Is Murder-Rock a Hidden Treasure or Dumpster Fire?
Blu-ray Distributed By: Scorpion Releasing / November 9, 2018
The world of dance is brutal … the rehearsals are grueling … the competition is fierce. At the Arts for Living Center in New York, the best of the best are dying for a part in a major production, but only a select few will be chosen. Now the contenders are being narrowed down at the hands of a killer who uses a deadly hatpin to pierce their victim’s hearts. Ambition and jealousy appear to be the motive, which makes everyone a suspect. Featuring a soundtrack by rock legend Keith Emerson (Argento’s Inferno).
Jimbo’s Take 
(3.5 / 5)
Jimbo’s Take 
If I asked you to list your top films from Italian film director Lucio Fulci, I doubt Murder-Rock: Dancing Death would come to mind. Most of you would probably go with The Beyond, Zombie, or City of the Living Dead. Even the polarizing and graphic The New York Ripper would probably rank higher than Murder-Rock. But hidden in Fulci’s very deep filmography is this weird Fame meets Italian giallo that successfully lands more steps than misses.
Fulci assembles a good cast including many genre regulars (Olga Karlatos, Claudio Cassinelli, Geretta Geretta) and a handful of young actors and actresses for the dance troupe. What’s more impressive is that most of the principle cast were not professional dancers. I’m sure professionals would know the difference, but for the layman Fulci masks his dancer’s imperfections with good camera work and composition.
The story is a classic who-done-it giallo with an unseen killer, and enough red-herrings to help Fulci nearly justify making anyone from his cast the killer. Without spoiling the resolution, some may find Fulci’s ending a bit contrived. It’s certainly not a perfect resolution, and may prompt more questions than answers. However, I found it satisfactory. It’s certainly more buttoned up and conclusive than something like The Beyond or City of the Living Dead, where Fulci aims for ambiguity or a cliff-hanger.
One of the major promotional draws to Murder-Rock is the music by Keith Emerson. The songs haven’t aged well, but that’s part of the movie’s appeal. Murder-Rock‘s music, along with many of the exterior scenes in 1984 New York City, help place the film in a time capsule that may tickle your nostalgia itch. Even the opening sequence includes young men break-dancing in a very early 80s dance club.
The rest of the movie is very distinctly an Italian production (shot in Rome) favoring style and atmosphere over real world logic and practicality. For instance the dance school seems to have a very sophisticated security system when the school is closing. An automated announcement informs students that the school will close in 15 minutes and after that time, the school doors will lock them in. Eeegad! Furthermore, during this 15 minutes the lights continuously turn on and shut off (I assume to visually alert the students that they are about to be locked indoors). But the idea of the lights being on and then switching to complete black-out for 15 straight minutes is neither practical nor safe. However, it makes for a very tense and atmospheric visual aid.
The bonus features on Scorpion Releasing’s blu-ray are small in number but big on information. Between the two interviews with Geretta Geretta and makeup artist Franco Casagni, I felt like I learn a lot of interesting factoids about Murder-Rock. Geretta Geretta is always a great interview subject as she goes into all kinds of tidbits and stories about her personal experiences with the film, Fulci, and her Italian film career at large. The interview with makeup artist Franco Casagni is also very good. And his interview segment intercuts with archival audio interviews with Fulci. And not to be forgotten is an audio commentary by film historian Troy Howarth. Howarth, as with his other commentaries, helps give a more scholarly and learned perspective into these little noticed movies.
Hidden Treasure/Dumpster Fire?
With Scorpion Releasing’s blu-ray of Murder-Rock I feel like I, along with many others, continue to discover how talented Lucio Fulci was. He didn’t always get the notoriety he probably deserves and small gems like Murder-Rock continue to resurface thanks to a community of genre enthusiasts. Scorpion has done a great job with the video and audio presentation too. The movie looks fantastic and you can watch the movie in either English or Italian. A must-have for Fulci fans and a strong recommendation for anyone else who enjoys a good murder mystery.
Jimbo says: Hidden Treasure!
| Jimbo's Take: |  (3.5 / 5) |
| Blu-ray Extras: |  (4.0 / 5) |
| Average: |  (3.8 / 5) |
[amazon_link asins=’B00R55U120,B07GGSB3XV,B00Q5KG5BW,B07GGC5RFF’ template=’ProductCarousel’ store=’trashmenamaz-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’eb349355-ee91-11e8-b6d3-c5e1a8755c53′]
Special Features
- New 2018 film scan with extensive color correction
- Restored English Audio
- New subtitle translation for the Italian audio
- Audio Commentary by film historian Troy Howarth
- New interviews with actress Garetta Garetta and makeup artist Franco Casagni with audio excerpts by director Lucio Fulci
- Reversible Cover
