Retro: The Ghastly Love of Johnny X

Looking like the 1959 scifi B-flick Teenagers From Outer Space crossbred with Grease, the new musical comedy film The Ghastly Love of Johnny X (US-2008; dir. Paul Bunnell) embraces rockers, flying saucers, femme fatales, black-and-white photography, songs, dastardly deeds, the Fate of the Planet, raising dead rock stars and Ghastlyscope. It also includes genre luminaries Reggie Bannister (from the Phantasm movies), Kevin McCarthy (of Invasion of the Body Snatchers fame) and Paul Williams (known, among other things, for his part in Brian De Palma’s The Phantom of the Paradise*).

*which appears to have caught the remake bug itself.

JOHNNY X and his rebellious gang of juvenile delinquents from outer space (called the Ghastly Ones) have been banished to planet Earth until they can pay for their crimes.

The Ghastly Ones are in hot pursuit of a mysterious femme fatale named BLISS, who has stolen their most prized possession—a strange suit with magical powers known as the “resurrection suit.”  When Johnny X wears this suit, he can control anyone against their will.

To capture Bliss, Johnny must form an unlikely alliance with a shifty show promoter, KING CLAYTON, who desperately needs the resurrection suit for his own selfish scheme—to insure that the legendary rock star MICKEY O’FLYNN successfully completes a comeback concert.

Johnny’s plight is further complicated when the unpredictable rocker suddenly drops dead, forcing him to use the suit for a far darker purpose—to bring the late, great Mickey O’Flynn back from the grave for a spectacular concert of the macabre!

[Story synopsis from the film’s official website]

Still in production, The Ghastly Love of Johnny X looks like a hoot. The good folk at RoboJapan will be keep us updated as they visit the set later this year.

Source: Kaiju Search-Robot Avery and RoboJapan

Here’s the trailer.