Watch Rock: It's Your Decision For Free

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

It's time for a bit of really bad Christian propaganda, and ladies and gentlemen, this is a doozie, as in this is probably one of the worst, because everyone that was involved in it had absolutely no idea what the hell they were talking about, nor does it represent the majority of the Christian religion."Rock: It's Your Decision" is a movie about a young teen who once loved listening to rock music, but his parents urged him to see his pastor, who convinces him that "all rock music is evil", and gets him to preach to those around him that they shouldn't be listening to it, because it promotes satanism and the occult, which causes all of his friends to turn on him and, let's be real here, destroy his entire social life. In the end, he begins to preach to his fellow churchgoers about his discoveries and how everything that we do should worship Jesus Christ.Where do I begin with this? First of all, I'm quite the audiophile, meaning I listen to a lot of music everyday, primarily rock, metal, blues, and jazz, all four of which have been prior targets from religious zealots that believe that it's the "devil's music" (Jerry Lee Lewis' childhood and career in a nutshell), and I'm a non-practicing Catholic who still adheres to my religion's beliefs, just not too seriously. Nobody, and I mean NOBODY is going to convince me that listening to these genres of music will turn me into a satanist. Secondly, this movie was made at a time when the '80s New Age movement was just getting off the ground, and metal bands like Twisted Sister, Scorpions, and Judas Priest were some of the most popular groups of the decade. Third, and finally, the audience for this was relatively small, and when I mean small, I mean a few hundred out of hundreds of thousands of individuals in the United States alone. The only people that are going to see this are children and teens who go to Sunday School taught by a strict, closed-minded instructor who believes in the old-fashioned ways of teaching, including whipping children with a paddle or a belt.I respect other peoples beliefs, and I find learning about other religions is a fascinating and educational experience, but one thing I've learned from being informed about other religious practices is that there are those that take their beliefs to a whole new level, as in, they force it on others regardless. With this film, unless you want to watch it with a few friends just to riff on it (a la MST3K) and laugh at how extremely stupid it is, don't even bother.

Purports to tell the story of a young Christian man's discovery that rock music is (allegedly) evil, and his subsequent salvation, but film ends up showing us a guy becoming so unlikeable, homophobic, and holier-than-thou that we start to root for his friends to save themselves, and get away from this fruitcake.He ends up completely alienated from all his friends, and his girlfriend, and becomes so utterly paranoid about the evils of rock music, that it ruins his life.There's this film's hero for you! Imagine if Jack Nicholson had found Christianity, rather than go bonkers, in The Shining, and it had been an after school special.Horribly outdated, even for the 1980s, it seems more like 1940s Bible belt propaganda for the already converted. Or, was the purpose of this film to show how religion can, and does, ruin some peoples' lives? The film's climactic sermon makes it especially difficult to tell.

Throughout the 1980s - 1990s, numerous "After School Specials" and Television Movies attempted to "connect" with young people in order to warn them to stay clear of dangerous and unhealthy activities.Production values generally ranged from low-budget to average, and many of these programs were (if nothing else) a well-meaning attempt to deal with a serious social problem affecting young people (i.e. bullying, peer pressure, drug addiction or AIDS) However, a fair number of these Television Specials -- often released directly on VHS -- featured some absurd attacks on whatever was considered "hip" popular culture, i.e. rock music, Dungeons & Dragons, Hollywood movies, Saturday Morning Cartoons, Action Figures, and video games.Rock: It's Your Decision falls into this category, meaning that it will probably be watched mainly for comedic satire or riffing. However, as this is a review of the film, I can no longer delay diving right into it.The film is set in the early 1980s -- in a "typical" (read: mostly white and middle class) American suburban community. It is in this glorious (insert sarcastic joke here) Reagan Era that we meet a trouble youth named, "Jeff".Jeff -- clearly played by an actor in his 20s or 30s -- listens to popular music, which greatly worries his parents who seem to believe that all rock n' roll is promoting free love, premarital sex, drugs and disrespect to authority figures.The parents have their son meet up with the local youth pastor, who persuades the teen to give up popular music for awhile, which means that Jeff cannot attend a concert with his girlfriend or go to a party where other kids from his church are playing amazingly generic (and bland) instrumental music.Throughout the (thankfully) short film Jeff tries to convinced his friends (and strangers he meets at a Record Store) that all rock music is evil, the rock musicians are are evil, and youth that listen to this modern music will become devil-worshiping, sex-crazed, gay maniacs who are also involved in the occult.The film ends with Jeff -- having not had much luck selling his ideas to his friends or strangers -- giving a speech to the church youth group about the evils of rock n' roll.Yes, it can be argued that certain rock n' roll songs are entirely inappropriate for children (Christian or otherwise), and yes, teenagers should respect their elders.However, Jeff only yells at his mother when she tells him to turn the music down, or when he sees her watching Soap Operas.This last point is one of the (many) odd things in the film.The film seems to acknowledge that the argument it is making could easily be applied to T.V. Soap Operas (quite popular with conservative Christian housewives in the 1980s). This is actually a valid point.If you take the position that all rock n' roll is immoral, and should be avoided, it does seem a bit hypocritical to give soap operas a free pass. But, I am not going to lose any sleep over this little bit of moral hypocrisy.This film is probably most famous for final speech that Jeff gives, because it perfectly captures not only the absurdity of the argument being made in the film, but (on top of everything else) the film manages to digs up a bit of homophobia in order to advance its absurd argument.Jeff reminds his peers that not only are rock n' roll stars heavily involved in devil worship and the occult (don't bother waiting for any facts or evidence on that point), but that many of them are also "avowed homosexuals".Granted, socially conservative, evangelical Christians are the target audience for this film, and, in 1982, homophobia (even hate crimes) was being actively promoted by powerful groups such as the "Moral Majority".However, by the end of the film you do not see much of a future for Jeff outside of suicide or an extended stay at an mental institution.Any potentially valid argument that the film could have made is tossed aside in favor of outrageous accusations, moral hypocrisy and some homophobia tossed in for good measure.

Jeff is a 30-year-old teenage boy who has it all. He has a loyal best friend (who is kind of a tool, but still), a fun, easygoing girlfriend and his life is full of fun activities, including going to "the rock concert". Kids in those days apparently didn't bother to mention band names, "the rock concert" was clear enough. There's only one problem though: Jeff is also a devote Christian, which doesn't mix well with the evils of AC/DC, KISS and I'm not joking, Barry Manilow. Thankfully Jeff has gotten rid of his sinful addiction well before halfway, so that gives him plenty of time to convince others. The movie sorta meanders along until it reaches its legendary climax, the fantastic speech scene in the church. It has gotten a second life on Youtube now, but if you're really busy: the bottom line is that every rock song ever is about either sex or satanism. Santana's "Evil Ways" starts with the line "you have to change your evil ways", but actually listening to fifteen seconds of every song was a bit too much research. "One Of These Nights" by The Eagles is also evil. The Captain and Tennille, can't get more evil than that. Getting the target audience for this kind of film to hate stuff like The Rolling Stones' "Sympathy For The Devil" or AC/DC's "Highway To Hell" is a cakewalk, but somehow they got cocky and tried to see what they could get away with. Which perhaps was a good thing, because at least the movie stuck around because of that and we can still enjoy it tremendously. On the other hand it's weird how this can serve as propaganda: Jeff starts out as this happy, somewhat awkward but nice guy, then Jesus somehow turns him into a grumpy, unbearable know-it-all who loses everyone dear to him. Not a big endorsement I'd say, but the Lord works in mysterious ways.