Heavy Metal Horror

**_Bleak pseudo-documentary about a hooker and a thrash band_** Don’t expect anything like "Trick or Treat,” “Black Roses,” “Rocktober Blood” or "Shock 'Em Dead.” Made in 2013, this is basically a meshing of “Curse of the Blair Witch” (the fake documentary that set-up “The Blair Witch Project”) and “Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2.” If you favor those, you’ll probably appreciate this. Once adjusting to the unique presentation, I found myself getting to know Julia and her sad, self-inflicted plight (played by Daphnee Hanrahan as the interviewee and Keltie Squires in the ‘reenactments’). You also get to know the band and its five members, who constantly smoke, drink and do drugs in one form or another. Their ages are stated at the end and it’s believable how they range from the early 20s to late 20s with the two oldest being 31 and 33. While they’re depicted as drug-addled, I was in a similar band of five guys for 3.5 years as an adult and only one person smoked (cigarettes) and none of us drank or did drugs as a lifestyle. I bring this up to emphasize how professional musicians usually aren’t drug-addled. Some are, sure, but the bulk of ’em take their profession and music seriously. Those who seriously use drugs (including alcoholics) typically learn the error of their ways and go sober at some point. If not, they’re forced to leave the business in a downward spiral or, unfortunately, die prematurely. In the movie, one of the members is into the occult and this leads to his reciting from a grimoire; the others naively go along with it on the grounds of a bonding ritual. But let’s just say this leads to the “Horror” element of the title. The writers (Richard Boylan and Mel Hoy) obviously got the idea from the iconic metal song “A Dangerous Meeting.” The soundtrack is excellent, featuring several technical thrash tracks mixed with moving rock cuts or Gothic symphonic pieces by obscure artists (listed in the end credits). I guess the band featured in the movie, Armifera, was an actual band at the time. Their style is similar to Van Nuys’ Betrayal from the early 90s, just updated to the 2010s. It runs 1 hour, 20 minutes, and was shot in Montreal and Kingston, the latter of which is located a 3.5 hours drive to the southwest in the northeast area of Lake Ontario, as well as Edmonton in Alberta on the other side of Canada. I have no idea what bits were shot where. GRADE: B