AnneCarlini.com Home
 
  Giveaways!
  Insider Gossip
  Monthly Hot Picks
  Book Reviews
  CD Reviews
  Concert Reviews
  DVD Reviews
  Game Reviews
  Movie Reviews
  Check Out The NEW Anne Carlini Productions!
  [NEW] Belouis Some (2024)
  [NEW] Jay Aston’s Gene Loves Jezebel (2024)
  [NEW] Mark Ruffalo (‘Poor Things’)
  [NEW] Paul Giamatti (‘The Holdovers’)
  [NEW] Crystal Gayle
  [NEW] Ellen Foley
  Gotham Knights [David Russo - Composer]
  The Home of WAXEN WARES Candles!
  Michigan Siding Company for ALL Your Outdoor Needs
  MTU Hypnosis for ALL your Day-To-Day Needs!
  COMMENTS FROM EXCLUSIVE MAGAZINE READERS!


©2024 annecarlini.com
Ghost Canyon

'Room 37: The Mysterious Death Of Johnny Thunders'
(Leo Ramsey, Devin McGregor Ketko, Timothy Lee-Priest, Jason Lasater, et al / Blu-ray + DVD + CD / NR / 2019 / Cleopatra Entertainment - MVD Visual)

Overview: 'Room 37: The Mysterious Death of Johnny Thunders' is a supernatural horror-thriller written and directed by the Cordero Brothers – Vicente Cordero and Fernando Cordero Caballero.

The film features Leo Ramsey, Devin McGregor Ketko, Timothy Lee-Priest, and Jason Lasater, and includes the infamous Johnny Thunders song “Born to Lose,” along with a vocal appearance by legendary New York Dolls member Sylvain Sylvain.

Produced by Shanti Whitney, the film was executive produced by Brian Perera, Yvonne Perera, and co-produced by Tim Yasui.

Blu-ray Verdict: As we eagerly watch and learn, Johnny Thunders arrives to New Orleans to begin a new chapter of his life by following a new musical sound, and staying clean from drugs in order to see his kids again.

But, after he settles into the St. Peter's Guest House Hotel, things go awry. His room is robbed (which contained the last of his money) and his only methadone supply was stolen from him too.

Johnny's journey to recovery quickly turns dark when he takes desperate measures to get better, all which propel Johnny deeper into chaos that ultimately leads to his unexplained mysterious final hours.

With his battered TV yellow Les Paul guitar, Johnny Thunders – once a wide-eyed John Anthony Genzale Junior from Queens, New York – rose from spotty Stones fan to scuzzy hellion with the New York Dolls.

Strutting about on the filthy streets of Manhattan and stages around the world like it was no one’s business, Johnny was a sight – and sound – to behold.

Even dolled up in pseudo-drag, sporting a shiny pair of hooker heels, he looked like he could instil fear and terror into the likes of his hero Keef.

The lanky Italian kid seemed as if he’d come from another planet; “somethin’ else”, as Eddie Cochran would have said, had he been around to hear his shot-to-hell guitar cutting through the speakers like a rusty blade.

Both as a New York Doll and a solo artist with his outfit the Heartbreakers, Johnny simply oozed rock and roll from every sordid pore.

That, however, wasn’t the only thing coursing through his veins; like the drug-addled heroes who’d stolen his heart as a baseball-loving boy, Thunders had a serious smack problem.

Or, rather, smack had a serious problem with him – so much so, that it often overshadowed everything else in his life, including his musical legacy.

While heroin certainly deteriorated his health, it wasn’t what sounded the death knell for him in 1991 at only 38.

Thunders, in fact, had turned to methadone to get off the horse; but, as fate would have it, he was also battling Leukemia.

And so, as this enthralling new Cleoptra Entertainment / MVD Visual rockumentray 'Room 37: The Mysterious Death Of Johnny Thunder' unveils, one April’s day, the musician was found dead in a seedy New Orleans hotel just as he’d so often felt in his troubled, yet brilliant life: alone.

Played by Leo Ramsey ('For The People'), Johnny Thunders' journey is played out to what we assume perfection here. Albeit we don't honestly know what actually happened in those final days and hours and minutes, or why he did what he did, Ramsey's portrayal of Thunders alone is as, at the very least, humanizing and solid.

Inspired by true life events surrounding the mysterious death of former NY Doll guitarist Johnny Thunders, 'Room 37: The Mysterious Death Of Johnny Thunders' is a fascinating, if not gothically dark and horror-edged look into his life for all fans of Punk Rock, The New York Dolls and, of course, the man, the myth, the band, the legends, Johnny Thunder & The Heartbreakers.

In a deluxe package that also includes a DVD of the film along with a magnificent CD soundtrack featuring original film score and music from The Heartbreakers, Johnny Thunders, New York Dolls, Sylvain Sylain and Walter Lure, this is a Widescreen Presentation (1.78:1) enhanced for 16x9 TVs.

Amazon Purchase Link

www.Cleopatra-Records.com

www.MVDshop.com





...Archives