Hard Rock Nightmare (1988) User Reviews

AKA Wolves, Sex and Rock

[BandSAboutMovies · 5/10 · 29 October 2020]

Dominick Brascia was Joey in Friday the 13th: A New Beginning, as well as writing and directing Evil Laugh and this film. He moved into radio and sadly died in 2018. But hey - he did three slashers, counting this one, so let's take a look.

When John was a little kid, his grandfather would constantly tell him that he was a vampire, so he did what I would have as a child. He grabbed a stake and dropped that bloodsucker. Except, you know, his grandfather was just joking and as a result, John grew up in a mental hospital.

But hey, things worked out OK. Now he's in a rock and roll band and once the cops tell him they're too loud for the garage, he heads to the house his grandmother left him. That said, his bandmates are getting killed off one by one, possibly by a werewolf who was once his grandfather, so maybe things aren't so great.

So I guess the Bad Boys are never going to make it, despite their willingness to sound more like Bryan Adams than you'd expect from a movie with hard rock in the title and wear women's lingerie.

Actually, this movie is a lot like Rock 'N' Roll Nightmare, except you don't get to see Thor fight a demon or drive around for 35 minutes. If I was making a scale of metal horror films, with Trick or Treat as the top of the scale, I'd probably use this as the bottom. It is also no Black Roses, Rocktober Blood or Blood Tracks, either.

Archetypical late 1980s cheese...

[paul_haakonsen · 5/10 · 27 July 2022]

When I sat down in 2022 to watch the 1988 horror movie "Hard Rock Nightmare" for the first time, I must admit that I was expecting this to be an archetypical late 1980s cheesy horror movie. And my expectations were correct, because this was definitely an archetypical late 1980s horror movie.

The storyline, as written by writer and director Dominick Brascia, was pretty straight forward. I will actually say that parts of the storyline were actually quite good. And this was by no means a lousy movie, it was just cheesy and somewhat antiquated.

The acting in the movie were adequate. It was all unfamiliar talents to me, and that is something I enjoy in movies. However, it should be said that you're not in for any extraordinary or exception acting performances here.

Visually then "Hard Rock Nightmare" was definitely a late 1980s horror movie, and the effects scream late 1980s. The creature effects were perhaps good back in 1988, but they haven't aged well and were just barely passable today.

All in all then "Hard Rock Nightmare" is a watchable movie, though it was somewhat on the plain side. While I managed to sit through the movie, this is not a movie that I will be returning to watch a second time, nor is it a movie that I would recommend horror fans to rush out to get to watch.

My rating of "Hard Rock Nightmare" lands on a mediocre five out of ten stars.

I liked it

[zmoviefan · 30 January 2006]

A rock band and three groupies go to a cabin in the middle of the woods to practice before they go on tour. One of them has nightmares about a werewolf and wouldn't you know it? A werewolf shows up to kill his friends.

The last 30 minutes or so are the best as all the mayhem occurs. I liked the fact that once they realize they are being stalked, they at least try to hide and/or get away.

There is a little blood, a little nudity, a little bad acting, a little corny dialog and of course those 80's hairstyles and clothes. My favorite scene is with Tom Shell in the woods being stalked.

Thanks Shudder!

[youngcollind · 3/10 · 16 September 2022]

This isn't a paid promotion, I swear, I just wanted to show some love for the Shudder platform. Sure a lot of their content is crap and they don't have the budget for originals of say Netflix, but there's a real human touch to the curation. It's like being friends with a horror nerd who routinely comes by with a sack full of DVDs that you otherwise wouldn't have known about. Like how just the other day, out of nowhere, they just dropped five obscure rock 'n roll themed 80s b-movies. How did you even know I wanted five obscure rock 'n roll themed 80s b-movies? Well I did, and I thank you for your service.

Overall, Hard Rock Nightmare is exactly the kind of trash you'd expect, corny in all the right ways. Every time a character opens their mouth the bad dialogue and acting is worthy of a good chuckle. The effects are less scary than the Thriller video, with dollar store props throughout. I suppose the terrible wolf costume can be forgiven though because (SPOILER ALERT: but do you care, really?) in the end, they hilariously go the Scooby-Doo route and it turns out it was old man Gary all along, bahaha! Grab a bud and a brew and just let the cheese waft over you.

Obscure "slasher" flick that plays out more like a live action Scooby Doo episode..

[bfan83 · 3/10 · 15 February 2009]

Hard Rock Nightmare is a rather obscure entry in the "rock 'n' roll" slasher sub-genre, and not a very good one at that. The plot concerns a rock band who decide to head to the lead singer's family cabin to practice and they are soon picked off by a werewolf, or someone dressed as a werewolf. This boring "horror" film was brought to us by Dominick Brascia and Steven Baio, the creators behind the wonderfully, but fun inept "Evil Laugh". Mr. Brascia's second directorial feature was rather disappointing. It's slow-paced and uneventful and the deaths were unconvincing. It also lacked the zany charm that made "Evil Laugh" so wonderful. The ending was lifted right from an old Scooby Doo episode. I won't give away the ending. However, it is worth seeking out only because of it's obscurity.