Director: Andrew Horn
Distibutor: Monoduo Films
Duration: 134 minutes
We Are Twisted Fucking Sister! (DVD) – Documentary Review
Twisted – fucking – Sister, are three words that are quite known to an already ‘older’ audience and perhaps there are those among us that still saw this band perform one of their many bar performances. This documentary that aired in 2014 is finally turned into a physical edition and handles the period of the creation of the band right until they landed their first major record deal. We were quite stoked to see the adventure of this band that defied all odds, slammed into many brick walls and simply seemed like a story that would never get its fairytale rock-and-roll ending.
This documentary starts at the origin of this twisted adventure, namely in 1972 where the idea of Twisted Sister was born due to the influence of Glam Rock. While the original members did not want to be seen as Glam Rock they still wanted to do something original, which in this case involved women’s clothing, making them stand out. Of course, while some considered them to be part of the so called Glitter Rock genre, the robust singer and musicians begged to differ. Nonetheless, while at the beginning only a handful of music enthusiasts showed up at the band’s gigs, their originality and performances, which were often more than music alone, soon created a certain kind of following. That being said, they were either loved by the public that was into something different or they were hated and considered trash by others. Of course, the latter made sure they were outcasts of society and weren’t able to land a record deal, even though some signed artists actually had a smaller following than this feminine rock band.
From here on out, the next ten years describe how their audience grew, and what tactics they used to gain new fans or even rile up their very own followers. Every obstacle they could run into, they have run into and while many would have quit after one or two disasters, they kept going on, hoping for their big break to come. Five to seven shows a week is something they endured for nearly a decade and still they were happy to book gigs ten times smaller than their usual ones, simply because they were in a new territory. Eventually it all becomes one story where they beat the odds and it actually makes the viewer wonder what the record companies were thinking, especially seeing Twisted Sister was one of those things people talked about all the time.
Compared to many other documentaries, this one is actually told from insiders, rather than so-called experts. You’ll get to know the band members, such as Daniel ‘Dee’ Sniders, who is still the lead singer and Jay Jay French, who is one of the original members but also put them on the map for the most part. Fans who were there at the beginning also have their say, and those who also managed the band or slowly pushed the band towards their success also have their fair share of screen time. All of this combined makes the entire experience a lot more personal, as well as interesting.
Those who aren’t fully saturated yet after more than two hours of content from the documentary can rejoice as this DVD release comes with an extra disc crammed with bonus material. On this second disc you’ll find more than two hours worth of special features, which are filmed the same way as the documentary itself. It’s easy to assume that the original footage was a lot lengthier and that these extras are just the trimmed scenes, to make the main feature, which is still lengthy, shorter to be able to watch it in one sitting. Nonetheless, quality wise the extra features are on par with the main attraction, but they are presented to you in separate short snippets, forcing you to browse through everything in order to find some parts you might fancy (or just press play all per chapter). It’s easy to say that these added scenes are worth the watch and will give you an even better insight into what the band went through and how they perceived everything that happened around them at the time. Sadly, all of this comes without subtitles.
Conclusion
We Are Twisted Fucking Sister! is a great documentary for both those who already know the band quite well but also those who are interested in the history of Heavy Metal. Not only will you see the evolution of the band and their many hardships over the years until they finally got signed for a major record company, almost everything is brought to you by band members, the managers and even some of their diehard fans that were present at the very beginning. Everything is wittily and personally presented, with much appreciated musical intermezzos. Certainly a great watch from start to finish and you’ll find yourself slowly but surely becoming one of Twisted Sister’s Sick Motherfuckers.
We Are Twisted Fucking Sister! (DVD) - Documentary Review,
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[…] Today we are able to give away a physical DVD copy We Are Twisted Fucking Sister!, which received a fabulous 9 out of 10 in our review. […]