Detroit Rock City (film)

Detroit Rock City
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Adam Rifkin
Produced by	Barry Levine Gene Simmons
Written by	Carl V. Dupré
Starring	Edward Furlong Sam Huntington Giuseppe Andrews James DeBello Lin Shaye Melanie Lynskey Natasha Lyonne and featuring Kiss as themselves
Music by	J. Peter Robinson Kiss Thin Lizzy The Runaways Van Halen Black Sabbath Blue Öyster Cult Pantera Cheap Trick AC/DC
Cinematography	John R. Leonetti
Editing by	Mark Goldblatt Peter Schink
Distributed by	New Line Cinema
Release date(s)	August 13, 1999
Running time	95 min.
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$15,000,000
Box office	$24,217,115

Detroit Rock City is a 1999 American comedy film about four teenagers in a Kiss cover band who try to see their idols in Detroit in 1978. Comparable to Rock 'n' Roll High School, Dazed and Confused, The Stöned Age, and I Wanna Hold Your Hand, Detroit Rock City tells a coming of age story through a filter of 1970s music and culture in the United States. The movie ultimately took its title from the Kiss song of the same name. It flopped at the box office, grossing fewer than five million dollars domestically, while the final gross of $24,217,115 barely passed the budget. The film became a cult classic for Kiss fans, rock music fans, and metalheads in general.

The film was shot at Cedarbrae Collegiate Institute in Scarborough, Ontario, Canada, and other Ontario locations. Other Ontario locations include Copps Coliseum, Hamilton, Ontario.

Storyline

Hawk (Edward Furlong), Lex (Giuseppe Andrews), Trip (James DeBello), and Jam (Sam Huntington) are four rebellious teenagers who love rock and roll and idolize KISS. The group are elated to have tickets to see KISS in Detroit the following night. Having discovered a secret cache of KISS albums, Jam's ultra-conservative and religiously hysterical mother, Mrs. Bruce (Lin Shaye), races up to the house where the boys are hanging out and drags Jam home. Jam's mother discovers the tickets the next day and destroys them in front of Jam and the others. She then pulls Jam from his school and has him transferred to a Catholic boarding school.

While in class, the three remaining boys hear a radio contest for tickets to the show. Trip leaves class to call the contest line and ends up winning the tickets. The boys then ditch school to bust Jam out. At the Catholic school, Hawk disguises himself as a pizza delivery guy and delivers a pizza spiked with hallucinogenic psilocybin mushrooms to Father McNulty. The priest gets high, allowing the group to whisk Jam away.

On the freeway, Trip throws a slice of pizza out of the window, where it hits the windshield of a tailgating Trans Am, driven by two Italian-American Disco fanatics, Kenny and Bobby, along with their girlfriends Christine (Natasha Lyonne) and Barbara (Emmanuelle Chriqui). The enraged Kenny forces the the station wagon off the road and proceeds to pull Hawk out of the car and rub his face on the cheese-covered windshield. The bullying upsets Christine who leaves, walking down the freeway. Hawk then knees Kenny in the groin and knocks him out, leaving Bobby to contend with all four boys who suddenly pull out weapons (A metal KISS belt buckle, a wallet chain, and Jam's drumsticks). They leave the disco fans tied to the guardrail with KISS makeup on and drive the Trans Am into a ditch. This apparently endears them to us. They come upon Christine walking down the freeway and offer a ride to the city.

Upon arrival, the groups discovers that Trip did not stay on the phone long enough to give the radio station his information, forcing the station to give the tickets to the next caller. Back outside, Lex notices that the car has been stolen. They suspect Christine, who they left sleeping in the car. Hawk then suggests that the boys go their separate ways in order to find KISS tickets, and agree to meet in the same place in an hour.

Hawk finds a scalper who suggests that he enter a strip contest to raise money for tickets. He doesn't win, possibly having something to do with the fact he got drunk prior and, once on stage, vomited so much he filled a beer jug, but is offered payment for his company by an older woman (Shannon Tweed). They go to her car and she takes his virginity. Afterwards, Hawk declines the money she offered, but she insists. When Hawk locates the scalper again he runs off, indicating he's all sold out, much to Hawk's dismay.

