Slaughterhouse Rock is a 1987 B-movie

B-movie

A B movie is a low-budget commercial motion picture that is not definitively an arthouse or pornographic film. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified a film intended for distribution as the less-publicized, bottom half of a double feature....

 horror film, starring pop star Toni Basil

Toni Basil

Antonia Christina Basilotta , better known by her stage name Toni Basil, is an American singer-songwriter, actress, filmmaker, film director, choreographer, and dancer, best known for her multi-million-selling worldwide #1 hit "Mickey" from 1982.-Early life:Basil was born Antonia Christina...

, and featuring songs by New Wave

New Wave music

New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...

 group Devo

Devo

Devo is an American band formed in 1973 consisting of members from Kent and Akron, Ohio. The classic line-up of the band includes two sets of brothers, the Mothersbaughs and the Casales . The band had a #14 Billboard chart hit in 1980 with the single "Whip It", and has maintained a cult...

. The plot concerns a group of teens, attempting to release a curse over their friend, who has been having dreams of the victims of a murderer who lived on the island of Alcatraz. They are aided by the ghost of a dead rock singer, (Basil). The film was directed by Dimitri Logothetis, and released by Arista Films.

Plot

Alex Gardner (Nicholas Celozzi), a college student suffers from reoccurring nightmares in which he experiences the deaths of the victims of a vicious killer who lived on Alcatraz, before it became a prison. When the nightmares begin manifesting in reality, and his friends see him hovering over his bed, his teacher (Donna Denton), an occultist, tells him to go to the island to face down the ghost of the killer. The friends become stranded on the island, and Alex's brother Richard (Tom Reilly) becomes possessed, killing some friends and raping one of the girls. Alex is aided in his quest by the ghost of Sammy Mitchell (Toni Basil), a singer for the band Bodybag. Sammy teaches Alex how to levitate and escape his body, and is also the subject of a dance routine, intercut into the film. The friends lure the ghost of the killer, and Alex's brother into the prison chapel, and blow it up, releasing the curse.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack features five songs by the band Devo

Devo

Devo is an American band formed in 1973 consisting of members from Kent and Akron, Ohio. The classic line-up of the band includes two sets of brothers, the Mothersbaughs and the Casales . The band had a #14 Billboard chart hit in 1980 with the single "Whip It", and has maintained a cult...

, who had recently reformed with former Sparks

Sparks

-People:*Sparks , people with Sparks as family name or given name*Sparks , a character in Enter the Matrix and The Matrix Revolutions-Places:United States*Sparks, Georgia*Sparks, Kansas*Sparks, Maryland*Sparks, Nebraska...

 drummer David Kendrick. While there was no official soundtrack release, three of the songs saw official release by Devo. One song, "The Only One" features Toni Basil on vocals, and was released on the Devo rarities compilation Recombo DNA

Recombo DNA

Recombo DNA is a collection of studio demos and unreleased tracks by the band Devo. It was released in 2000 by Rhino Handmade and limited to 5,000 copies....

. Another song, "Man Turned Inside Out," appears on the 1988 Devo album Total Devo

Total Devo

Total Devo was the seventh studio album by American New Wave band Devo. It was released in 1988 . It was the first Devo album that was recorded without drummer Alan Myers, who was replaced by former Sparks drummer David Kendrick...

. "Part of You," an outtake from the sessions for 1982's Oh, No! It's Devo

Oh, No! It's Devo

Oh, No! It's Devo is the fifth studio album by Devo. By the time of its 1982 release, Devo were a full-fledged synth-pop act, with New Wave pushed more towards the background...

appears as a bonus track on the 1996 CD edition of that album. The songs "Set Me Free" and "Slaughterhouse Rock Theme" have not been officially released, though "Slaughterhouse Rock Theme" can be found on bootlegs.

Release

The film was given a limited theatrical release in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 by Taurus Entertainment Company in May 1988.

The film was released on VHS

VHS

The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....

 by Sony Video

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment is the home video distribution arm of Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation. It was established in November 1979 as Columbia Pictures Home Entertainment, releasing 20 titles: The Anderson Tapes, Bell, Book and Candle, Born Free, Breakout,...

, but has since gone out of print. A bootleg DVD has been known to exist. As of March 27, 2011, there are currently no plans for a legitimate DVD release.

External links

Slaughterhouse Rock at the Internet Movie Database

Internet Movie Database

Internet Movie Database is an online database of information related to movies, television shows, actors, production crew personnel, video games and fictional characters featured in visual entertainment media. It is one of the most popular online entertainment destinations, with over 100 million...