_**Colorful, campy hair metal horror**_ A nerdy dude in the Hollywood area works at a pizza joint while dreaming of being in a rock band (Stephen Quadros). When a strange Voodoo woman encourages him to make a deal with the forces of darkness, he accepts and becomes a killer guitar player with serious edge. But, of course, there’s a sinister price. Can his band, their manager (Traci Lords) and the recording execs handle him? “Shock ’Em Dead” (1991) is straight-to-video rock/metal horror with a little camp and cheesy effects mixed with some pretty serious evil. It only cost $100,000, which is amazing because it’s quite entertaining despite its low-budget limitations. It’s not as good as “Trick or Treat” (1986), but it’s far superior to “Rock ‘n’ Roll Nightmare” (1987) which had half the budget. Quadros is reminiscent of Kevin Bacon and works well as the dark rock star. Meanwhile the flick scores well on the female front with the youthful Lords, Gina Parks (Marilyn), Laurel Wiley (Monique), Karen Russell (Michelle), Kathleen Kane (Pizza Girl #2) and a couple others, e.g. Madison Monk (Jimmi Wolf). Several of these women have no qualms about showing their breasts (although not Lords) so, if that offends you, you might want to pass. Standing-in for Angel Martin (Quadros), Michael Angelo Batio of Nitro performed the guitar wizardry, which wasn’t sped up, it’s just how great he is…

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