Spirit Riser

Her criminally low budget is brandished like a badge of honor. All the cheap video effects look absolutely marvelous precisely because they are so impoverished; they keep rising higher as they plow lower. The original punk rock impulse rings strong in this one as it is as sharp as a safety pin and won’t let go when fastened on you. Greenberg’s work here has the same power the work of Russ Meyer has, hard as that may be to take on first blush. It all comes down to the cutting. Meyer’s impact wasn’t so much his gorgeous cinematography as it was his radical editing techniques. Meyer understood that an image’s power lies not in the composition but in the timing with which it is delivered. Greenberg hits that perfect Meyer note with phenomenal beats on the arrangement, all while lighting fuses with a really great riot grrl and gothic soundtrack. 

“…excels with a cavalcade of superstars from the twin spheres of film and rock music.”

What is a cult masterpiece without a culty cult cast of pop stardom? Greenberg excels with a cavalcade of superstars from the twin spheres of film and rock music. Currie has legs in both worlds, as she was the former lead singer of The Runaways and starred opposite young Jody Foster in Foxes. Greenberg gives her the room to prove why she is a rare, precious resource on this planet. She shatters a*s here. The legendary Lowry also smashes butt to smithereens in only the way an actress who has worked with Romero, Metzger, and Cronenberg can (pinch me, I am reviewing a Lynn Lowry movie!). Rock royalty is also on parade with Merrill, who the film is dedicated to as he passed in 2020. Merrill wrote the song “I Love Rock ‘n Roll,” a hit for the Arrows before Joan Jett recorded her version.

The film also features radio god Rodney Bingenheimer in, what else, a surreal fever dream. As the cherries and cream on top, we have the great Michael Madsen narrating, which mainly consists of him reading an Edger Allan Poe poem. Plus, if you act now, you will get a special bonus cameos from Tish and Snooki, the founders of Manic Panic hair dye. This is a cult star pedigree that many lesser oddities could only wish for.

Spirit Riser is a relentlessly exhilarating underground masterwork that will light up your synapses like a Christmas tree tornado. Warning: may cause rampant joy when used with cannabis products.