FREAK FILMS: ROCK 'N' RULE

There just aren't enough rock and roll cartoons. Ralph Bakshi's American Pop comes to mind, but Pop is as stale and ill-conceived as Cool World; both a far cry from masterpieces like Heavy Traffic and Wizards. However, at the top of this thematic ant hill is Rock 'N' Rule, a painfully rare but highly entertaining 'toon. It must be very boring being the glam rock equivalent of Michael Jackson in a futuristic world where rats have evolved to be the dominant lifeform on Earth. That's certainly how super-superstar Mok, a villainous pop star who looks more than coincidentally like Iggy Pop (voiced by Don Franks, who has had memorable roles in Johnny Mnemonic and the made-for-TV Madonna bio), has come to feel over the years. So what would you do in his place? Why, conjure up a demon during a big arena show that will destroy the Earth, of course! His only problem is finding a certain voice that will act as a key for his demon-making machine. He finds that voice in a Debbie Harry-esque character named Angel (Susan Roman), who is in a band modeled after (who else?) Cheap Trick. When Mok kidnaps Angel to carry out his evil glam rock plans, Angel's jealous boneheaded boyfriend Omar (Paul LeMat of American History X) follows them to demand an apology. Action and adventure ensues! Aside from being a reasonably fun film, it features music by the artists the characters were patterned after (with the bonus-- if you could call it that-- of having Lou Reed also do songs for Mok). In fact, the Cheap Trick songs featured are probably the best Cheap Trick songs ever done (next to “Surrender”). The movie is very rare, and there is an American and a Canadian version. But if you'd like to pick it up, it can be found on Ebay along with reasonably priced bootlegs.