Vicious Lips (1986)
That poster art is the same as the cover art used on the Blu-Ray I watched, and it makes this movie look a lot sleazier than it actually is (although there is a little bit of sleaziness to it).
Maxine Mortogo runs the hottest club in the galaxy, “Maxine’s Radioactive Dream,” and any band that makes it there makes it big. Unfortunately for her, the headliner for tomorrow night’s show went and got themselves killed in a spaceship crash. After Maxine deals with the band’s manager for his failure in getting his clients to the gig, her assistant Milo the Venusian Beast suggests she give the sleazy Matty Asher a call to see if he can bring his girl group, the Vicious Lips, across the galaxy in time to act as a replacement.
Meanwhile, Matty is groveling at the feet of his lead singer, Ace Lucas, who’s decided to quit the band to join on as the new lead singer for a more successful rival group. Ace shrugs him off, walks off screen, and is promptly hit by a car and killed. While the rest of the band is busy gouging out the eyes of the creeps in the dive bar they’ve been booked to play, Matty quickly hires the first singer he can find at a local high school talent show and brings her back to the bar so the band can play their set. As the show goes on, Maxine calls Matty, and from there it’s a race across the galaxy to make it to the club in time and hit it big.
Vicious Lips starts out great. It has some catchy 80’s synth rock music, imaginative costumes and set design, and the first half an hour is very funny. But then the film falls apart. Matty steals a ship that’s carrying a psychotic killer in its cargo hold and the band crash lands on a deserted planet that may not be so deserted. Then it’s about forty minutes of padding as Matty treks across the desert to find a phone and the girls…talk a lot. The actors aren’t quite up to the task of holding up the boring script and it takes way too long for anything to actually happen. Once the killer escapes and the action actually starts, the movie becomes a confusing mess and it’s all resolved by an incredibly lackluster twist ending.
I’ve seen a few of writer/director Albert Pyun’s other movies, and I’m starting to notice a trend with them. He always has an amazing idea that either becomes too big for its budget or just doesn’t lead to a very good overall story. I think what bugs me the most is that Vicious Lips falls into the latter category. Every ingredient is there to make a movie that I would absolutely love…except for a compelling script.
Still, there’s a few moments that had me laughing out loud, and I suggest you at least take a listen to the song “Lunar Madness.” It’s sung by Sue Saad and lip-synced by the lead actress, and it’s a very catchy tune.