Trip goes to a local convenience store in the hopes of mugging a younger child to get tickets. He grabs a kid in Ace Frehley makeup, but the kid has an older brother, Chongo; a hulking jock who, with his gang of thugs, threaten to beat him up unless Trip pays them $200.00. Trip plans to rob the convenience store with a fake gun (in reality a Stretch Armstrong toy), but ends up thwarting a real robbery attempt at the store, earning him a $150.00 reward and a passionate kiss from the cashier (Kristin Booth). Trip meets the thugs in an alleyway behind the store. The kid takes Trip's wallet and has Chongo punch Trip in the stomach. Physics momentarily takes leave of it's senses, and Trip is thrown off his feet, horizontally, into the wall behind him, all Neo-like.

Lex sneaks backstage with the KISS loading crew, but is soon discovered, causing him to flee from arena security. He is eventually caught and tossed over a fence. He is then menaced by a group of vicious dogs, but earns their trust when he plays frisbee with them. One of the dogs is a basset hound, and is freaking adorable. In a nearby building he discovers a chained-up Christine and his car in a chop shop with two car thieves/rapists. Lex uses his newly befriended dogs to chase the two thugs into a back office room, saving Christine and his mom's car. Lex and Christine share a passionate kiss.

Jam encounters his mother leading an anti-KISS rally. Mrs. Bruce grabs him and drags him to a church across the street for confession, taking away his drumsticks. He is seen by Beth (Melanie Lynskey), a girl from his school who is in the process of moving with her parents. She rushes into the church and into the confessional booth. There she reveals to Jam that she's been in love with him since freshman year, but never had the courage to tell him. Jam and Beth then make love, losing their virginity to one another. Jam, now imbued with new confidence, goes back to the rally. Jam finally stands up for himself, berating his mother for her domineering ways, her lack of understanding and her hypocrisy at telling other people how to live their lives when she can't even relate to her own son. Jam then demands his drumsticks back and Mrs. Bruce acquiesces, though she's broken one of them.

When the boys meet up again, at Jam's suggestion, they beat each other up in order to say that muggers took their tickets. Upon arrival at the concert the guards are skeptical despite the boys nursing bloody wounds, but suddenly Trip points out the kid and his thugs from the convenience store, who are just entering the concert hall. The guards find Trip's wallet (with his KISS Army picture ID and the $150.00 he got as reward for thwarting the robbery) on the kid's person. The tickets are taken from the kid and handed to Trip and security escorts the kid and his goons off the premises.

Astonished and elated, the boys enter the concert hall and KISS plays the title song of the movie, "Detroit Rock City". Jam catches the drum sticks thrown by drummer Peter Criss as the film ends.

Cast

• Giuseppe Andrews as Lex
• James DeBello as Trip Verudie
• Edward Furlong as Hawk
• Sam Huntington as Jeremiah 'Jam' Bruce
• Lin Shaye as Mrs. Bruce
• Melanie Lynskey as Beth Bumstein
• Natasha Lyonne as Christine
• Miles Dougal as Elvis The School Hall Monitor
• Nick Scotti as Kenny
• Emmanuelle Chriqui as Barbara
• David Quane as Bobby
• Rodger Barton as Mr. Stewart Bumstein
• Kathryn Haggis as Mrs. Stewart Bumstein
• David Gardner as Detroit Priest
• Shannon Tweed as Amanda Finch
• Kristin Booth as Cashier
• Joe Flaherty as Father McNulty
• Cody Jones as Little Kid
• Matthew G. Taylor as Chongo
• Joan Heney as Study Hall Teacher
• Robert Smith as Simple Simon
• Aaron Berg as Bartender
• Paul Brogren as Roadie #1
• Allan Clow as Man with Coat
• Chris Benson as Mr. Johansen
• Colleen Williams as Nun
• Richard Hillman as Scalper
• Stephen Joffe as Six Year Old #1
• Ryan Letriard as Six Year Old #2
• Joseph Haase as Security Guard
• Ron Jeremy as Strip Club MC
• Kevin Corrigan as Beefy Jerk #1
• Steve Schirripa as Beefy Jerk #2
• Lindy Booth as Girl #1
• Christina Sicoli as Foxy Girl
• Michael Barry as Nerd
• Vic Rigler as Pizza Boy
• Eileen Flood as Female Parishioner
• Pamela Bowen as Matmok Lieutenant
• Johnie Chase as Cop #1
• Julian Richings as Ticket Taker
• Members of Kiss:
  • Paul Stanley as The Starchild
  • Gene Simmons as The Demon
  • Peter Criss as The Catman
  • Ace Frehley as The Spaceman
    • Note: The KISS Tribute band Hotter Than Hell claims on their website to have been personally selected by Gene Simmons to double for KISS - they were used to appear as KISS in technical rehearsals. The real band appears in the film.
• Dave Fessler as man eating Michigan hot dog

