Stunt Rock (1978)

Director:

Brian Trenchard-Smith

Writers:

Paul-Michel Mielche Jr. (screenplay) and
Brian Trenchard-Smith (screenplay)

Genre:

Action | Drama | Music | Romance

Tagline:

Death Wish At 120 Decibels

Plot:

Australian stuntman Grant Page goes to Los Angeles to work on a television series. He uses his spare time to lend his expertise to rock band Sorcery...

Plot Keywords:

Stuntman | Wizard | Stunt | Rock Band | Daredevil

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Grant Page
Monique van de Ven
Margaret Gerard
Paul Haynes	...	King of the Wizards - Sorcery
Curtis Hyde	...	Prince of Darkness - Sorcery
Greg Magie	...	Lead Singer - Sorcery
Smokey Huff	...	Lead Guitar - Sorcery
Richie King	...	Bass Guitar - Sorcery
Doug Loch	...	Keyboards - Sorcery
Perry Morris	...	Drums - Sorcery
Don Blackburn	...	The Agent
Ron Raley	...	The TV Director
Chris Chalen	...	The Escapologist
T.J. Shaner
Barbara Paskin

Also Known As:

Sorcery (USA) (USA) (reissue title)
Crash (USA) (reissue title)

Runtime:

86 min

Country:

Australia | Netherlands

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Certification:

Netherlands:AL | USA:PG

Filming Locations:

Culver Studios - 9336 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Company:

Intertamar

Movie Connections:

Featured in Not Quite Hollywood: The Wild, Untold Story of Ozploitation! (2008)

Stuntrock

This film has a minor cult following and it's easy to see why. The story is about Australian stuntman Grant Page (playing himself) traveling to Hollywood to handle the stunts for the new TV series "Undercover Girl". Grant hooks up with his cousin, who is a member of a rock band called Sorcery. Sorcery uses real "magic" on stage with their music and their entire stage show is a rock opera that tells the story about a duel between the King of the Wizards (Paul Haynes) and the Prince of Darkness (Curtis Hyde). They go see Sorcery rehearse in the studio and then to an actual stage performance, where the band uses fire, and some pretty awesome prog-rock tunes to tell their story about good versus evil. That's about the entire plot of the film, as Grant performs a series of dangerous stunts (along with footage of other stunt men and women) and Sorcery performs a series of original tunes and magic to an appreciative audience. Director Brian Trenchard-Smith treads a fine line between fiction and reality and, by all accounts, he should have failed miserably. Surprisingly, though, this film is a total blast from beginning to end, thanks in no small part to Grant Page's on-screen charisma and devil-may-care stuntwork and Sorcery's kick-ass music and stage show. But none of this would have mattered if it didn't gel with the concert footage. Luckily, Trenchard-Smith chose SORCERY, a big-haired prog-rock Los Angeles band (the keyboard player wears a hood over his head and his voice is electronically altered) with a loyal cult following.

I must confess that I never heard of them or their music before this film, but their songs and stage show won me over pretty quickly. They are kind of like Emerson, Lake and Palmer mixed with an Arthurian Legend stage show, complete with a Merlin-like wizard (who at one point is spun on the tip of a sword and then impaled!) that performs many magic tricks. It's like watching a David Henning magic show with fist-pumping rock music, but without the extreme overbite. It's a feast for the eyes and the ears.