Straight Edge Kegger is a Party You Won't Want to Miss
There is nothing I love more than indie horror. Heck, you can go right ahead and expand that to indie filmmaking. With broadened access to the tools of production, from editing software to camera equipment, people are able to make high quality films for a tiny fraction of what it used to cost. When I say high quality, I mean it too. Look no further for examples than videos that folks post to instagram and youtube. No one could make a short that looks as good as some of these without a sizeable loan if this were 1985. This is so important because it enables independent productions with great vision, but little money, to make films on their own without studio or corporate interference. This has lead to some of the best genre pictures ever being made one after another lately. I can’t wait for Hollywood to catch up and promote these visionaries, rather than continue the constant parade of remakes, reboots and comic adaptations.
Put another way, now independent filmmakers have the tools to write their own rules and disregard the Hollywood rulebook. This is how film evolves and, more specifically, how horror evolves. Today we take a look at a great example of this, Straight Edge Kegger. Written and directed by Jason Zink, Straight Edge Kegger is a beautifully shot feature that shows deep respect for and critiques of the hardcore scene.
The film opens at a hardcore show. We meet Brad, a member of the straight edge scene who seems clearly bored and disenfranchised by it all. He is a part of what amounts to the mean girls of the hardcore crowd, a group of vigilant straight edge’s who are not afraid to use violence to punish those who stray from the group’s code. The head mean girl here, though, isn’t some blonde popular high schooler, but a mean bastard named James, played fantastically by Julio Alexander. We, the viewer, get a clear sense of this guy when we watch him walk up the band playing at the show and demand that they change their set list to suit his wishes.
James believes that right is right and that the only ‘right’ way is his way. If others don’t act the same way or promote the same things, well, they must be punished. Almost immediately after James demands the band change their set list, we watch as James and his cronies beat someone much younger than them and demand that fella remove his shirt. Why? He’s wearing a beer company shirt. Of course, James sees no irony in opposing a shirt of a beer company that some kid is wearing while he himself wears a shirt that says Skinhead of the Month. It seems clear James’s shirt is meant to be sarcastic, but that’s why it’s such a rich moment. He can enjoy nuance while also assuming no one else understands it.
This may well be part of why Brad is so sick of his shit. It also is part of what makes this movie feel so genuine. I grew up in the hardcore scene myself. I wasn’t straight edge, in fact, I was the exact opposite. I went to thousands of shows like the one we see in the beginning of this film. The club at the beginning of this movie felt like home. I had colored hair, wore leather, had home pierced ears, a Mohawk and got in fights on the reg. We all listened to Minor Threat and Black Flag and loved to stir shit up. This is why James feels so familiar to me. I knew many a James in my day and they are as annoying as they are dangerous. My time as a little hardcore punk also made it clear to me that the scenes in Straight Edge Kegger at the club and at the home concert were so lovingly shot. It’s clear Zink knew what those shows look like and created the feel of them perfectly.
For very reasonable reasons, Brad is sick of being part of James’ crew and wants a little break from it all. So, he decides to spend one evening going to a hardcore show that isn’t straight edge. He sets off for a house party to listen to some tunes, maybe drink a wee bit and hang. He meets a cute girl and hits it off with her. Everything’s going fine and no major issues happen. That is, until James finds out Brad is at some boozy party.
Now, a normal person might yell at their friend for betraying their code of conduct. Well, actually, a normal person probably wouldn’t have a code of conduct. Still, there are many reasonable reactions to such a betrayal. James could yell at Brad, shun him, send him an angry text, but angry texts don’t make for very interesting horror movies. No, James don’t send no texts. He shows up with masks, crowbars and crossbows. The straight edge’s have the place surrounded and are hellbent on teaching Brad and all these lush’s a lesson.
There are many mirrors in this and other scenes. We form cliques wherever we can, be it in sports, academics, politics and even in horror fandom. Too often we feel we know the ‘right’ music to listen to or the ‘right’ movies to watch. Once we land on what we think is right, we start labeling other things as ‘wrong.’ People who vote for certain groups or listen to certain bands or watch certain shows, those people are ‘them,’ not ‘us.’ Zink drives this point home in many ways, but my particular favorite was including a song that samples the great ‘one of us’ line from Freaks. To the outsider, the straight edge and non-straight edge groups don’t seem much different, but to James the difference is immense and insurmountable.
That’s not healthy thinking and it’s the type of thinking that is all too common in the United States right now and a huge part of how things have become as divisive as they have. While this flick is focused on the hardcore scene, it could’ve easily been about people in the Proud Boy scene or militant environmentalist groups or any number of other exclusive clubs. It is a dangerous way of thinking that led to things like the satanic panic or the witch hunts of old. Now, we end up doing it to ourselves more often than not.
Zink made a movie that makes a serious statement, but does it in a fun slasher way. Straight Edge Kegger is never preachy or up on some high horse. It’s just a beautifully shot indie movie with a genuine point of view and something to say. So, if you’re looking for something outside of the norm, head on over to this kegger! No killer cliques for viewers, promise.
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