PUNK ROCK HOLOCAUST
A Film by Doug Sakmann
Featuring Kevin Lyman, Heather Vantress & Lloyd Kaufman
2005
Official Site

As a teenager, I spent a few years as lead singer of a punk band. We played really crappy, smelly hole-in-the-wall clubs night after night. I dodged many a flying beer bottle, wad of punker spit, and was even hit with a roll of pennies once. Those in the crowd who weren't slam-dancing trying to kill one another sometimes stood with their fingers in their ears, or flipping the bird in my face. And then there's getting stiffed for payment, there's the slutty chicks who won't leave you alone, car accidents, and band vehicles breaking down leaving you stranded. One night we even saw a cop crash his motorcycle and die right in the street in front of a club. Back then, I thought the whole scene was all kinda miserable and fucked-up. However, after watching PUNK ROCK HOLOCAUST, I realized I got off pretty lucky after all.

Troma alumni Doug Sakmann went on the road with the full co-operation of the Vans Warped Tour in 2003 and managed to shoot a full-length horror feature that involved countless bands, audience members, and endless gallons of blood and guts. The story is your basic slasher-film premise, but Sakmann and his crew put an epic twist on the sub-genre by having said slasher run amuck at one of the largest and longest-running summer rock package tours. No actual actors were used (journalists and concert promoters have major roles playing themselves) and many, many band members die in horribly gory Tromatic ways. I'll admit I haven't heard of most of the bands that appear in this movie (Face To Face is in it, so I wasn't left feeling completely old and out of touch), but it's a win-win situation no matter what side of the fence you're on. If you're into this stuff, you'll love seeing your favorite bands play and then get murdered. If you get nauseous by hearing one cookie-cutter Green Day clone after another, you'll love seeing the bands play and then get murdered. They could really take this series far: how about reality TV? "American Idol" is a good place to start.

If you make it through the first hour, which is basically all performance scenes followed by gory kills, there's a lot of incredible stuff waiting for you. I was blown away by the direction the film went after they left the Warped Tour grounds and got into the gun battles and sci-fi territory, I was really surprised. And hats off to the sound crew on this film, because the concert footage sounds incredibly good for the most part. Live recording is a tricky thing, especially on a small budget, and the audio quality isn't distracting in the least.

PUNK ROCK HOLOCAUST is a solid achievement as far as DV features go, because it not only lives up to its great title, but manages not to fall prey to the technical issues I see in many of them these days. Troma fans who only know Doug Sakmann via his drunken behind-the-scenes Troma antics will no doubt be pleased to see how much he actually does know about making a very entertaining flick.

(July 2005)