I am jealous. Twenty-some years ago I almost wrote this story—or to be more accurate, I wrote a story which was almost this story. Unfortunately it never occurred to me to play the "lousy rock band on the road meets a vampire" story line for laughs, or to make Lucy the star of the show, or to make the roadie the Renfield character, not the Van Helsing character. It's obvious, really. Roadies are natural Renfields. Why didn't I think of that? As elaborated upon at length in "From Castle Dracula to Merlotte's Bar & Grill: Some Notes on the Evolution of the Modern Vampire," which can be found in the BenBella Books anthology, A Taste of True Blood, the archetypes were codified by Bram Stoker but extend back to Beowulf. All vampire stories must include a vampire, a hero, a Renfield, a Lucy, and a Van Helsing.
Anyway, I got the polarity wrong, and as a result wrote a weak story that didn't sell, but never mind that now. What I really want to talk about is Suck.
Short take: this one appears to be a modest-budget Canadian-made indie horror film, but that's not a problem. It's actually really funny, in a sick, twisted, and blood-spattered way, and both Alice Cooper and Iggy Pop actually have significant roles in it. What I really want to talk about today, though, is the music in the film.
A movie about a rock band on tour should have plenty of rock 'n' roll, y'know? And this one—well, while there isn't a single song on the soundtrack that's unforgettably good, there thankfully aren't any that are unforgettably bad, either. But my question is, aside from, say, The Buddy Holly Story, has there ever been a movie about a rock band on tour that actually had good music?
Let the arguments begin.
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