicating with someone in bed.

A virgin sacrifice's insides are cut out and eaten.
A drummer's eye is stabbed by a drumstick but this looked pretty phony to watch.
Someone's head is cut off.
Bloody stabbings are revealed here and there.

The music in this movie mainly scored of songtracks on the annoying metal bands and their guitar screeching with loud vocalising but there's the odd light synthesizer and piano playing for the soft moments along with the odd woodwind music for a lustful hallucination sequence too which als sounded nice and soothing. Plus there's the odd drumbeats in other areas as well. A songtrack that stands out in a scene where a cult ceremony is about to be discovered is Stephen Pearcy's solo version of "Round and Round" as he sounds almost exactly when he did that song performing in Ratt in which it sounds very catchy in the film.