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Dom Robinson reviews
Entertainment in Video
- Cert:
- Cat.no: EDV 9037
- Running time: 91 minutes
- Year: 1999
- Pressing: 2000
- Region(s): 2, PAL
- Chapters: 23 plus extras
- Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1
- Languages: English
- Subtitles: English
- Widescreen: 2.35:1 (Super 35)
- 16:9-Enhanced: Yes
- Macrovision: Yes
- Disc Format: DVD 9
- Price: £19.99
- Extras : Theatrical Trailer, 2 Music Videos, Cast and Crew info,Behind the Scenes featurette, The Cutting Room Floor (Deleted Scenes andKISS multi-angle concert footage), 2 Audio Commentaries
Director:
- Adam Rifkin
(The Chase, The Dark Backward, Denial, Detroit Rock City, The Invisible Maniac, Never on Tuesday, The Nutt House, Psycho Cop Returns, Tale of Two Sisters, Welcome to Hollywood)
Producer:
- Gene Simmons, Barry Levine and Kathleen Haase
Screenplay:
- Carl V. Dupre
Music:
- J. Peter Robin
Cast:
- Lex: Guiseppe Andrews
Trip: James de Bello
Hawk: Edward Furlong
Jam: Sam Huntington
Jam’s Mom: Lin Shaye
Beth: Melanie Lynskey
Christine: Natasha Lyonne
Elvis: Miles Dougal
Amanda Finch: Shannon Tweed
Cashier: Kristin Booth
KISS: Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Ace Frehley & Peter Criss
It’s 1978and it’s the days of 8-track tapes, flares and The Grimleys. Fourhigh-school kids who have their own band, Mystery, namely Lex (Guiseppe Andrews),Trip (James de Bello), Hawk (Edward Furlong) and Jam (SamHuntington), have one aim in life – to see KISS at Cobo Hall, Detroit,Michigan.
Getting there will be a problem if they have no tickets, have to escapeJam’s mom, Elvis the school’s security guard, Father McNulty at the boardingschool as well as the flashy “Stellas” and “Guidos” and their problems don’tend once they arrive in Detroit itself.
They have no tickets so one decides to “beat up a defenceless, little chump”,while another goes into a bar where ‘Amateur Night’ means stripping off towow the audience and win the money, a third sneaks in posing as a roadie,but of the fourth – look who’s Mom just turned up!
It’s no secret that the four lads will eventually succeed in gaining entrance,but all four also find romance be it in the arms of a 7-11 checkout girl,the local school girl who’s leaving town, a Stella, or Playboy playmateShannon Tweed.
Overweight porn star Ron Jeremy also makes an appearance as a nightclubcompere.
Presented in the original 2.35:1 ratio and anamorphic, there are no problems withday or night scenes. Colours are bold and strong and the encoding is spot-on.The average bitrate is 5.43Mb/s, occasionally peaking over 8Mb/s.
The sound is in Dolby Digital 5.1. Good use of effects, plus music fromSantana, AC/DC, Thin Lizzy, Golden Earring and, of course, Kiss,meant I couldn’t really have my amp (Sony STR-DB 930) over a fifth of theway round without disturbing the neighbours!
Extras :The front cover proclaims over 79 minutes of extras as well as multi-angleshots.
First up is a 2-minute Theatrical Trailer and then Cutting RoomFloor comprising of four deleted scenes (11 mins) – which are more likeextended scenes rather than whole new ones and all are in non-anamorphic2.35:1 and Dolby Pro Logic – and multi-angle concert footage of the KISSsong used in the movie, for which you can watch one of four different stageshots, or all four together (5 mins).
There are 2 Music Videos (7½ mins) from Everclear andThe Donnas, Cast and Crew info and filmographies,a 37-minute Behind the Scenes featurette containing plenty of chatfrom the cast, crew and KISS and 2 Audio Commentaries, one fromthe director and one from KISS themselves. I make that a total of62½ minutes, but that’s not taking into account the audio commentaries.
The only thing we seem to be missing, according to theInternet Movie Database,is a third audio commentary from the cast and crew.
Much derided upon its cinema release, I really enjoyed it and there’s plentyof extras supplied which makes it a well-rounded package and a worthy purchase.
PICTURE QUALITY
SOUND QUALITY
EXTRAS
OVERALL
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.