"DEATH WISH AT 120 DECIBELS !!"
The recipient of one of the most superbly edited & adrenaline pumping trailers in the history of film (which can be seen here) this massively entertaining combination of car chases, explosions, death defying stunt work, & magic along with 70's theatrical metal music all worked into the plot (complete with an onstage battling wizard & devil) has been slowly gaining a cult following over the years as a result of the trailer showing up on various compilations. Held together by the barest thread of a plot (which in large part helps it), STUNT ROCK was described by director Brian Trenchard-Smith (THE MAN FROM HONG KONG & THE SIEGE OF FIREBASE GLORIA) as a homage to 1970's stuntmen and its basic premise can probably be looked at as simply an attempted star making vehicle for famed Australian stuntman Grant Page (MAD MAX). Frustratingly hard to see through the years (I remember it showing up occasionally at midnight shows), it was issued by Code Red on DVD a few years back.
Because of a rushed production schedule and producer meddling, Trenchard- Smith was dismissive of it through the years and refereed to it as the "the worst film I ever made". However, in recent times he's turned around quite a bit on it with all these aspects playing out in the extras on the DVD special features. Looking back at it today, it's a movie viewing experience that you can't help but enjoy and is a fascinating (albeit heavily fictionalized) portrait of pre CGI movie making
Playing himself, Page travels to Los Angeles to help out on the stunt work for a fictional American TV series titled Undercover Girl (which because of a producers insistence stars Dutch actress Monique van de Ven - again playing herself) and along the way hooks up with Lois, a reporter (played by Trenchard-Smith's wife Margaret Gerard) and soon a romance develops. Page also meets up with his "cousin" Curtis Hyde who is a member of the theatrical rock group Sorcery. Hyde pays the part of the "Prince of Darkness" who does battle with "King of the Wizards" (played by Paul Haynes) during Sorcery's stage show (portions of which are integrated into the plot). Becoming friends with the band, Page agrees to help them out by staging some stunts onstage featuring himself as Sorcery is getting ready to do "three nights at the Fourm" (!).
The film's plot line basically has Page relating stories of his past stunts to reporter Lois (shown as flashbacks from his previous movies), along with his working on the TV show and doing things such escaping from a hospital after an injury by climbing down the hospital's outside wall, chin-ups on the Hollywood sign and repelling across two buildings in order to talk to Lois - all interspersed with the periodic concert & rehearsal footage of Sorcery. Some of the flashback footage Trenchard-Smith had used earlier in his previous stunt filled opus DEATH CHEATERS from 1976, along with some of the truly wince inducing crash footage lifted from H.B. Halicki's car chase classic GONE IN 60 SECONDS from 1974. Among some of the highlights are Page's blazing high fall in MAD DOG MORGAN that resulted in him suffering burns over a majority of his body (but returning to work in a matter of days) and some truly spectacular automobile and high fall stunts.
Many bands were considered and approached with Van Halen reputedly being in the running for a time and Foreigner being the final choice until touring commitments prompted them to dropout. Faced with fast looming start date Trenchard-Smith signed Sorcery after a week long search (and later described them as "the type of band you'd find if you had only a week"). Although their stage show does have low budget Dungeon & Dragons type cheesiness about it, their theatrical show does add to the WTF atmosphere of the film and most likely helps with films cult reputation.
As a leading man Page's acting chops are a bit flat, but he does have an undeniable charisma about him and as he's not required to do a whole lot other then just play himself (along with most of the cast) plus his performance does fit in with the premise of the movie perfectly. Page was the go to stunt guy for Australian cinema starting in mid 70's (his resume reads like a checklist of Ozploiatation cinema) and he continues to serve as a stunt coordinator up the the present day. His work on MAD MAX, including the car blasting through a trailer and the climatic motorcycle pileups are still awe inspiring to this day.
The plot does a drag a bit whenever the characters actually have to interact, as its best when it's just left to the stunt and/or concert footage and is an almost perfect example of "not letting the plot to get in way of the story"
Playing himself, Page travels to Los Angeles to help out on the stunt work for a fictional American TV series titled Undercover Girl (which because of a producers insistence stars Dutch actress Monique van de Ven - again playing herself) and along the way hooks up with Lois, a reporter (played by Trenchard-Smith's wife Margaret Gerard) and soon a romance develops. Page also meets up with his "cousin" Curtis Hyde who is a member of the theatrical rock group Sorcery. Hyde pays the part of the "Prince of Darkness" who does battle with "King of the Wizards" (played by Paul Haynes) during Sorcery's stage show (portions of which are integrated into the plot). Becoming friends with the band, Page agrees to help them out by staging some stunts onstage featuring himself as Sorcery is getting ready to do "three nights at the Fourm" (!).
As a leading man Page's acting chops are a bit flat, but he does have an undeniable charisma about him and as he's not required to do a whole lot other then just play himself (along with most of the cast) plus his performance does fit in with the premise of the movie perfectly. Page was the go to stunt guy for Australian cinema starting in mid 70's (his resume reads like a checklist of Ozploiatation cinema) and he continues to serve as a stunt coordinator up the the present day. His work on MAD MAX, including the car blasting through a trailer and the climatic motorcycle pileups are still awe inspiring to this day.
The plot does a drag a bit whenever the characters actually have to interact, as its best when it's just left to the stunt and/or concert footage and is an almost perfect example of "not letting the plot to get in way of the story"