‘Uncle Peckerhead’ Review
Stars: David Bluvband, Adam R. Brown, Ryan Conrath, Mike Lawrence, David Littleton, Ruth Lolla, Greg Maness, Ruby McCollister, Lucy McMichael, Shannon O’Neill, Jeff Riddle, Chloe Roe, Chet Siegel | Written and Directed by Matthew John Lawrence
An interesting title but a sub genre that is slowly picking up pace, as Uncle Peckerhead fits nicely in the hard to subscribe metal/punk-rock horror movies sub genre. Recent films include the brutal Green Room, the fun slasher The Ranger, real life story Lords of Chaos, the goretastic Deathgasm and now Uncle Peckerhead.
A punk band, with very little money head out on their first tour. Struggling with everything from playing live to finding somewhere to stay each night to getting a tour ‘bus’, things start to look up but a bit messy when they are joined by a man-eating demon as their roadie.
That description is simply put but it makes for a seriously fun movie that does plenty of things right. For starters, unlike many music or tour-based films, this actually feels very much like a real band, really playing live. I have no idea if the actors were playing the instruments and singing the songs but it very much felt like they were. It all felt very authentic and not just the actors playing the music but also the venues. Dirty, sticky small punk rock venues are on view here and exactly how many of them are. I speak from personal experience!
The actors do a great job too because if they’re not really into the music I couldn’t tell and they very much looked like they were playing those instruments and screaming the vocals! They also show good chemistry as a group which only adds to my enjoyment of the movie. The characters themselves aren’t either stereotypical or the against stereotype that doesn’t always work. They just feel right and are very well written.
The music is great too, many of the songs I actually really liked and I would definitely pick up a soundtrack to the movie if one were released. I was actually going to have a small complaint about not hearing enough of the songs throughout the movie but the final third seemed to include more music.
The highlight of Uncle Peckerhead is no-doubt the demon though. Well the demon and his man-eating scenes that is. With very little acting experience David Littleton is surpsrisingly great as the titular Uncle Peckerhead but it’s the gore-filled scenes that stand out the most. Reminiscent of the recent heavy metal horror Deathgasm, there are some seriously great death scenes, with the metalheads in the parking lot my personal favourite. There’s some really inventive, cool-looking and fun deaths too and the blood literally explodes across the screen for each and every one of them. The make-up effects are excellent and perhaps because they are so good I would have liked to have seen more.
Director Matthew John Lawrence has been making shorts for a while and one full feature (Two Pints Lighter) but hopefully this will kick start his career as a horror director. Uncle Peckerhead could easily get itself a cult following and includes an ending that could set-up a sequel I would happily check out. This is gore-filled punk rock fun!
***** 4/5
Uncle Peckerhead will be screening in select US theaters from today, Friday August 7th 2020 and will be available on VOD/Digital on Tuesday August 11th 2020.
