The Rock-afire Explosion

Director Brett Whitcomb could have easily taken a condescending attitude toward Thrash and the other Rock-afire enthusiasts, but instead he presents the material in a nonjudgmental fashion that makes The Rock-afire Explosion surprisingly moving at times. Thrash's dream may seem silly or superficial to you or me, but that doesn't matter; it's his dream and he made it come true, and how many of us can say the same? In its own funny way, the film investigates the power of nostalgia and the artifacts of childhood, as well as the tangible and emotional wreckage that's left behind when a fleeting moment of pop culture has passed.

Posted by Scott Von Doviak (The Screengrab)

I went into this thinking that it would be more centered around the band and the animatronics themselves, and was wildly disappointed. Instead, it was primarily focused on the nostalgia the other, older people had for the band. Which is fine in itself- however, it was wildly disappointing to me. I am 15, and I never got to experience the RAE for myself, however it is a large special interest of mine, so watching this was not only a disappointment, but immensely boring. Who wants to watch random adults talk about how much they miss the band? I was expecting so much more, but maybe it's my fault for having such high expectations. I don't think I would ever actually watch this again.

Pizza for me has always been synonymous with fun. Nowadays, it's pizza and beer. Thenadays, it was pizza and weird fu%k*n' animatronic creatures singing songs, making jokes and scaring the crap out of all the wimpy kids. And I know I'm not alone on this. For those of us fortunate enough to be children in the 80s, we had Showbiz Pizza restaurants spread throughout the country, stocked with all of the latest videogames and an animatronic band called The Rock-afire Explosion. The 80s were a long time ago – godam%it – but filmmaker Brett Whitcomb has reached back in time and brought forward a chunk of our past that has helped reignite interest in this band that would play the perfect soundtrack for pizza munching. A trailer for the documentary "The Rock-afire Explosion" hit YouTube a little while back and has had people talking all over the Web. And just recently the film has hit the festival circuit. So does it live up to its hype? If you remember and love The Rock-afire Explosion from your youth, then, yes.

This documentary cuts back and forth between two stories, or rather, it cuts back and forth between two periods of time in the life of The Rock-afire Explosion. Yes, there is a ton of vintage footage for nostalgia freaks to drool over, accompanied by interview footage of Rock-afire creator Aaron Fechter who lays down the history of this animatronic band. But then we also see where Rock-afire is at today and it's not the cheeriest of pictures as we see that Fechter was driven out of business and his creation made nearly extinct, however, the light at the end of the tunnel is a group of lifelong fans who still devote themselves to the Rock-afire Explosion, including one such fan – Chris Thrash – who saved up a load of cash to purchase his own complete Rock-afire Explosion show which he operates at this home, often for lucky families who bring their children to bask in the wonder. And watching these kids freak out, it's all too apparent that The Rock-afire still has that magic. Thrash is also the one that videotaped his band's performances playing to more modern music and posted his clips to YouTube. It's these clips that really rekindled interest in The Rock-afire.

We learn a great deal about our pizza parlor heroes, as well as the people that created them and the people that are doing their best to keep them alive. All in all, it's a pretty marvelous celebration of passion and fun, especially if you love docs about obsessive fans. Obsessive people have been the cornerstone of some great – okay, highly amusing – documentary film-making. This film adds to that heap of fun.

by Eric Campos of Film Threat

It's a fascinating look at the Anamatroic pizza-place fan community, but on a deeper leaver it's about a whole bunch of people who can't stop looking back. The fans are really invested in their childhood memories of these robots, and I can't throw rocks because I'm sure I'm on the right side of the bell curve when it comes to romanticizing the pop culture of my own childhood, but the owner of company? As far as I can tell from the documentary, he can't let go either. At his height he once employed 300 people, his business crashed and he had to fire all of them over the course of a decade until he was the only one left, and it seem like in his mind he is a bit haunted by that. Really fascinating documentary.

I had the pleasure of watching this documentary at the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival. As someone who grew up in the 80s, this film brought back a lot of memories for me.

This movie balances the passion that others have towards The Rock-afire Explosion with the man who actually created (and still owns all rights to) the animatronics and characters.

If you remember seeing these in Showbiz Pizza when you were growing up, then this is the movie for you to see. If you are passionate about something that you collect, then this movie will also resonate with you.