John Roecker | USA | 2006 | 75 mins.
The year 3069, the planet Earth turned to a wasteland, only a handful of people has survived. A lonely wanderer discovers a book in a desert, while the main character Charlie makes an attempt for "social change" in L. A. back in 1968.
In 1968 a fanatical group called The Family led by Charles Manson, brutally murdered famous Hollywood actress Sharon Tate, fiancée of director Roman Polanski. This incident is considered to be one of the most shocking and media watched violent acts in American history and also a symbolic mark of the end of the sunny sixties. Manson was a symbol of evil which negates all values def ned by American society but he also became a subject of fascination for many artists (Marylin Manson, Trent Reznor, etc.).
Live Freaky Die Freaky takes another perspective. Along with presenting brutal scenes, the fi lm also makes fun of Charlie and his great "family" and has them singing catchy melodic songs. Regarding the genre of the film, it can be described as a horror satirical musical with elements of scifi. A combination which is rather bizarre at first sight but actually is very compact and hilarious, full of spot-on references and ironic black humor. The film does not try to hide its historical ground-plan (there are only minor changes regarding actions or names of characters) and does not spare either of the two sides. It is a complex satirical portrait of America where superstars meet with psychopathic social outsiders – all supervised by the cold machinery of the police system.
As with the feature film Southpark: Bigger, Longer And Uncut (1999), Live Freaky... can be watched as a parable. Puppet-show animation and the style of humor is reminiscent of another great tv show – anarchic Robot Chicken (2005). Live Freaky... is less dynamic and absurd, more dark and morbid and too bogged down with dialogue in some parts. What connects the two is their attitude, their open-mindedness towards controversial topics and the use of trenchant references. The cast of the film comes from the punk-rock scene – you can hear the vocal talents of members of the bands Green Day (singer Billie Joe Armstrong as Charlie), Rancid (Tim Armstrong as a narrator and producer of the film), Good Charlotte (brothers Benji and Joel Madden), Blink 182 (drummer Travis Barker) and many other musicians.
You can also hear Kelly, the daughter of Ozzy Osbourne, Asia, the daughterof famous Italian horror director Dario Argento and Henry Rollins, Nestor ofhardrock music. The music score of happy, dark, even melancholic songs wascomposed by pianist Roddy Bottum – founder of Faith No More and ImperialTeen.
John Roecker The writer and director has in his filmography a DVD recording of The Network Disease is Punishment (2004) band performance. He is currently in the process of completing the film Heart Like a Hand Grenade which follows the preparations for the smash hit Green Day album, American Idiot. Live Freaky, Die Freaky is his feature film authorial debut. MIDNIGHT FEVER FILM BEFORE FILM ALPHABET dir. David Lynch | USA | 1968 | 6 mins
Tomáš Zabilanský
