The El Duce Tapes (2019) User Reviews

Disturbing Stuff

[petersmovieposters-36377 · 7/10 · 4 November 2020]

I think this will take a certain audience to appreciate this distillation of footage taken in 1990 and 1991 around lead singer for the Mentors, El Duce, but if you're a part of that audience you'll find it revealing, appalling, poignant, and most of all, sad.

The filmmakers do a good job weaving the various interviews (done in low-fi '90s home video quality) into a narrative, although I did find it a tad too long. You pretty much see where this is going if you didn't already know, but it was truly distressing to witness the disfunction behind the leader one of the most unique early era punk-ish bands. Nice use of vintage clips set some of the context of those wacky days of Tipper Gore and Jerry Springer. Yee haw!

Do be aware of what you're getting into before viewing, but worth viewing.

EL DUCE!

[BandSAboutMovies · 8/10 · 5 February 2021]

As he was trying to break into Hollywood after playing Johnny in The Toxic Avenger, Ryan Sexton discovered El Duce, the leader of The Mentors, passed out in the bushes outside his apartment. That led to him videotaping the life of the shock rock performer for some period.

For a quarter of a century, these tapes went unused. But now, David Lawrence (the editor of Leap of Faith: William Friedkin on the Exorcist) and Rodney Ascher (Room 237) have taken the footage and recombined it to tell the story of who El Duce was and how The Mentors were prophets or a shocking culture that they themselves would have both fit right into and railed against.

This is by no means an easy watch, but I have no idea why you'd be here if you weren't already a fan of the days when rock and roll could be stupid, dangerous and both in equal measure.

You can come out of this thinking El Duce was a complete moron. Or perhaps he was a tortured soul who never really had a chance, who took fighting authority figures in high school to the next logical degree. Perhaps he was a victim of abuse who at times was so drunk that he couldn't articulate how that made him feel, but would rather go for the shock of casual racism or German salutes. Was he in on the joke until he became the joke? Or was that the joke?

The Mentors: Kings of Sleaze Rockumentary came out a year before this and while that may tell a more complete picture, this is the more polished and ultimately heartbreaking movie. There's a moment where Jerry Springer asks El Duce to take his hood off and then immediately asks him to put it back on. But I kind of think that the mask that he was compelled to wear was way more than just an executioner hood.

PERVERSION OR GENIUS?

[kirbylee70-599-526179 · 6/10 · 19 April 2021]

Having never been exposed to the music of the band The Mentors or their lead singer/drummer El Duce I didn't know what to expect from this movie. I'd read that the group was famous, notorious, memorable, offensive and one of the bands used by the PMRC during their Senate hearings. With all of that to absorb I popped in the disc and found something that is definitely normal viewing for most people.

El Duce is the name used by Eldon Hoke, one of the founders of the band and their front man. The film is a composite of footage shot by Ryan Sexton, a part time actor on GENERAL HOSPITAL and documentarian. Taking the footage he had he presents the story of the band and their leader in particular.

The band is definitely not for all tastes. They began as a jazz fusion group but unable to find places to perform that way they decided to do the simplest form of music possible (their description not mine), punk rock. The discordant style and outrageous lyrical content of the genre gave them free rein to do whatever they wanted and what they wanted was attention. El Duce called his form of rock "rape rock" with lyrics that matched that concept. Songs ranged from rape to golden showers to anal sex. And it got attention. Wearing black executioner hoods they took the stage where ever they played and made it theirs.

Footage of the band and El Duce in particular on shows like Jerry Springer and Wally George, both shockmeisters themselves, is part of this film. The confrontational attitudes of both interviewer and interviewee might make for high octane programming but the reality is it just boosted the success of the band. It also put on display the dark humor of El Duce himself. Dark humor is a fine line to walk and more than once he falls across the line.

Interviews with band members as well as Duce himself reveal their thoughts and opinions on their music. They felt disdain for hair metal bands they considered packaged music, which in truth many were. They claimed that the music they were making was art, though I'd have a hard time agreeing with that. But the fact is that they are legendary for their antics and songs and will be remembered more than a number of other bands in the shock rock genre.

As the movie begins as a viewer I felt slightly outraged, disgusted by the performances, lyrics and discourse given by Duce. But as the movie progresses you get a more in depth look at where this all came from. Abused as a child, driven to alcoholism, seeking fame and fortune and only finding fame the odds of Duce's life ending in tragedy was no doubt going to happen.

It did so when he died after having been hit by a train going 60 mph. His death was called a suicide or an accidental death. Conspiracists claimed he was murdered because in an interview just days before for the film KURT & COURTNEY he claimed that Courtney Love had asked him to kill husband Kurt Cobain. The fact is he was by this time down on his luck and what luck he had ran out. All in all it's quite a sad tale.