DVD

The DVD is on Region 1, Region 2 and Region 4, although the special features differ.

Region 1 special features

• Commentary by Director Adam Rifkin

• Commentary by all four original Kiss members
• Commentary by Adam Rifkin
• Commentary by Cast and crew
• Multi-Angle Views of the Kiss Concert
• An instructional segment featuring a step-by-step guitar lesson by SongXpress on how to play the Kiss song "Rock -N' Roll All Night"
• Over 15 Minutes of Deleted Scenes
• 2 Music Videos "The Boys Are Back in Town" performed by Everclear & "Strutter" performed by The Donnas
• Original Screen Test Footage
• DVD-ROM Features: Script-to-Scene Access, website access, email-able trading cards featuring characters from the film, M.A.T.M.O.K. (Mothers Against the Music of Kiss) spoof newsletters, updated cast and crew biographies and filmographies, productions notes

Region 2 special features

• Commentary by Gene Simmons and Director Adam Rifkin
• Commentary by all four original Kiss members
• Commentary by Rifkin and the cast and crew
• Cutting Room Floor
• Behind The Scenes
• 2 Music Videos "The Boys Are Back in Town" performed by Everclear & "Strutter" performed by The Donnas
• Theatrical trailer
• Cast and crew
• Angle shots on Kiss concert only

Region 4 special features

• Commentary by director Adam Rifkin
• Individual commentary by all four original Kiss members conducted in interview form by Director, Adam Rifkin
• Multi-angle views of the Kiss Concert
• Over 15 minutes of deleted scenes
• 2 music videos "The Boys Are Back in Town" performed by Everclear & "Strutter" performed by The Donnas
• Original screen test footage

KISSology Volume Three

In December 2007, the film was re-released on DVD as an exclusive bonus fifth disc contained within Kissology Volume Three: 1992–2000. This disc was only available with initial pre-orders sold during VH1 Classic's 24 Hours of KISSmas weekend marathon.

Soundtrack

Detroit Rock City Soundtrack
Soundtrack album by Various Artists
Released	August 3, 1999
Genre	Hard rock, heavy metal
Length	55:48
Label	Mercury

Track listing

1. "The Boys Are Back in Town" performed by Everclear
2. "Shout It Out Loud" performed by KISS
3. "Runnin' with the Devil" performed by Van Halen
4. "Cat Scratch Fever" performed by Pantera
5. "Love Hurts" performed by Nazareth
6. "Iron Man" performed by Black Sabbath
7. "Highway To Hell" performed by Marilyn Manson
8. "20th Century Boy" performed by Drain STH
9. "Detroit Rock City" performed by KISS
10. "Jailbreak" performed by Thin Lizzy
11. "Surrender (Live)" performed by Cheap Trick
12. "Rebel Rebel" performed by David Bowie
13. "Strutter" performed by The Donnas
14. "School Days" performed by The Runaways
15. "Little Willy" performed by Sweet
16. "Nothing Can Keep Me From You" performed by KISS

Note that the soundtrack does not feature all of the songs in the film. For instance, there are tracks from UFO (band) in the film that did not make the soundtrack.

See also

• List of American films of 1999
• Culture of Detroit
• Kiss
• Almost Famous
• Dazed and Confused
• I Wanna Hold Your Hand

External links

• Detroit Rock City at the Internet Movie Database