Starring: Jeffery Falcon (who?)
I watched this movie last night, it was, um... interesting.
Here's a recap:
It took me a while to figure out that this 1998 epic post-apocalyptic rock & roll kung-fu fairy tale of sorts takes place in an odd parallel universe where Russia won the Cold War (or something like that). Elvis has ruled as King (literal king) of 'Lost Vegas' over this rock & roll conscious country and now our guitar lickin', butt kickin', samurai sword wielding juicy one-liner hero named Buddy (who actually looks a lot like Buddy Holly) is on his life journey to regain the throne for rock & roll's sake. This is a trek that others are apparently making too because the Grim Reaper - lead singer of a black-clad demon quartet (naturally) - is constantly stalking Buddy and other rock and rollers. Everyone in the movie is wearing raggedy old clothes, has tattered hair and dirty smudged faces because apparently Russia wasn't too worried about hygiene.
There are action packed scenes of Buddy doing some spectacular one-swipe-kills with his samurai sword of these random anonymous henchmen who are constantly trying to keep the samurai-sword-toting-future-king-of-the-throne from reaching 'Lost Vegas' - which looks an awful lot like the Emerald City from the Wizard of Oz. Some of these henchmen across the wasteland include: a cannibalistic 1950s post-nuclear family living in a junk yard, a trio of bounty hunting bowlers called the "Pin Pals", gum-ball-shooting Clampett-like cavemen, windmill people, a Spinach Monster, and other odds and ends including a cameo from the zuit suit wearing band who provided the soundtrack, The Red Elvises (who Death tells, "You have failed me for the last ti...nice shoes!).
There were some odd "Lord of the Rings"-esque scenes where Buddy is walking across a sand dune or open field during the day and then it fades to Death and the Demons walking thru the same field/dune in the evening as they're stalking our hero that were rather interesting. The cinematography and choreography are surprisingly good for being such a low-budget film, and the fight-scenes (although mostly hokey) are shot from some creative and entertaining angles. The soundtrack is fun 40s-50s rock throughout the entire movie. I'm not one for 'cult' movies myself and this one seemed to have that feel, but overall a pretty fun movie. I give it a solid C.
Quotes:
Bad Guy: If I were you, I'd run.
Buddy: If you were me, you'd be good-lookin'.
The Kid: A '56 Chevy Belair could kick a '48 Buick Roadmaster ass any day, at least in a first quarter mile that is.
Buddy: [Looks at the Kid, then at the ground, then back at the Kid] You come all this way out saying squat and now your trying to tell me that a '56 Chevy could beat a '48 Buick in a dead quarter mile? [Looks at the ground again, the back at the Kid] I liked you better when you weren't saying squat kid... Go to bed.
A trailer for your viewing pleasure:
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