Sex, Vampires, and Rock & Roll - Suck (2009) Monday Macabre #1

Horror comedies aren't plentiful, but they are out there. And who doesn't need a laugh on a Monday? So Mondays will be Monday Macabre from now one and will feature funny flicks with a horror bent. We will start it off with possibly my favorite horror comedy of all time, Suck from 2009.

Suck is not just a horror comedy, it is a ROCK horror comedy. It tells the tale of a struggling band called the Winners that is on its last legs. Touring clubs in Canada and the U.S., the band is so down on its luck that their alcoholic manager (played by the wonderful Dave Foley from The Kids In The Hall) tells frontman Joey that the band should fire him. It is at this low point in the Winners career that things get really weird.

Bassist Jennifer hooks up with really creepy vampire Queenie (played by Burning Brides frontman Dimitri Coates) who turns her. Vampire Jennifer turns out to be very popular with the crowds, and the band starts climbing to success. Of course, along with success comes tragedy as Jennifer slowly converts the band to bloodsuckers.

The Winners are played by Paul Anthony (A Gun To The Head), Mike Lobel (Degrassi:The Next Generation), Chris Ratz (Bitten), Jessica Pare' (Hot Tub Time Machine), and Rob Stefaniuk (Superstar), who also wrote and directed. The movie also features Malcolm McDowell (A Clockwork Orange) as vampire hunter Eddie Van Helsing and Nicole de Boer (Star Trek: Deep Space 9).

Rockers will love all the cameos from folks like Alice Cooper, Moby, Iggy Pop, Alex Lifeson, and Henry Rollins. If you ARE a rocker, you will also love the great music in this film, both the music from The Winners, and music from some great stars such as Burning Brides, David Bowie, Robert Johnson, Alice, Iggy Pop & The Stooges, The Velvet Underground, and tons more. You will probably want to invest in the soundtrack. Another fun part of the movie is all the Easter eggs of classic album covers. I won't detail those here. It is more fun to find them yourself.

Not to be confused with the movie Vampires Suck, Suck is actually pretty great. There tons of genuinely funny scenes, including a scene in a convenience store that made me laugh out loud. Tie this all together with a great story, great music, and a true rock & roll sensibility, and you have a film you will want to watch again and again. I first saw this back when it was released on DVD and got it from Netflix. I watched it, then immediately watched it again. I have lost track of how many times I have watched it since then. Check out Suck as quick as you can. I mean, you can't go wrong with any movie that has Malcolm McDowell, Alice Cooper, and Iggy Pop, right?