The film is being released by Arrow Video and of course that means that it will include numerous extras that make this owning for fans of The Mentors and El Duce. Shot on video the film has been cleaned up as best as possible. Included in the extras are "The Ryan Sexton Tapes" a 34 minute illustrated audio conversation between Sexton and producer Tim Kirk about the shooting of the original VHS footage, "The Nilbog Tapes" a video of the band recording the original score for the film, "More El Duce Tapes" a free-standing alternate assembly of unused material considered a semi-sequel, "Tape 2: Hollywood Reservoir" a piece of raw tape providing a behind the scenes look of the process of shooting the footage and a candid document of the rapport between El Duce and Sexton, "El Duce Stories" a humorous cut-up of a few of El Duce's famously long and aimless stories into one completely incomprehensible and endless word salad, "Return to Rape Rock Mountain" a brand new interview with Steve Broy aka Dr. Heathen Scum of the Mentors, "Reality Check presents the all-female El Duce tribute band the Womentors, a reversible sleeve featuring newly commissioned artwork by John Pearson and reverse art by Benjamin Marra and for the first pressing only an illustrated collector's booklet featuring new writing by Manish Agarwal.

Trust me when I say this disc is not for everyone. Some will find it funny, some will find it outrageously offensive. The reality is that it lays smack dab in the middle of both. It is definitely not for children at all. It does capture a piece of history though. And it displays a man falling in freefall and heading down a path of self-destruction. That makes for a tragic tale that some might learn from. Interesting, worth watching but only one to buy by fans of the group and its leader.

Rags to Rags

[HughBennie-777 · 15 April 2021]

A troubling, hilarious, very wet and extremely squishy documentary about shock-rock pioneer Eldon "El" Duce and his sociopathic bandmates The Mentors. The movie packs plenty of surprises, from El's grotesque high-school vandalism to the group's musical genesis being electric 70s jazz. (El Duce describes their change to punk rock as "fusion to perversion").

The plentiful depravity within provides no greater iconic image than a wobbly, grinning El Duce squatting on a dirty carpet to watch porn on a TV set, cheap beer in hand. The movie's humor disappears almost entirely after 35 minutes--this marked by a sincere on-camera bottomburp from El--once his homelessness, alcoholism and contempt for life emerge amidst endless 40 oz. Bottles of Olde English. Everything becomes much sadder here than in anything found in the angry, blowhard rantings GG Allin spewed in "Hated".

And things get worse, as video gorno follows of El Duce suffering an atrocity straight out of "The Elephant Man." Watching this makes listening to some whiny-ass grunge rocker or pompous fallen star like Axl Rose self-pity himself impossible. Happier moments include tons of glitchy vintage 80s footage, especially of the band's music video for "Donkey Dick", and there's powerful live performances of hits like "Sandwich of Love." One concert takes place in an L. A. garage to an audience of cigarette-smoking 12-13 year-old boys.

El Duce also gives a performance of love-making in a sort of oral-tradition display likely to shock every lesbian performance artist from Italy to Seattle.

Testimonials from bandmates are mostly of the type expected from disappointed high-school guidance counselors or prison guards. There's even material onscreen to shock hardcore fans of the group and definitely believers in the kind of music-contest-fits-all pursuit of stardom. Responsible rock-star parents should consider this required viewing for their children. 5 potato sacks out of 5.

Funny, Deplorable and Yet Sad Look at this Infamous Guy

[Reviews_of_the_Dead · 7/10 · 13 July 2023]

This was a documentary that went on my radar when Duncan from The Podcast Under the Stairs did an episode on it. I'll be honest, I had no idea who El Duce or The Mentors were. The things that Duncan said about this intrigued me so it went on a list of things to check out. Since I work in an office, I decided to watch this late in the day to pass the time since I could treat it like a podcast.

What we get here is a funny and yet tragic tale of El Duce. This gives his humble beginnings. We learn about his homelife and how that led him to be the man that he became. There seemed to be a perfect storm when he and his band, The Mentors, came out. This led to success. It was also a time where the government was stepping into censoring music, movies and video games. This brought notoriety to the group.

I'd also say that this is tragic. El Duce didn't seem to care much about himself. There were demons there that he treated with alcohol instead of dealing with them. This is tragic as his 5 minutes of fame came to an end. He ended up homeless and the butt of jokes. Seeing the later footage was depressing.

I should point out that an independent actor decided to do home videos to document this guy and his band. Ryan Sexton was his name. From my understanding, this was filmed in the 90s and then kept in a storage unit. It seemed a perfect time to bring this out and put it together. It is an interesting look at this wild guy for sure.

What I will warn you though is that this was filmed on VHS tape. The quality isn't great, but there's not much that can be done there. What I will say is that adds charm. There is a home video feel to it. I mean, that is exactly what it is. Hearing these people's thoughts during the height of this guy and then during his downfall is an interesting insight as well. If you're a fan or at least know of this guy or his band, give this a watch. This guy is deplorable, but I still wonder how much he thought and how much he did it to be hated. Regardless, this is an intriguing watch.

My Rating: 7 out of 10.

Great!

[chanceondemand · 10/10 · 5 November 2020]

Sad story of El Duce dealing with obvious signs of depression and alcoholism. Sheds some light on a person many would consider a real POS. Would recommend for fans of underground punk and cool 90's documentaries shot on tape.

Brilliant Documentary - Watch It

[thehyperborean-1 · 9/10 · 2 April 2021]

A brilliant documentary. It's incredibly well edited and put together. Not so much sad as other reviewers have pointed out, more fascinating. That people exist like El Duce is truly interesting, a complex, flawed, ultimately likeable and flawed man. This is one I'll rewatch as it's a lot to take in, in one go, but I'd like to spend more time with the people here. Nobody comes across bad, they come across real, with no filter which is refreshing nowadays. Do yourself a favour and watch this, I've already recommended it to all my friends, a true hidden gem!