Black Roses Movie Review (1988)

What's wrong with the kids of Mill Basin? If you ask the parents, it's the devil and his damn rock 'n' roll music. And you know what? They're right. Sort of. The Black Roses are demons who use their music to hypnotize and influence impressionable youth into murdering their parents and they're coming to town. The only one who can help is the highschool literature teacher Mr. Moorhouse, who knew some shenanigans were at hand once his students started acting antisocial and homicidal after the first of three Black Roses concerts, with each concert progressively increasing the resulting mayhem.

Aside from some of the student's homicidal tendencies towards their parents, there are other more bizarre deaths such as being devoured by a record player and speaker, which showcases some of the more interesting puppet and practical effects. While it's neat, I use the word "effects" lightly. There are better examples of the costumes and puppets later in the film, particularly when Mr. Moorhouse goes to the concert to kill the band by setting fire to the stage. The most hilarious scene in the entire movie can be found here where the rest of the band is playing while lead singer Damian is set ablaze. The best example of costumes though are those that are seen at the beginning of the film where Lizzy Borden is performing "Me Against the World" in full, gloriously cheap yet hilariously cool demon prosthetics. This is where I get a little confused however, because these costumes are not the same as those worn by the actual Black Roses band, so I am assuming that these costumes were made specifically for Lizzy and his band.

The music aspect is where I find the most charm here. The Black Roses, while a fictional band, is composed of members of King Kobra, most notably legendary rock drummer Carmine Appice. Their songs, while not amazing, are decent enough. Also featured on the soundtrack are Bang Tango, Tempest and Hallow's Eve. The soundtrack was legit enough to be released through Metal Blade Records in 1988.

~TJ