Plot: Mill Basin is a conservative little town that never had a single rock concert, but a new band called Black Roses is about to change that. Of course, the students are thrilled to have real rock music in town, but the parents are livid and protest the concerts. After all, rock music is straight from the devil and certain to corrupt young minds. The concert goes on as planned and after seeing the band is just a band, the parents and other adults leave and drop the protests. But once the grown ups have gone, Black Roses kicks things into gear and unleashes their hellish real agenda. The music starts to influence the kids to get violent and yes, even kill. As the bodies pile up, no one knows what to do, but one teacher suspects Black Roses is the cause of the violence. But even if he can prove Black Roses is evil, can he survive their legion of loyal fans?

Entertainment Value: I have metal…I have horror…metal horror. I think these metal fueled horror movies are a lot of fun and Black Roses is one of the better ones, crafted by metal/horror master John Fasano. This one is just drenched in 80s paint, from the fashion to hairstyles to of course, hair metal music soundtrack. The story is basic, but sets up the blood and naked girls and chaos we want from this kind of movie. The cast is fun, with way too old to be high school students making up most of the cast, but the shining star is Sal Viviano as the band’s frontman. He chews scenery like he’s starving and during the musical segments, he brings the heat with wild lip synch action. I also loved some of the really cool practical effects used in Black Roses, which might be dated, but still look better than most modern CGI to my eyes.

You’ll see a few topless girls, including one scene where a girl basically gives herself a breast cancer exam. The nudity is brief for the most part, but hey, naked girls with crimped hair are always a plus. The movie has quite a few kill scenes and while the gore is never graphic, there is some red stuff splashed around. A highlight is watching one of The Sopranos cast members eaten by a home stereo system, but there are several memorable deaths. As I said above, some of the practical effects used in Black Roses are really fun to see and that adds a lot to the experience. The story remains fairly grounded outside of the whole demonic metal band angle, so there’s not a lot of wild dialogue. There are some gems to discover, but not as many wacky lines as you might think. Black Roses has a crazy concept and kicks in some bonkers sequences, but is more straight up horror than off the wall, batshit crazy picture. If you’re a fan of horror, hair metal, or the 80s in general, you should check out Black Roses.

Nudity: 4/10

Blood: 5/10

Dialogue: 2/10

Overall Insanity: 5/10

Use this Amazon link to purchase Black Roses (or anything else) and help support my site!