Albert Pyun (1953–2022)

Sometime in the far flung future all-girl rock band Vicious Lips (who seem to specialise in quintessential '80s big hair and '80s power ballads) are offered a make-or-break gig on a distant planet. Unfortunately they end up marooned on a hostile desert planet and have to survive the environment, aliens and inter-band rivalries to make the show. After a promising start writer / director Albert Pyuns lets the film get bogged down on board the crashed spaceship as the girls try and sort out their relationships and how they will escape. Unfortunately, neither the interchangeable characters, nor the actresses playing them, are strong enough to carry this off, leaving the storyline incredibly dull and repetitive for large parts of the film. The costuming and some of the design work is good, however, with a trashy-post punk look against a shadowy neo-noir backdrop. Some of the music is catchy and the final tune "Lunar Madness" is a solid, rocker despite (or perhaps because of) the overblown production.… (mer)