Jon Mikl Thor has such a cool name that you wouldnt think he'd have to take on an alternate persona--but thats just what he did for the cult movie Rock n Roll Nightmare , a technically inept film but fun film that has garnered a large cult following since its release in 1987. Thor stars as John Triton, leader of the metal band The Tritons. When the band arrives at an old farmhouse to record their album, they discover that it is the lair of Satan. I got a chance to talk with Thor about the new DVD release of Rock n Roll Nightmare.
Buy the DVD of Rock n Roll Nightmare
Daniel Robert Epstein: When did you realize Rock n Roll Nightmare had become a cult hit?
Jon Mikl Thor: I didnt even realize until the end of the 90s. There was period where we finished the movie right and it came out in 1987. After that I retired from show business. Then in the 90s, I started realizing there are a lot of people who seem to like this movie for some reason.
DRE: How did you find out?
Thor: The internet was getting popular and I started checking out what people were talking about. More and more I saw that Rock n Roll Nightmare was starting to get a cult following. But it really hit when we went on a concert tour in 1998. I just started my comeback and everybody had all these VHS copies of Rock n Roll Nightmare that they were holding up. When we played Nashville, almost everybody in the audience had a VHS copy of Rock n Roll Nightmare .
DRE: How long have you been working on the DVD?
Thor: We started working on it around 2004. It took a little while because we needed to deal with mishaps before it actually came out. Last year we were on a tour and when I was in California doing a concert, I hooked up with [director] John Fasano and thats where we did the commentary.
DRE: How was watching the film again?
Thor: I think its a lot of fun. I remember that John and I were too young but I just wanted to make a movie. We were hoping to get some kind of distribution to go around so people can see the film. We didnt think it would have any staying power.
DRE: Its pretty obvious from watching the film that you guys really didnt know exactly what you were doing.
Thor: Oh yeah, we were just excited to get the film. We used 35mm film but we had very little of it. We had to get it right on one take. If there was a mistake, well too bad. One thing I will say is that we were one of the first films to edit digitally.
DRE: Who paid for the film?
Thor: We paid part of it, my company Thunder Films paid part of it and Shapiro Entertainment, which was led by Adam Solomon, paid part of it.
DRE: How soon did you guys get your money back?
Thor: Pretty quickly. I was very surprised that so many countries picked it up and, hundreds were sold so we made a good amount of money by September of 87. In Europe it was called The Determining of the Face of Hell.
DRE: Did it get a theatrical release in the US?
Thor: Not a theatrical release but there were some countries that did have a theatrical release. Parts of Europe and parts of Asia and Australia had it in theatres.
DRE: Some people have said that certain parts were accurate to a rock and roll band and some people didnt think so. How accurate was the portrayal of the band?
Thor: Well, Ive lived a rock and roll lifestyle. Sometimes things dont go right on the road. You can go into a house and try and record and everybody argues with each other or some guy moves on somebody elses girlfriend and so on and so forth. Theres always some problem going on with the band. My idea for a whole movie was that I wanted to mix A Hard Days Night with a Hercules-type movie.
DRE: Did you make the movie to promote the band?
Thor: No I really was just trying to make a movie. We did present demo tapes to the Adam Solomon Entertainment group and say Hey, look at the songs and see if we could get a record deal through them. But really John and I just wanted to make a movie and get some distribution going on.
DRE: Were you ever embarrassed by the film?
Thor: No, either you laughed at the film or you laugh with the film. Most of the time people are having fun and enjoying the movie. Even in my concert tour right now, I have a whole song from the movie and I act out the character in Rock n Roll Nightmare because Im on tour right now promoting my new album Devastation. Last night we played Oklahoma City and there were so many Rock n Roll Nightmare fans. Its a lot of fun to watch the movie over and over.
DRE: Was there a finished script when you guys were shooting?
Thor: We had a script. On the original soundtrack, I wrote a song called March of Purple Starfish and the starfish were actually supposed to march, but we couldnt get them to work that way. Some of the special effects didnt work out.
DRE: How did you hook up with John Fasano?
Thor: We worked on a movie together called Zombie Nightmare. He had a seen a movie I did with Lolita Davidovich years ago called Recruits. He liked how I played Tony Washington in the movie Zombie Nightmare with Adam West and Tia Carrere. So thats how I met John. John was just starting out too and after our movie he went on to write Another 48 Hours and he never looked back.
DRE: What made you decide to retire?
Thor: In 1987, I had done a fair amount of movies and I just wanted to invest in property. I was tired of the industry since Ive been in it since I was a little kid. My wife, at the time, and I went down to Charlotte, North Carolina and bought a house. I got into some other types of businesses and I cut off all my blond hair, dyed it black and became a different person.
DRE: Do you have kids?
Thor: No I dont, unfortunately.
DRE: How long have you and your wife been together?
Thor: I remarried. My first wife wrote for magazines and she saw my concert and wrote a piece on it. Thats how we met at. That was in the early 80s and I guess it was a showbiz marriage. We went through a lot of trials and tribulations but in the end it didnt work out. Then I got back into show business again and here I am in Oklahoma heading to Little Rock, Arkansas on this hundred city tour.
DRE: Do you want to make films again?
