The story centers around Eddie Weinbaur... metalhead, mullet sporter, torn denim wearer, dressed in a never-ending selection of Metallica t-shirts. Needless to say, he's an obvious target for all the "normal" guys at his school. Why is it that the preppy guys always seem to be the biggest bullies around? It always amazed me how preps wearing pink (and a various assortment of other pastels), playing polo, using gobs of hair gel to enhance their fake highlights, and throwing pool parties could possibly have the nerve to call us "fags". Did they not have mirrors or did they just spend too much time looking into them?
Anyway, Eddie is actually a pretty cool guy, loves all the best metal bands... Judas Priest, Megadeth, Anthrax, etc. But his favorite is (the fictional) Sammi Curr. Eddie absolutely adores his ultimate idol Sammi Curr and writes him tons of fan letters under the pseudonym "Ragman". Mostly complaining about his lousy high school existence.
One day, the unthinkable happens. Sammi Curr dies in a mysterious hotel fire. Eddie is crushed. He seeks empathy from his radio DJ friend (appropriately played by Kiss frontman Gene Simmons) who presents Eddie with a one-of-a-kind gift. Sammi's new album which was scheduled to be released, but delayed because of his untimely death, is now intended to be played at midnight on Halloween, and the DJ has the only master copy. He gives Eddie the master album because he's already made a tape recording of the album which he intends to play at midnight. Thrilled shitless, Eddie takes the album home, presses play, and listens to the album over and over until he falls asleep.
Eddie wakes up to the sound of the record skipping. The short bits of music between the skips sound like language in reverse. Eddie begins to play the album backward and hears the voice of Sammi Curr leaving vague messages that seem to be left specifically for Ragman (Eddie). Eddie plays the rest of the album backward and discovers some instructions for a revenge plan to get back at his preppy bullies. He executes the plan as directed and it works perfectly. Eddie begins an ongoing conversation with Sammi Curr through messages contained in the album. Eddie asks in forward mode and Sammi replies in reverse.
Soon, Eddie is all-powerful... that is until he realizes that he's just a tool for Sammi to be "reborn" through the power of METAL, DUDE!. Using electricity as his general vehicle, Sammi Curr terrorizes the Halloween dance at Eddie's school, killing more than just the preps. And has plans to reach an even bigger killing ground with his new album being played at midnight over the radio. Though Eddie has destroyed the master vinyl album, he realizes that the DJ has a tape recording that also needs to be destroyed, so it's up to Eddie and some sympathetic ex-prep chick with a secret crush on him to save the day by preventing the album from being played at midnight. They succeed in shutting off the power, by smashing a transformer or something.
A pretty predictable ending to a very cliche teenage 80s flick, but still a good film nonetheless. Most metalheads I knew in high school were actually really nice guys and it was the popular kids who were always the nasty ones, so I actually really related to this movie. Don't miss Ozzy Osbourne's cameo as a Christian televangelist, bitching about the sexually suggestive lyrics of heavy metal music. Nice touch.
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