Review by Ben Bussey
Rock’n’roll, and Satan: not unlike Britain and America, it’s one of those enduring ‘special relationships,’ the source of endless joy for some and endless anxiety for others. I’m often surprised how rarely the subject rears its horned and/or heavily hairsprayed head in the movies. To my mind, 1986’s PMRC-baiting heavy metal horror Trick or Treat remains the best Satanic rock movie yet made; more recently it’s been touched on in Diablo Cody’s bitterly disappointing Jennifer’s Body, and Rob Zombie’s heavily divisive The Lords of Salem. However, five years ago there came a low-budget Satanic rock movie which went under the radar somewhat, only to slip back into the leathers and make a comeback here and now in 2013. Ladies and gentlemen, let your horns fly for The Devil’s Music, the fourth and almost certainly best film yet from British indie horror filmmaker Pat Higgins.
Presented in documentary format, we are told the thorny tale of rock superstar and tabloid sensation Erika Spawn (Victoria Hopkins), a modern day proponent of classic hard rock theatrics. Filthy lyrics? Check. Provocative costumes? Check. On-stage shock tactics with plenty of fake blood involved? You betcha. Naturally, this makes her the idol of thousands, and public enemy number one to thousands more. She even manages a coveted Christmas number one, knocking wholesome ex-boy band singer Robin Harris (Scott Thomas) off the top spot. But when her band’s inner sanctum allows in a seemingly innocent groupie fangirl named Stef Regan (Lucy Dunn), slowly but surely a sinister shadow falls across the golden glow of Erika’s success. Some of it is the standard rock’n’roll clash of egos; but some of it is coming from an altogether different place. Can anyone be sure what is or is not part of the show anymore?
A little background on writer/director Pat Higgins: I first became aware of him a little over three years ago when his movie Hellbride was released. I didn’t give it the kindest review ever, but it was readily apparent that Higgins and company were at least putting forth the effort, which – to be frank – can’t always be said of microbudget horror. This, it seems, was good enough for Mr Higgins, for – even though I wasn’t much nicer about his next films, Bordello Death Tales and Nazi Zombie Death Tales – he still makes a point of letting me know about whatever he’s got coming out. And I’m certainly glad of that, for while The Devil’s Music is by no means without its little problems, it’s a smart, well-structured, intriguing movie that really manages to subvert expectation.
Approaching a microbudget film requires entering into a slightly different mindset as a viewer. It’s all too easy to see the home video-ish aesthetics and immediately dismiss the whole enterprise as a piece of crap offhand; I can’t deny I’ve been known to do just that myself. But if we accept right away that it isn’t going to look as sharp and polished as a bigger budget production, we can simply get on with the key matter at hand: engaging with the film itself. And The Devil’s Music certainly is engaging. The choice to make the film a mockumentary – not, repeat NOT found footage – was a wise move, not only because it excuses that home video-ish feel, but also as it feels the natural way to recount a rock’n’roll story. Some aspects do strain credibility a little: while the backstage camcorder footage is fine, cutaways to rather unconvincing looking TV interviews and mocked-up newspaper headlines do rather break the verisimilitude. Making Erika Spawn the biggest rock star in Britain was, perhaps, biting off more than a microbudget production can chew; the few scenes of gig footage are clearly done in pretty small venues, and the music videos are hardly a match for those of, say, Marilyn Manson (a figure who it seems safe to assume may have influenced the movie somewhat).
The mockumentary format also demands a level of naturalism to the dialogue which isn’t always totally there, and I think this is more to do with Higgins’ writing than any of the performances. Cy Henty (star of all Higgins’ work to date) has a meaty role as Erika’s manager, and makes for a pretty convincing music industry sleazebag, but some of his lines are a little too overloaded to sound entirely natural. As Erika, Victoria Hopkins is a commanding presence, although her accent is a little wobbly; another thing I have to question is whether it was really necessary to make the character American. That aside, Lucy Dunn is excellent as the shrinking yet insidious Stef, and Jess Luisa-Flynn also does great work as the über-bitch bassist Adele.
The greatest compliment I can pay to The Devil’s Music – and it’s really something that deserves to be emphasised – is that I honestly didn’t see where it was going. Ten, twenty minutes in, I was fairly sure I knew how it was all going to end… and boy, was I wrong. This, I’m sure we can all agree, is a rare thing these days, and that alone would be enough for The Devil’s Music to warrant attention. But above and beyond that, it’s a genuinely interesting piece of storytelling with something to say about the scapegoating of rock music, and just where the real evil may reside in popular culture.
You can watch The Devil’s Music in full below – or visit Jinx Media.