Sadly Over-hyped

I gave it a 7.5 out of 10

Am i the only one who thinks........Average?

Absolutely brilliant

Lindsay Roberts (an appealing portrayal by luscious onetime 80's porn queen Traci Lords) manages a rock band that's on the verge of making it big. Complications ensue after Lindsay discovers that cocky and flamboyant new guitarist Angel Martin (a solid performance by Stephen Quadros) has sold his soul to dark forces in order to ensure that his talent will prevail.Director/co-writer Mark Freed really delivers the terrifically tacky'n'trashy goods with this jaw-dropping piece of perfectly putrid junk: Plenty of choice clunky dialogue ("That's negative energy, man!"), big poofy hairdos, copious gratuitous female nudity, an absurd script, chintzy (not so) special effects, some deliciously dreadful acting (Tyger Sodipe in particular contributes a laughably hokey turn as an uproariously unconvincing "old" voodoo woman), gloriously ghastly songs, and an insanely insane story that thankfully isn't played completely serious. The pulchritudinous presence of several hot babes helps a lot: Enticing Karen Russell, ravishing redhead Laurel Wiley, and cute perky brunette Gina Marks. Aldo Ray grumbles his way through his final film role as grouchy pizza joint owner Tony while Troy Donahue pours on the smarm as a sleazy record company executive. A total schlocky hoot.

How times have changed: back in the early 90s, I had an unhealthy obsession with horror, my Mega-Bass Walkman only played metal, and LA bad-girl Traci Lords was my pin-up of choice.These days, I listen to my metal on an iPod!If like me, you have a lifelong love of scary movies, get excited by the sound of a wailing guitar, and even more so by the sight of a certain impossibly pouty ex-porn star, then Shock 'Em Dead should prove to be be a suitably fun way to pass the time.The luscious Traci Lords plays Lindsay Roberts, manager of rock band Spastic Colon, who are desperately in need of a good guitarist; when geeky pizza parlour employee Martin (Stephen Quadros) fails to impress the band with his widdling, he sells his soul to the devil in exchange for a cool new persona (he gives himself the name 'Angel'), godlike skills on a double-sided guitar (six strings are for pussies), incredible wealth, and a trio of sexy sluts to cater for his every whim. After another audition with the band, Martin gets the gig and rock-star status finally looks like it is in the bag; the only problem is, Martin must regularly feed on the life-force of others to remain alive...A heavy rock reworking of Faust, the plot for Shock 'Em Dead isn't exactly original stuff, but although it's an oft told tale, the film still succeeds thanks to director Mark Freed's good natured, tongue-in-cheek approach to proceedings, which wisely opts to ladle on the cheese (indeed, in one scene in the pizza establishment, a whole bowlful of the stuff gets overturned) rather than to try and go for genuine scares.During the course of the film we get some very silly rock songs (the kind of thing you might hear from parody metal band Steel Panther), plenty of boobies, some silly comedy, a few dodgy special effects (green glowing eyes and shonky transitions achieved through slow fades), and some knowingly bad performances from its game cast (which includes 50s hunk Troy Donahue, and genre regular Aldo Ray).I give this daft slice of B-movie nonsense a very reasonable rating of 6.5/10 for being so delightfully absurd, but refuse to round it up to 7, as I would normally do, due to the complete lack of skin from Ms. Lords (she made this film only four years after giving up porn; I expected more).

This flick RULES!! A modern day exploitation classic that is highly recommended to fans of 80's metal and horror!Everything a B-Film should be! Crazy, violent and filled with many beautiful actress's! Oh and yes, lead actor Stephen Quadros is excellent as the ultimate 80's Metal God! A great job turned in by him!I won't bother talking plot details as they've been discussed (to a point) in the other reviews. My advice is to seek this film out, kick back, relax and ENJOY a truly classic little flick!Great actors!! Great Music!! I hope director Mark Freed gets this film out on DVD soon with tons of extras! This film needs to get a second life on DVD SOON!!!!Hey Mark, if ya read this.... How bout re-uniting the cast and doing a sequel! Angel Martin needs to return!!!!!

I have seen this "movie" about fifty times. I love it. It is a ridiculous story about a nerd who tries out for a Poison type band and fails miserably. He then meets a voodoo priestess and she gives him the wish to a great rock star... for a price though. He now has to kill to live. Part of his wish is the ability to play guitar amazingly(the amazing guitar shredding is done in close-ups for all us music freaks.) He also gets 3 hot broads to live with him and do anything he wants. Then he meets Traci Lords falls for her and eventually fights her boyfriend in a funny ending. What a great movie. There are some hilarious jokes, nudity, metal guitar playing and just nonsense in general. I loved this movie. I rent it every so often and show it to people for the first time. They always roll their eyes when I tell them the title of the movie but in the end they get a good laugh and actually appreciate it. You will too! Enjoy