Uncle Peckerhead

Judy (Chet Siegel) is the bassist and the Only Sane One of a three-person punk band called DUH. She quits her bakery job (where her scones had distinctly split reviews) and the band goes on a six-day tour. They’re going to make it.

Not so fast, because as drummer Mel (Ruby McCollister) observes, “Life has a way of dangling these small carrots of opportunity in front of our faces, ready to completely destroy and dismantle any hope in sight. The world is chaos. And though together, we are alone to suffer.”

Their van is repossessed, partly because man-boy lead singer Max (Jeff Riddle) neglected the creditors. They fall on the clever plan of putting flyers on every van in the neighborhood, asking to borrow it for their tour.They got one response: an older gentleman named Peckerhead (David Littleton), or Peck to his friends, offers them use of his van with one condition: he lives in the van, so he drives them around, in exchange for gas and food money.

But Peck is not all he seems. Judy spots some blood on the van’s rear fender, and finds a kit of syringes in the glove box. She is suspicious of Peck, but they go along with the plan because hey, what choice do they have? When the first stop on their tour goes badly and they are screwed over by the promoter, their spirits are low. Peck excuses himself, and we learn his secret.

Minor spoilers

Judy is all for calling the cops and fleeing with Peck’s van, but Mel and Max vote to keep going with Peck, since he dealt with the promoter on their behalf. “I’m sorry I murdered the hell out of that promoter man before I had a chance to run it by y’all,” says Peck, and he promises to use the dope to keep safe every night at midnight. Plus he stole the promoter’s money, so now they have enough to continue the tour. And that seems that, at least for now.

This movie has a definite Scott Pilgrim vibe, with doses of Toxic Avenger and just a touch of Blues Brothers as they go through misadventure after misadventure getting from gig to gig. This is a really funny, character-driven comedy horror. Judy, Mel, Max and Peck are great characters facing a variety of challenges, and the action and gore, while good, are not as interesting as the interaction of the characters.

What happened with the Metalheads in the Parking Lot

Death. It was death that happened. Brutal, gory death. But it’s okay, because they were mean to Max.

Killcount, 9.5; Rating: 9 Peckerheads out of 10

 

Uncle Peckerhead
RATING: UR

Uncle Peckerhead Teaser from M. Lawrence on Vimeo.

Runtime: 1hr 36 Mins.
Directed By:
Written By:



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