By Geno McGahee
An old man terrorizes a young boy, laughing maniacally and saying “I’m a vampire! I’m a werewolf!” The poor boy is traumatized and, believing that his grandfather is a vampire, drives a stake through his heart. He never served any time for it, being deemed “temporarily insane,” but the moment has haunted him since.
Older now, Jim (Martin Hansen) starts a band called “the Bad Boys” and although this is called “Hard Rock Nightmare,” the music isn’t exactly hard rock, but the volume of their music attracts two police officers that vow to rough them up if they continue to disrupt the harmony of the neighborhood. Lucky for Jim, his grandmother left him her house and the band can go to the remote place to rehearse, although that doesn’t sit well with his Uncle Gary (Troy Donahue). Gary is trying to look out for Jim’s best interests, or so it seems.
The band makes it to the house but Jim is haunted by the past and terrible visions, including the band turning into zombies, wearing female underwear and his grandfather laughing maniacally. When what appears to be a werewolf is killing everyone, Jim believes that
his grandfather was not killed when he was a child because he was a creature of the night. The rest of the band doesn’t seem to buy
this and they don’t seem particularly impacted by the deaths that are going on around them. They are still having sex, laughing at Jim’s theories, and not really seeming too concerned about the killer in the woods.
HARD ROCK NIGHTMARE is a horror spoof, really, and takes a few jabs at FRIDAY THE 13TH a franchise that was at its peak of popularity at the time, and you can see some of the influence in this film. The movie has to be taken for what it is, but any fan of horror can really appreciate it.
A reviewer on IMBD compared this movie to an episode of Scooby Doo and it was a very accurate one. It felt like a Scooby Doo episode and it was a great deal of fun. Troy Donahue as Uncle Gary was hilarious and I found myself laughing throughout. This is not a movie that will terrify, but it will certainly amuse. I recommend it.
Rating: 7/10
