Any rock and roll fan can tell you that the story of ‘risking it all’ for what you love is a familiar but lovable tale. Despite the distracting title of Uncle Peckerhead, director Matthew John Lawrence makes the story fresh and manages to blend the horror and comedy together nicely, something that is not easy to do and very often not done well. There are even some surprisingly tender and sweet moments to offset the gore dished out by the carnivorous roadie.
Lawrence sets a familiar stage, pardon the pun: Bass player and go-getter Judy (Chet Siegel), guitarist Max (Jeff Riddle), and drummer Mel (Ruby McCollister) are the punk band ‘Duh’, struggling to get gigs, pushing their demo, while waltzing through the usual chaos that musicians starting out face, such as evictions and getting their car repossessed. Losing their car when they are about to embark on their first tour leads to them to an encounter with Peckerhead (David Littleton), who offers his car and services as a roadie. Of course, the too-good-to-be-true line quickly bites them in the ass, and then some.
It seems Peckerhead morphs into a flesh-eating monster every day at midnight, for only thirteen minutes, which is quite a shock to the members of Duh. How they deal with it, and the concept of simply how far are you willing to go for fame meet head-on and is done quite well, consequences and all. Director Lawrence moves the band members through this transition in a way that is crazy believable, and suspending your disbelief isn’t really so hard when you are having so much fun going along for the ride.
The bandmates have a great, realistic bond which being a punk/rock and roll fan, I appreciated quite a bit. There are sweet moments, mixed in with the gore, and some interesting themes explored, including the ever-relevant price of fame. Obviously, with a carnivorous roadie, the scene in the parking lot with the metalheads was hilarious, the morality of what you are doing should begin to weigh heavy on your shoulders, and of course, there is the fact that there is more to Peckerhead’s story than what he has told the members of the band.
The sad, poor me persona of Peckerhead does get a bit tiresome at times as it is just laid on too thick. There are some great little comedic moments that I would like to have seen more of as well, instead of some of the dialogue between the band members that kind of fell flat and went nowhere. The movie does move at a decent pace, but these moments did begin to drag it down a bit for me, especially after some better, fast-paced moments.
Watching the band weave through the landmines of the musician’s life, sleazy promoters, rival bands, while dealing with their midnight feeding roadie, is really where Uncle Peckerhead shines. It’s punk rock attitude with a killer roadie, and that’s something you just don’t see every day.
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