User Reviews

I was certain that this song must have gotten its namesake from the nightclub in great sci-fi classic The Terminator, which is what instantly pops into my head as soon as I hear the opening themes. But apparently the term "tech noir" existed way before that movie.. So as an animated music video you've simply never seen one quite like this before, trust me! It opens with the most epic, haunting and intensely post-apocalyptic monologue that is brilliantly written and beautifully read by none other than John Carpenter! The story was as out there and fun as any that I'd heard of in a while. A guy with a massive VHS tape collection watches a strange movie that's a gateway to a distopian future where videotapes grant you the abilities of famous 80's pop culture movie icons - which was one of the most goddamn amazing ideas I ever heard in my life!! The 'movie' he watches is about a man not too different from himself riding a motorbike in a desolate landscape who is racing to save his girlfriend from vicious thugs who transform themselves into some very recognisable horror movie villains by inserting tapes into slots located on their chests! It's bizarre but mighty awesome. After his VCR goes kablooey the man really gets into the flick as he's sucked into his television set and becomes a part of the story and has the same special ability himself, and to beat the bad guys and save the girl he changes himself into a few choice motion picture icons like Rocky with the two shiners, the Xenomorph from Alien, a Care Bear that's packing a killer rainbow, and Robocop, but he falls in battle to Jason's machete! If you notice, the guy doesn't intend to become the Care Bear, he wanted to become Snake Pliskin from Escape From New York, but when he opened the case it had Care Bears inside and he just didn't realise in his haste! In my opinion it works both as a song and an action-packed animated short film. Lee Hardcastle's very distinctive claymation technique might look a little funky and rough around the edges, but it fits the tone of the song perfectly, it and the music go together to create an effect that was to me downright mesmerising. And I just love the song, it's a great blending of 80's rock and Gothic synth-pop and it works for me a lot, I find it poignant, uplifting and energetic, it's a big stupendous tune! I love the whole style and notion of the time and image that it's emulating, the neon and sexy bad ass leather and metal, et-cetera, it grabs me! As a song and a short film to me it's all good and terrific, it's funny, awesome, nostalgic and brilliant. Well done Mr. Hardcastle and Gunship, what you guys created together is a little work of art that will be forever cool!