Suck [Blu-ray]The Winners are a down and out band who find their road to stardom by riding rock-n-roll’s highway to hell. It all begins when their bass player, Jennifer (Jessica Paré), disappears with a mysterious vampire and reemerges with a sexual charisma that drives the audiences wild. Now, The Winners are topping the charts and blazing a bloody trail across North America with legendary vampire hunter Eddie Van Helsing (Malcolm McDowell) hunting them along the way. Who knew fame and immortality could “suck” like this? 
Rating:  List Price: $ 24.98 Price: $ 13.74 |
(out of 15 reviews)
Review by Haunted Flower for Suck [Blu-ray]
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1 Blu-Ray disc, released September 28, 2010
“Suck” is a rock vampire comedy written and directed by Rob Stefaniuk who also stars as the lead singer, Joey. The band, The Winners has been around for ten years now and isn’t doing so well until Jennifer played by Jessica Paré leaves one night as a small town girl next door and goes to a party and comes back a pale, vivacious red-head with pale blue eyes. Now their bassist is getting all kinds of attention for being a smokin’ hot vampire onstage and no one can stop staring and cheering.
“Suck” is like a endless string of really freaky, goth vampire music videos. The soundtrack is a must for getting in the mood for Halloween. This movie is a love letter to music fans with tons of music video homages, references, and a big detour away from sparkly vamps back to scary, goth ones with crazy contacts. There are more rock stars than actors filling up the cast and this could easily become a cult classic for a generation fed up with “Twilight” that loves rock. A running joke throughout is anytime the band is complaining about someone, those people “suck!” It’s clearly a dreamy reality throughout where anything can happen like sudden songs in the middle of a scene or crazy jokes like sticking a straw in someone’s neck and drinking them like a slurpee.
The band itself besides the lead singer and bassist includes Paul Anthony playing Tyler, Mike Lobel playing Sam, and the most fun is Chris Ratz playing the French Canadian, Hugo with a ridiculous accent who lets Jennifer walk all over him. They all kind of have a thing for her which is amplified by her vamp-hotness, but Hugo is like a lost puppy dog and is more than happy to help dispose of the bodies for her and is often walking around with the blood of her victims all over him. Boy’s going to need some serious therapy someday, hehe. Dave Foley plays their manager and is pretty hilarious in the role of anything to make money. At one point, vampires are drinking a groupie after the show and when he sees she’s still alive, he remarks, “Oh, you’re still with us, how you doin?”
This movie is a big who’s who with Iggy Pop, Alice Cooper, Moby, and Henry Rollins to name a few in the supporting cast. Iggy Pop plays Victor, a low key guy who’s out of the scene but still in touch with it and tries to give the band advice and it isn’t a far stretch from acting like himself. Alice Cooper plays a bartender/crossroads vampire that appears to lead singer, Joey in his dreams and wears giant black feather wings. Moby plays Beef, this rocker who gets pelted with meat who’s pretty much a jerk and gets what’s coming to him and is pretty far from the easy-going guy he normally is. Henry Rollins is cast perfectly in a fast-talking, smooth radio DJ roll who gets to be a jerk to the band and ad-lib some of his lines (you can totally tell, it’s classic Henry Rollins! If you haven’t seen his DVDs, it’s a MUST for comedy story-telling ability). He also wears an “interesting” wig that doesn’t show up until his last scene when you get to see his whole face.
One other subplot in this film is that there is a mysterious man with an eye patch, Eddie Van Helsing played by Malcolm McDowell (Linderman on “Heroes”) who follows the band across the country to avenge a lost love, looking for information on the Queen vampire played by a VERY freaky-looking Dimitri Coats who turned Jennifer.
The style of this movie is pretty awesome and exciting with its lighting choices and switching to slow motion for the vampires makes them look even more alluring than before. One fun stylistic choice is every time the band is traveling in their vehicle, it switches to a stop-motion format.
This is a fun, silly movie and is a must see for people who detest sparkly vamps and love rock n’ roll with a comedy twist. Pick it up for Halloween and have some drinks beforehand.
Bonus Features:
There is a making of featurette that discusses how difficult it is to get everyone on the same page for a movie like this and mixing the music and film. The vampires in motion often switch into a sped-up or slow motion appearance so in scenes where they are singing, they had to do it double-time for it to slow down and sync up to the song. You get to find out who actually sang and played their instruments and who filled in for those who did not. Henry Rollins gives feedback on his character being based on actual people he met in the music business who were jerks and Calico Cooper who plays a barmaid tells a story of the group trying to get through customs telling people they were doing a movie called “Suck” and trying to explain it wasn’t a porno. Also in the bonus features is commentary from writer/director/star Rob Stefaniuk and cinematographer Gregor Hagey where they both talk about how the movie came together, effects and lighting, and how much fun it was to work with some rock legends.
Review by The Tao of Netflix for Suck [Blu-ray]
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I enjoyed this movie but don’t consider it to be a 5/5 level experience. Positives: True music aficionados will undoubtedly enjoy all the cameos; the production values are surprisingly high and the acting is generally quite good; it features the girl from Hot Tub Time Machine who had a memorable hot tub crying scene; its witty – good dialogue with enough humor sprinkled in throughout; some very creative and artistic scenes (camera work, use of lighting, use of limited sfx, etc.). On the negative side, I found the story to be a bit slow and lacking engaging elements. While it was certainly fun, its just not that memorable; the story proceeds without any particular punch or substantial conflict. Again, please understand that I enjoyed this film, but its important to understand that its may not necessarily qualify as a 5/5 on everyone’s scale. Definitely recommended as a rental, but be duly advised on a purchase decision.
Review by C. Christopher Blackshere for Suck [Blu-ray]
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Vampire comedies are surprisingly a pretty short list. At the peak of my personal faves would be the bizarre ’74 dark comedy Blood for Dracula. 2010′s SUCK by Rob Stefaniuk immediately gets vaulted pretty close to the top of the goofy blood suckin heap, partly by default. It is a very solid film, featuring small roles for Rock legends Alice Cooper and Iggy Pop. Malcolm McDowell, Henry Rollins, Moby and several others also share the spotlight. But they all pretty much play little side dishes for the main course–the yummy Canadian hotness Jessica Pare (Hot Tub Time Machine).
It’s the story of a struggling rock band called The Winners. They’re all kinda lovable losers, except for the gorgieoso female bassist Jennifer(Pare). Early on she gets converted to a little vamp vixen and goes on a super slurping spree.
Have you ever noticed in real life the more a band sucks the more popular they get? Same is the case here.
It’s difficult to bring much new to this genre, but SUCK makes a decent effort. It’s stylistic with some funny moments. Great music. Good acting. Okay blood suckage. There might even be a little nudity if you have a good imagination, but not actually. Oh, I did think the ending was kinda lame, but oh well.
Bottom line–one of the best vampire comedies ever, which isn’t really saying much.
Review by L Salisbury for Suck [Blu-ray]
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I LUV this movie- especially the “Winners” tracks. A nice Goth version on “White Heat”-era Velvet Underground. But does anyone know if these songs have been immortalised on CD? I know the official film site ([...]) has a link where you can buy downloads via Apple/iTunes but some of us still perfer hard copy.
Review by joanne for Suck [Blu-ray]
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i just watched suck thinking it was going to be a bad movie but i actually really enjoyed it,its a rock comedy with a cool soundtrack.if your a big vampire movie watcher you have to see this its a must see!