Review of Stunt Rock

Stunt Rock (1978)
5/10
That's enough stunt work, magic tricks and glamour rock for the next couple of years.
10 May 2018
I must have seen bits and pieces of "Stunt Rock" footage in the downright fantastic documentary "Not Quite Hollywood", probably found it instantly cool, promptly added it to my never-ending watchlist, and then subsequently forgot about it for the next ten years or so. They obviously only showed the awesome stunt parts in "Not Quite Hollywood", and from the documentary I couldn't derive that this really isn't the type of "film" I usually seek for. "Stunt Rock" isn't a film, in fact, because there aren't any real characters and there isn't a plot. It's a mixture of impressively performed stunts by Grant Page, integrally sung rock anthems by a band named Sorcery and inventive magical tricks shown by a Merlin lookalike wizard and a sort of devil named Prince of Darkness. It's original, exhilarating and entertaining for about half an hour, but then it becomes rather tedious and repetitive. I don't want to talk too negatively about "Stunt Rock", because I have tremendous respect for its director Brian Trenchard-Smith. After all, he's the Ozploitation pioneer who created cult hits like "Blood Camp Thatcher" and "Dead End Drive-In". He's clearly fascinated by the world of stuntmen and wanted to bring an ode to their business; good for him! Some of the Sorcery songs are quite catchy, for example the one that has a similar beginning as "Psycho Killer" by Talking Heads.
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