Death of a Rockstar has been summed up as ”Yellow Submarine” meets “Rocky Horror Picture Show” meets “Tommy” meets “Jesus Christ Superstar” in a fun, colorful, subversive, love letter to classic rock n’ roll and 20th-century American pop culture.
In the year 2165, a four-armed rockstar, Röcky Stähr, and his band deliver a concert to a packed arena. As his fans, faces painted like his, worshipfully reach out for him, flash-bulbs go off in his face, and bras and underwear are thrown at him, he is visibly weary of the whole scene and his place in it. A gun rises from the side of the stage and fires. As we see the bullet fly across the screen and disappear off the other side, we are left with a question: Who killed the rockstar?
Rewind to one year earlier: 2164. All of the world is a cage. Rock n roll has been banned, and a dictator, C. Czar, rules over the land. A mad scientist, Creigh A. Tohr, and a group of rebels in an underground hideout bring their creation, Röcky Stähr, to life Frankenstein-style. Their plan is to send Röcky on a guerrilla tour to “rock n roll them free from the tyranny”.
However, at the very first surprise show, Röcky falls in love at first sight with an audience member, a runaway named Ronnie Waye, who becomes an immediate distraction, much to Creigh’s chagrin. As the tour goes on, it becomes clear that the audience is not being inspired to be free, but rather to follow and worship Röcky as if he’s their new leader. In short: Creigh finds out the best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry.
Death of a Rockstar is now available on Tubi, The Roku Channel, and other digital platforms.
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