Thor: Oh yeah. John Fasano and I are going to work on a trilogy and try to start filming a movie in January called All Hollows Eve and then Ive written two other movies. Id like to just concentrate on movies next year. This year Im going to tour and work a little hard on that, promoting my album and the new DVD. But next year Im going to do a lot of filming.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
Buy the DVD of Rock n Roll Nightmare
Daniel Robert Epstein: When did you realize Rock n Roll Nightmare had become a cult hit?
Jon Mikl Thor: I didnt even realize until the end of the 90s. There was period where we finished the movie right and it came out in 1987. After that I retired from show business. Then in the 90s, I started realizing there are a lot of people who seem to like this movie for some reason.
DRE: How did you find out?
Thor: The internet was getting popular and I started checking out what people were talking about. More and more I saw that Rock n Roll Nightmare was starting to get a cult following. But it really hit when we went on a concert tour in 1998. I just started my comeback and everybody had all these VHS copies of Rock n Roll Nightmare that they were holding up. When we played Nashville, almost everybody in the audience had a VHS copy of Rock n Roll Nightmare .
DRE: How long have you been working on the DVD?
Thor: We started working on it around 2004. It took a little while because we needed to deal with mishaps before it actually came out. Last year we were on a tour and when I was in California doing a concert, I hooked up with [director] John Fasano and thats where we did the commentary.
DRE: How was watching the film again?
Thor: I think its a lot of fun. I remember that John and I were too young but I just wanted to make a movie. We were hoping to get some kind of distribution to go around so people can see the film. We didnt think it would have any staying power.
DRE: Its pretty obvious from watching the film that you guys really didnt know exactly what you were doing.
Thor: Oh yeah, we were just excited to get the film. We used 35mm film but we had very little of it. We had to get it right on one take. If there was a mistake, well too bad. One thing I will say is that we were one of the first films to edit digitally.
DRE: Who paid for the film?
Thor: We paid part of it, my company Thunder Films paid part of it and Shapiro Entertainment, which was led by Adam Solomon, paid part of it.
DRE: How soon did you guys get your money back?
Thor: Pretty quickly. I was very surprised that so many countries picked it up and, hundreds were sold so we made a good amount of money by September of 87. In Europe it was called The Determining of the Face of Hell.
DRE: Did it get a theatrical release in the US?
Thor: Not a theatrical release but there were some countries that did have a theatrical release. Parts of Europe and parts of Asia and Australia had it in theatres.
DRE: Some people have said that certain parts were accurate to a rock and roll band and some people didnt think so. How accurate was the portrayal of the band?
Thor: Well, Ive lived a rock and roll lifestyle. Sometimes things dont go right on the road. You can go into a house and try and record and everybody argues with each other or some guy moves on somebody elses girlfriend and so on and so forth. Theres always some problem going on with the band. My idea for a whole movie was that I wanted to mix A Hard Days Night with a Hercules-type movie.
DRE: Did you make the movie to promote the band?
Thor: No I really was just trying to make a movie. We did present demo tapes to the Adam Solomon Entertainment group and say Hey, look at the songs and see if we could get a record deal through them. But really John and I just wanted to make a movie and get some distribution going on.
DRE: Were you ever embarrassed by the film?
Thor: No, either you laughed at the film or you laugh with the film. Most of the time people are having fun and enjoying the movie. Even in my concert tour right now, I have a whole song from the movie and I act out the character in Rock n Roll Nightmare because Im on tour right now promoting my new album Devastation. Last night we played Oklahoma City and there were so many Rock n Roll Nightmare fans. Its a lot of fun to watch the movie over and over.
DRE: Was there a finished script when you guys were shooting?
Thor: We had a script. On the original soundtrack, I wrote a song called March of Purple Starfish and the starfish were actually supposed to march, but we couldnt get them to work that way. Some of the special effects didnt work out.
DRE: How did you hook up with John Fasano?
Thor: We worked on a movie together called Zombie Nightmare. He had a seen a movie I did with Lolita Davidovich years ago called Recruits. He liked how I played Tony Washington in the movie Zombie Nightmare with Adam West and Tia Carrere. So thats how I met John. John was just starting out too and after our movie he went on to write Another 48 Hours and he never looked back.
DRE: What made you decide to retire?
Thor: In 1987, I had done a fair amount of movies and I just wanted to invest in property. I was tired of the industry since Ive been in it since I was a little kid. My wife, at the time, and I went down to Charlotte, North Carolina and bought a house. I got into some other types of businesses and I cut off all my blond hair, dyed it black and became a different person.
DRE: Do you have kids?
Thor: No I dont, unfortunately.
DRE: How long have you and your wife been together?
Thor: I remarried. My first wife wrote for magazines and she saw my concert and wrote a piece on it. Thats how we met at. That was in the early 80s and I guess it was a showbiz marriage. We went through a lot of trials and tribulations but in the end it didnt work out. Then I got back into show business again and here I am in Oklahoma heading to Little Rock, Arkansas on this hundred city tour.
DRE: Do you want to make films again?
Thor: Oh yeah. John Fasano and I are going to work on a trilogy and try to start filming a movie in January called All Hollows Eve and then Ive written two other movies. Id like to just concentrate on movies next year. This year Im going to tour and work a little hard on that, promoting my album and the new DVD. But next year Im going to do a lot of filming.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
VIEW 7 of 7 COMMENTS
cannon_ball:
Thor is a great dude. we booked him last year in oakland. he's such a character on stage, you can't help but want his autograph afterwards.
motownjunk:
HAIL THOR!!!