I recently watched Hard Rock Nightmare (1988) on Shudder. The storyline follows a young man who, as a child, had visions that his grandfather was a monster and killed him. Now the lead singer of a rock band, he returns to the scene of the crime with his band and some groupies. As they settle in, the killings start again. Could it be his grandfather returning for revenge or possibly something else?
This film is written and directed by Dominick Brascia (Evil Laugh) and stars Martin Hansen, Greg Joujon-Roche (Spider-Man), Lisa Elaina (Blood Diner), Tom Shell (Beverly Hills Vamp), Troy Donahue (Monster on the Campus), and Johnny Venokur (Evil Laugh).
Hard Rock Nightmare has an '80s summer camp slasher vibe without actually being one. It doesn't take itself too seriously, which is clear from the hilarious and fun black-and-white opening sequence. The attack scenes and costumes are absolutely wild, albeit in a bad way. The acting is inconsistent, with some characters feeling stiff at times. In classic '80s horror fashion, there are lots of gorgeous ladies and splashes of nudity throughout. The blond female groupie in this obviously has something off about her, and you do genuinely want to see how that fits into the plot. There's also a nice Friday the 13th music segment that's enjoyable. However, the kill scenes are pretty average and just okay.
In conclusion, Hard Rock Nightmare is a very average addition to the horror genre that doesn't really add anything new. I would score this a 4.5-5/10 and only recommend it to diehard '80s horror fans.
