Rock & Rule (1983)

July 27, 2023 4:11 AM

In a postapocalyptic world of mutant animal people, store-brand Mick Jagger (Lou Reed) attempts to summon a cthulhu (Iggy Pop) using Debbie Harry while her bandmates try to save her and the world.

It looks like Omar is a dog person and Angel is a cat person, but then can they even mate? Shouldn't he just chase her around and try to bite her?

I assume the biggest reason they didn't get the musicians to voice their own characters was to cross the finish line for Can-con subsidies, but then why not just use Canadian bands? Did Rush and Triumph and Celine Dion turn down the filmmakers?

So many questions.

posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace (10 comments total)

(this is following the Evilspeak post for more delightful 80s trash)
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 4:11 AM on July 27, 2023 [1 favorite]

I've watched the Saberspark video about this. I have an urge to see it, even though it's composed of things from the late 70s and early 80s that I hate: porny furry character models, rotoscoping, overwrought dark fantasy plots, and Mick Jagger's mouth structure.

Even so, I really appreciate an animated movie that swings for the fences, especially if it wasn't well received in its time. A lot of the best things aren't.
posted by Countess Elena at 6:37 AM on July 27, 2023 [1 favorite]

Ooh, that video was good!

I'd forgotten that the reason Mok wants to unleash hell is as vengeance for poor album sales.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 7:42 AM on July 27, 2023 [2 favorites]

I think you should add a delightful 80s trash tag.
posted by miss-lapin at 8:41 AM on July 27, 2023

Stand out voice work by Deborah Harry. And I sometimes flash back to the "My Name is Mok" segment.
posted by SPrintF at 9:20 AM on July 27, 2023 [1 favorite]

I love this movie so hard I don't even know what to say about it. It lives right in the tense, beautiful sweet sweet spot between idiosyncratic artistic merit and absolute schlock.
posted by Phobos the Space Potato at 1:11 PM on July 28, 2023

I was exactly the right early-teens when this hit cable to unironically love it.

But I still almost ran with "A rock band in a postapocalyptic world tries to drive an immigrant back to its homeland by singing at it."
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 5:29 PM on July 28, 2023

It is not the Apple but it has it's moments.
posted by Ashwagandha at 12:52 PM on July 31, 2023 [1 favorite]

I don't think I've ever met anyone IRL who has seen this movie (I'm not counting the people I've made watch it, on DVD no less!) Like GCU Sweet and Full of Grace, I was the "right" age to love it when it hit cable. Yeah, it's dumb as hell, but I still love it. So much so that I have songs from the soundtrack on my phone *right now*.
posted by Janta at 8:17 PM on July 31, 2023

I love this movie, not least because it's partly responsible for giving me an undying crush on Debbie Harry.
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 3:24 AM on August 1, 2023