An independent film about rock and roll and vampires that features roles and cameos from Alice Cooper, Moby, Henry Rollins, Iggy Pop, Alex Lifeson (Rush), and Dimitri Coats (Burning Brides). And you probably never heard of it. Boy that would Suck.
Well, you may not know about Suck because it's a Canadian movie.
Suck also has solid roles from Dave Foley (Kids in the Hall), Malcolm McDowell (past and present), and the lovely Jessica Paré (very much Canadian).
My cable company doesn't carry premium channel previews like in the old days, but it had a SHO On Demand weekend. The shows don't interest me, but I scrolled through and found this movie that played once in Chicago on a night where I couldn't go. I had lost track of the movie since then, but know it's more readily available.
The premise of the movie is simple: lame rock and roll band is going nowhere. The female bassist goes off with a weird-looking guy. The next day, she is a vampire and the band starts to take off in popularity.
Paré pulls off the need to be sweet one minute and scary the next. Looking sexy is difficult when you eating the leg of a dead guy, but she pulls it off. If the only movie you ever saw Paré in was Hot Tub Time Machine, for goodness sake, rent Lost and Delirious or Stardom.
Suck is the brainchild of Rob Stefaniuk, who wrote, directed, starred, and sang in the movie. Though he dominates the movie, Stefaniuk makes his character far less than perfect, often being the killjoy of the group. Fortunately for the viewer, the vampires win out.
Like a lot of Canadian comedies, it doesn't take itself too seriously. There are a couple of border crossing scenes that are pretty cool (Lifeson plays an American border guard). The roadie is a French Canadian, adding a feature not seen in American indie films.
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If you think vampires have been overplayed, the vampire material is more funny than dark. Suck is way more about rock and roll than vampires. The movie is funny, playful, with lots of songs and famous rockers. The film contains McDowell from a past movie and incorporates it into this movie, a rather cool feature you don't normally get.
Suck is a light-hearted, fun movie that has that extra layer of Canadian cool we see from a lot of Canadian films. This is definitely a recommended movie.
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