Comeuppance Reviews Grant Page is our personal hero. An Australian stuntman known for his unbelievably dangerous stunt work, here he gets his own movie so he can display his charm to the audience as well. Director Brian Trenchard-Smith fashioned an innovative cross between a documentary, a fictional film and a concert film, and its ahead-of-its-time (even today) nature ensures pure entertainment that will appeal to any generation. What's so cool about Stunt Rock, besides the stunts and music, is that the filmmakers were smart enough not to weigh it down with an involved plot. There's really no time for that, it has to be packed full with stunts and the music of the L.A. rock band Sorcery.What happens is, Grant comes to Los Angeles to work on a new TV show starring Monique van de Ven, called Undercover Girl. Interestingly, her smarmy agent is played by Richard Blackburn, the director of the great Lemora: A Child's Tale of the Supernatural (1973). The director of the show is played by Ron Raley, whose student film at UCLA was photographed by none other than Jim Morrison of The Doors fame when Morrison, Raley and Blackburn were at UCLA film school together. A very early appearance by Phil Hartman as the assistant director passes in a flash. Anyway, Grant ends up in a relationship with a magazine reporter (Margaret Gerard, wife of Trenchard-Smith) who is doing an article on stunt men. Meanwhile, Grant's cousin is in the stage show for Sorcery, who re-enact cosmic battles between good and evil featuring wizards and demons while the band crank out their rockin' tunes.This hugely entertaining film is just too awesome for words. The great Trenchard-Smith blasted out a tour-de-force of music and action - a majority of the movie is footage of Page's death-defying stunts while Sorcery music blares on the soundtrack. Page's insane, awe-inspiring work is so eye-popping, Trenchard-Smith puts it on split screens because one screen just isn't enough! The movie also has plenty of humor, as evidenced by the masked keyboard player with the funny voice (Doug Loch). Pure fun, the simplicity of the execution, married with the powerful combination of the music and the action, guarantees Stunt Rock the status of cinematic masterpiece. Trenchard-Smith described this gem as "a love letter to stuntmen in general and Grant Page in particular", and that love comes through in spades, and the overall upbeat, positive vibe is totally winning.Much of that has to do with the presence, music and magic tricks of Sorcery. If the filmmakers had gone with Foreigner or Van Halen (two other potential choices), it just would not have been the same, and Stunt Rock would have been an entirely different experience.If you don't like Stunt Rock, please seek psychiatric help immediately. You are a danger to the community.NOTE: A lot of the information in this review came from the excellent Code Red 2-DVD set. Buy it right now.For more insanity, please visit: comeuppancereviews.com

ddr78759 I rate this a 10 because... This movie does exactly what it sets out to do. As I read some reviews, mostly from people with no movie or TV experience but lots of self-promoting opinions take shots at this film let me try to set them straight. If they can handle it! 1) The Plot is simple: Stuntman Grant Page goes to Hollywood Cal. to work on TV series "Undercover Girl" where he garners the interest of his co-star "Monique Van De Ven" and, a the reporter,played by "Margret Gerard" who is writing a story about people who get TO caught up in the work. In this case stuntman like Grant Page. When Grant arrives in Hollywood, he hooks up with his cousin, played by Curtis Hyde, who plays the devil character in "Sorcery" in the bands stage show. Their show is a magic based stage show of the battle of good vs. evil. It features some great hard rock music of that era.The band has some roles in the film and Grant does a good job at what he does,stunts. Keep in mind a few things here. The film is from 1978 and the Director,Brian Trenchard Smith is responsible for all we see and hear as the director and editor usually do. 2) Sorcery did a very good job, as I'm sure they followed the directors suggestions and did what was called for at the time. Note, Sorcery went on to do more records after this "gig" and their other CD's, T.V.appearances, Dick Clark shows and other movies they did can be found on you-tube by searching; "Sorcery TV appearances" you'll find them. They were an excellent band and I for one think they considered this picture just another job. It's OK if some people don't care for this film,I know how many I don't like,but this is for many a good time movie about Rock,Stunts, and the backstage requirements of stuntmen and the movie business from a inside look from Grants perspective as a stuntman. And the contribution over time they make to the overall movie. 3) Summary: I would recommend this film to anyone who wants to be entertained! Forget the wanna-be critics who never did anything that requires talent but love to express their jaded points of view. Last word: Sorcery & Stuntrock are well worth watching and if you have the DVD,you'll watch it more than once.

pmr123 This film has a minor cult following and it's easy to see why. The story is about Australian stuntman Grant Page (playing himself) traveling to Hollywood to handle the stunts for the new TV series "Undercover Girl". Grant hooks up with his cousin, who is a member of a rock band called Sorcery. Sorcery uses real "magic" on stage with their music and their entire stage show is a rock opera that tells the story about a duel between the King of the Wizards (Paul Haynes) and the Prince of Darkness (Curtis Hyde). They go see Sorcery rehearse in the studio and then to an actual stage performance, where the band uses fire, and some pretty awesome prog-rock tunes to tell their story about good versus evil. That's about the entire plot of the film, as Grant performs a series of dangerous stunts (along with footage of other stunt men and women) and Sorcery performs a series of original tunes and magic to an appreciative audience. Director Brian Trenchard-Smith treads a fine line between fiction and reality and, by all accounts, he should have failed miserably. Surprisingly, though, this film is a total blast from beginning to end, thanks in no small part to Grant Page's on-screen charisma and devil-may-care stuntwork and Sorcery's kick-ass music and stage show. But none of this would have mattered if it didn't gel with the concert footage. Luckily, Trenchard-Smith chose SORCERY, a big-haired prog-rock Los Angeles band (the keyboard player wears a hood over his head and his voice is electronically altered) with a loyal cult following.I must confess that I never heard of them or their music before this film, but their songs and stage show won me over pretty quickly. They are kind of like Emerson, Lake and Palmer mixed with an Arthurian Legend stage show, complete with a Merlin-like wizard (who at one point is spun on the tip of a sword and then impaled!) that performs many magic tricks. It's like watching a David Henning magic show with fist-pumping rock music, but without the extreme overbite. It's a feast for the eyes and the ears.

lthseldy1 This ones a classic, all it has is a man doing these awesome stunts that make me cringe just watching him burn himself up, hanging over cliffs and all kinds of stuff and the band Sorcery reminds me of a cross between KISS and Uriah Heep and I loved it! I loved the theatrics, the music, the stunts pulling together with the music, man this guy is awesome. Hated the ditzy girlfriend though he should have gotten somebody more wilder and adventurous than her. I liked the song "Woman" the best.