Rock: It's Your Decision (1982)

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Purports to tell the story of a young Christian man's discovery that rock music is (allegedly) evil, and his subsequent salvation, but film ends up showing us a guy becoming so unlikeable, homophobic, and holier-than-thou that we start to root for his friends to save themselves, and get away from this fruitcake.He ends up completely alienated from all his friends, and his girlfriend, and becomes so utterly paranoid about the evils of rock music, that it ruins his life.There's this film's hero for you! Imagine if Jack Nicholson had found Christianity, rather than go bonkers, in The Shining, and it had been an after school special.Horribly outdated, even for the 1980s, it seems more like 1940s Bible belt propaganda for the already converted. Or, was the purpose of this film to show how religion can, and does, ruin some peoples' lives? The film's climactic sermon makes it especially difficult to tell.

No doubt you've seen footage of clergymen telling people that rock 'n' roll is evil. It was inevitable that there would be a movie about a rock fan who has to choose between Jesus and his favorite music. "Rock: It's Your Decision" is more subdued than I predicted. I expected an hour of pastors shouting about how rock music pollutes our minds. Instead I got a lousy attempt at a character study. The main character likes rock but soon "realizes" that much of it is overtly sexual and even "satanic". Yeah, like I'm sure that everyone who listens to rock is going to become a diabolical, sex-crazed psychopath.Basically, this movie isn't even over-the-top enough to function as an accidental comedy like "Reefer Madness". It's just boring.

Throughout the 1980s - 1990s, numerous "After School Specials" and Television Movies attempted to "connect" with young people in order to warn them to stay clear of dangerous and unhealthy activities.Production values generally ranged from low-budget to average, and many of these programs were (if nothing else) a well-meaning attempt to deal with a serious social problem affecting young people (i.e. bullying, peer pressure, drug addiction or AIDS) However, a fair number of these Television Specials -- often released directly on VHS -- featured some absurd attacks on whatever was considered "hip" popular culture, i.e. rock music, Dungeons & Dragons, Hollywood movies, Saturday Morning Cartoons, Action Figures, and video games.Rock: It's Your Decision falls into this category, meaning that it will probably be watched mainly for comedic satire or riffing. However, as this is a review of the film, I can no longer delay diving right into it.The film is set in the early 1980s -- in a "typical" (read: mostly white and middle class) American suburban community. It is in this glorious (insert sarcastic joke here) Reagan Era that we meet a trouble youth named, "Jeff".Jeff -- clearly played by an actor in his 20s or 30s -- listens to popular music, which greatly worries his parents who seem to believe that all rock n' roll is promoting free love, premarital sex, drugs and disrespect to authority figures.The parents have their son meet up with the local youth pastor, who persuades the teen to give up popular music for awhile, which means that Jeff cannot attend a concert with his girlfriend or go to a party where other kids from his church are playing amazingly generic (and bland) instrumental music.Throughout the (thankfully) short film Jeff tries to convinced his friends (and strangers he meets at a Record Store) that all rock music is evil, the rock musicians are are evil, and youth that listen to this modern music will become devil-worshiping, sex-crazed, gay maniacs who are also involved in the occult.The film ends with Jeff -- having not had much luck selling his ideas to his friends or strangers -- giving a speech to the church youth group about the evils of rock n' roll.Yes, it can be argued that certain rock n' roll songs are entirely inappropriate for children (Christian or otherwise), and yes, teenagers should respect their elders.However, Jeff only yells at his mother when she tells him to turn the music down, or when he sees her watching Soap Operas.This last point is one of the (many) odd things in the film.The film seems to acknowledge that the argument it is making could easily be applied to T.V. Soap Operas (quite popular with conservative Christian housewives in the 1980s). This is actually a valid point.If you take the position that all rock n' roll is immoral, and should be avoided, it does seem a bit hypocritical to give soap operas a free pass. But, I am not going to lose any sleep over this little bit of moral hypocrisy.This film is probably most famous for final speech that Jeff gives, because it perfectly captures not only the absurdity of the argument being made in the film, but (on top of everything else) the film manages to digs up a bit of homophobia in order to advance its absurd argument.Jeff reminds his peers that not only are rock n' roll stars heavily involved in devil worship and the occult (don't bother waiting for any facts or evidence on that point), but that many of them are also "avowed homosexuals".Granted, socially conservative, evangelical Christians are the target audience for this film, and, in 1982, homophobia (even hate crimes) was being actively promoted by powerful groups such as the "Moral Majority".However, by the end of the film you do not see much of a future for Jeff outside of suicide or an extended stay at an mental institution.Any potentially valid argument that the film could have made is tossed aside in favor of outrageous accusations, moral hypocrisy and some homophobia tossed in for good measure.

Jeff is a 30-year-old teenage boy who has it all. He has a loyal best friend (who is kind of a tool, but still), a fun, easygoing girlfriend and his life is full of fun activities, including going to "the rock concert". Kids in those days apparently didn't bother to mention band names, "the rock concert" was clear enough. There's only one problem though: Jeff is also a devote Christian, which doesn't mix well with the evils of AC/DC, KISS and I'm not joking, Barry Manilow. Thankfully Jeff has gotten rid of his sinful addiction well before halfway, so that gives him plenty of time to convince others. The movie sorta meanders along until it reaches its legendary climax, the fantastic speech scene in the church. It has gotten a second life on Youtube now, but if you're really busy: the bottom line is that every rock song ever is about either sex or satanism. Santana's "Evil Ways" starts with the line "you have to change your evil ways", but actually listening to fifteen seconds of every song was a bit too much research. "One Of These Nights" by The Eagles is also evil. The Captain and Tennille, can't get more evil than that. Getting the target audience for this kind of film to hate stuff like The Rolling Stones' "Sympathy For The Devil" or AC/DC's "Highway To Hell" is a cakewalk, but somehow they got cocky and tried to see what they could get away with. Which perhaps was a good thing, because at least the movie stuck around because of that and we can still enjoy it tremendously. On the other hand it's weird how this can serve as propaganda: Jeff starts out as this happy, somewhat awkward but nice guy, then Jesus somehow turns him into a grumpy, unbearable know-it-all who loses everyone dear to him. Not a big endorsement I'd say, but the Lord works in mysterious ways.