When an undiscovered 3-piece punk band go on tour with a blood-thirsty monster, carnage is guaranteed to ensue.
The members of punk band "duh" dream of making it big, but first they need their big break. Surely the tour that band leader Judy has arranged will give them a leg up. The only problem is that they are short on money and their van has just been repossessed by the creditors. With no wheels the band go on the hunt for a mode of transport when they bump into Peckerhead, a stranger who offers to take them on tour. Things seem straight forward enough, but when the band get ripped off by a venue owner normality is blown out of the water. Judy walks in to find Peckerhead eating the owner. Understably shaken, the band listen to Peckerhead's story and ultimately decide that the tour must go on. As they travel from venue to venue more death follows but it is mainly only Judy that is disturbed by it, drummer Mel and lead guitarist Max actually think Peckerhead's actions are "cool" at times. Soon enough though, things go from weird to downright scary for the band, they get kidnapped and only Peckerhead can rescue them, but it might be at a cost of their friendship.
This is a slow burner of an independent film that gets better the longer it is on. It has got plenty of bloodshed and gore in it which is done on the cheap but with good comic effect. The characters do not have much depth or development to them, but they are pleasant enough. It made a change that they weren't bound to stereotypes of the genre of music they are from or the instruments they play - in this instance the lead vocalist is the shy and retiring type while the bass player is the organized one. It is a fun film which failed to really get me super excited, but it was still enjoyable and provided the odd chuckle.
There is a simple charm to the film, which is nice, especially when it is juxtaposed with some of the slasher and splatter elements that help the story move forward. The music in the film is decent, it was nice to see a punk rock band in film and was amusing when one style was put up against the whiney scream-o style later on. The acting is decent, and the standout is Chet Siegel as Judy, the neurotic driving force behind the band. The effects are far from Hollywood epic but are more akin to a scaled down "Braindead" or "Evil Dead" - very over the top and laughable, but still highly amusing. The transformed Peckerhead-Monster is not going to inflict nightmares, but it is almost a tongue-in-cheek nod to bigger werewolf or vampire looks.
Overall, I enjoyed the film, it was original and fun, even though the pace of the film was not the best. It was nice to see this kind of film still being released in 2020, rather than some over the top big-budget slap in the face, or a CGI heavy straight to the Sy-Fy channel piece of trash. This looks more like a product of passion and enjoyment than a vehicle to earn big money - which always goes down well in my books.
Directed and written by Matthew John Lawrence this 2020 stars David Littleton as Peckerhead, Chet Siegel as Judy, Jeff Riddle as Max, and Ruby McCollister as Mel. It has a runtime of 97-minutes and is an 18-rated film, mainly due to the violence and gore.
