Diane Sullivan (ROZ KELLY, best remembered for her short-lived role as FONZIE's love interest PINKY TUSCADERO on HAPPY DAYS), the self-proclaimed, high priestess of the presumably UHF-watching punk rock set, is the flame-haired hostess of a New Year's Eve countdown show on a channel in the higher range of the television dial. Better known to her legions of alternative fans by her super-punk (cough) stage name BLAZE, Sullivan is more concerned with her camera time than the whereabouts of her drunk husband and the general welfare of her odd-looking, adult actor son who just landed a part on some sort of pilot. The show must go on, and BLAZE takes the stage to grind up on the lead guitarist of her televised house band, lord over the studio pogo pit, and take live phone calls from the losers stuck watching her show. The second caller disguises his voice by deep throating what looks like a meat thermometer, identifies himself as EVIL, and promises to murder one person each time the clock strikes twelve in the various time zones carrying the countdown show. He assures the shaken BLAZE that she will be his final victim of the evening before he sets out on his killing spree. Despite a heavy police presence in and around the hotel where the countdown is being taped, EVIL makes a pre-midnight appearance and sends BLAZE's year out with a bang. If any old acquaintances should be forgot, it's this holiday-themed slasher flick. KELLY is horribly miscast as a punk-rock goddess, and comes across less as PATTI SMITH and more as PEG BUNDY slathered in too much rouge. Perhaps the movie would have worked better with KELLY's HAPPY DAYS' sister LEATHER/ultimate replacement SUZI QUATRO playing Sullivan. If anything, QUATRO would have definitely looked better in the skin-tight outfits the part demands.
INDELIBLE SCENE(S):
- Every scene in which EVIL employs his pre-SCREAM voice-modulation technique
- BLAZE's son's hotel room meltdown in which he destroys a perfectly good red stocking by pulling it over face
- The side-pony tail wearing floozy who unsuccessfully offers her body as a bargaining chip with EVIL
- EVIL chains BLAZE to the undercarriage of an elevator and sends her on a unforgettable ride
I just saw this ondemand.It's all bad metal (like Dokken maybe) trying to be punk.The son's got problems the father's got big problems and it never gets resolved.I think they all needed therapy but I doubt it would've worked.My favorite was when he baits that blonde with a giant bag of weed by saying hey stick your head in this bag.Then the fake punk band plays "Dumb Blondes"
I remember when I would watch HAPPY DAYS as a child my Dad would always say "What a DOG!" when Pinky Tuscadero was on. And I always loved "Leather"! Like either wanted to grow up and BE her or grow up and date her! (Suzi Quatro: Another "I'm not gay but if I WAS…" crush of mine!)
This movie was illin'….and I mean that in the bad sense of the word. She (Roz Kelley) was TERRIBLE, terribly mis-cast and annoying as ever.
Didn't she go crazy and shoot up a 7-11 recently?