When I say that Alice Cooper, Iggy Pop, and Henry Rollins are all in a vampire flick together, during what era would you think it was filmed?
Could it be the “Welcome to My Nightmare” era of 1975, before the Godfather of Shock Rock creeped out millions of kids on “Sesame Street”? The Black Flag era of the early 80s, while David Bowie was making blockbusters out of Iggy Pop’s songs? Surely a movie titled “Suck” would be a low-budget, grindhouse hit featuring the artists in their youth and in their prime…right?
Suck is a Canadian dark comedy released in 2009. Written by, directed by, and starring Rob Stefaniuk (Phil the Alien), the film follows the story of a nearly-failed rock band ironically named The Winners. Once the band’s female bass player willingly falls prey to a vampire, the band begins to take off, and the other members want to become vampires, too. The only one left out is poor French Canadian Hugo, their roadie, who inadvertently serves as the story’s Renfield-like mad manservant.
Along their journey, the band comes in contact with a number of well-known faces, including Alice Cooper, Iggy Pop, and Henry Rollins. You’ll also see Dave Foley (“Kids in the Hall”), Malcolm McDowell (A Clockwork Orange), and Moby – as a raw-meat throwing, cow-blood guzzling rocker named Beef.
In fact, the only actors you may not recognize are the leads: the band members in The Winners. That’s certainly not to say the actors are without merit, or even that they could be called “unknowns”. Paul Anthony, who plays Tyler the guitarist, has had roles on a host of TV shows over the past few years. And “Mad Men” fans may recognize Jessica Pare, Jennifer the bassist, from playing Megan Draper. But compared to rock and roll greats like Alice Cooper, The Winners (and the actors who play them) have a ways to go to become household names.
But I guess that’s the point.
Still, the actors work well together, and play the ups and downs of a struggling rock band very convincingly. We get to see the infighting and familial bickering of the band during their blood-fueled decline, but Stefaniuk’s writing maintains an element of humor that keeps us from ever hating the band or getting bored by their squabbles.
The most interesting part of the movie (aside from spotting all the shots that pay homage to classic album covers) was how they addressed vampirism. Even by 2009, Hollywood had been drowned in the blood of all the vampire flicks that have flooded the market. But instead of treating vampires as rock stars and sex symbols, Suck portrays vampirism as an addiction that must be battled. Jennifer turns pale, starts disappearing in the middle of the day, and says that she has “a problem.” She goes out of her way to keep her problem from the rest of the band, just like an addict, and when she can’t, she becomes the enabler who sucks her bandmates into the situation (pun intended).
Sure, being vampires is what gave the band the presence to become rock stars and sex symbols, but in the end, it was just another habit that they had to kick it they didn’t want to lose themselves into the black hole of addiction.
If your friend tells you Suck is a vampire movie with Alice Cooper, don’t expect to see him chomping on the necks of 70s harlots. Suck is a movie about rock and roll, filled with great rock and roll, featuring some greats of the genre, and using vampires to tell its story. It’s one of the more inventive and refreshing vampire films of the last decade, pleasantly devoid of the heavy angst or terrorizing screams of other vamp flicks, and its dark humor keeps you coming back for more.
We highly recommend adding Suck to any well rounded vampire movie collection. Click here to buy it on Amazon.
