.jpg "Vicious Lips (1986)")
Vicious Lips (1986)
Directed by Albert Pyun, the premise follows an all-female rock band traveling across space for an important gig. In the course of their journey, they crash on a desert planet and have to deal with a killer alien, while spending much of their time in neon-lit sets looking as though MTV has exploded on them.
It is an all-female Streets of Fire, but with a Heavy Metal sequence, then run through the mid-1980s MTV filter. I like that description better than the movie itself, but it explains why I enjoyed it.
Style is what does the heavy lifting here. The hair is enormous, the wardrobes are louder than the music, and the sets are awash in a neon glow; it is as if someone set about making a science-fiction universe from a nightclub, a music video and the left-overs of the Empire Pictures warehouse. The band's new lead singer is called Judy Jetson. Subtlety was never on the agenda.
It gets off to an energetic start but once the band has crash-landed the film loses much of its steam. The middle section is overlong with the band tramping around the ship and the desert when I would have preferred more of the space-rock craziness. There is a Venusian beast and other ghoulish oddities, but the film could have used more aliens.
A lot more.
There is no call for restraint when making a picture of a glam-rock girl band going intergalactic. That is the lesson. If you are going to go full speed, go warp 9.9.
The 1980s Were Not Afraid to Mix Things Up
In watching these movies all month long, I am reminded of how open the 1980s were to mashing genres. Vicious Lips is at once science fiction, horror, rock musical, comedy, creature feature, and music video. It does not seem to care whether the parts fit. They are put on screen, and the audience is expected to follow along.
They do not always fit. Which is part of the appeal.
You have your killer creature and spaceships, your rock concerts and futuristic nightclubs, some horror imagery and scenes that seem to have come from another production altogether. Pyun pushes the visuals even when the story isn't moving and, as some have pointed out, the neon and editing are far more memorable than the plot.
I miss that kind of genre mixing. Modern films are boxed in before the cameras roll. Horror is horror, sci-fi is sci-fi.
The 80s would ask "What if the girl band has a spaceship?" or "What if there is a serial killer on board? An alien monster too?" and just go with it. Then throw in some sexy, half-naked sand sirens and call it a wrap.
That doesn't necessarily make for a good movie; Vicious Lips shows us that. The acting is inconsistent, the story gets lost, and the pacing falls apart at times. At times, the movie seems to forget its purpose. Where were they going? I forgot at points.
But it is never shy about being strange. And that is worth something.
Final Thoughts
This doesn't really fit my hometown-horror theme for the month, but it does fit what I have been rediscovering about the 1980s. These filmmakers were willing to take a chance. Some of it was great. Some of it was Vicious Lips.
I had my fun with it.
Give me the neon and the big hair, a girl band in space and a killer alien, a film that thinks *Streets of Fire*, *Heavy Metal* and MTV can exist in the same world.
Only put in a few more aliens next time.
NIGHT SHIFT, Jackson, and Thirteen Parsecs
No. I am not about to send my Jackson kids into space à la "Josie and the Pussycats in Outer Space." Certainly, I should remember that unrelenting horror is just torture without some fun.
This could work as a crazy "Space Truckers" adventure. Instead of hauling space-beer to the outer colonies, you are hauling the latest girl band. Trouble is there is a price on their head!
Or something.
If we learn anything from Vicious Lips, it is that don't be afraid to mix it up a bit.
October Horror Movie Challenge 2026
Viewed: 45
First Time Views: 31
No comments:
Post a Comment