HARD ROCK NIGHTMARE - Some college kids who seem a bit too clean cut to be really into 'hard rock' visit an ancestral home deep in the woods, where bad memories lurk along with a werewolf. It's by the maker of 'Evil Laugh'. 'Evil Laugh' was capable of moments of rank stupidity that had me beaming and made me wish it had shoulders so I could hug it, so it I was slightly disappointed when 'Hard Rock Nightmare' turned out to be a more subdued affair, even though it's still as daft as f*ck. Hokey dream sequences, intrigue-driven plotlines that disappear into vapour, and just little bits like the one where a character hides in a well and wonders aloud "why am I hiding in a well?" all do their bit for the cause and make it likeable, watchable. The pleasure offered by grainy film stock and eighties fashion disasters is a 21st century indulgence gifted by the whims of time and place, and I wonder if I would've still enjoyed 'Hard Rock Nightmare' if I'd seen it in its day. It doesn't have enough about it to transcend its moment in schlock horror history, it's no twisted beast along the lines of the similarly named 'Heavy Metal Nightmare' - its quirks are in a lower key. But it's amiable, I had a good time with it.
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