Desperate Teenage Lovedolls & Lovedolls Superstar: The Complete 4K Remastered Collection (Blu-ray Review)
Director
David MarkeyRelease Date(s)
1984/1986 (April 24, 2026)Studio(s)
We Got Power Films (Eclectic/MVD Visual)- Film/Program Grade: B
- Video Grade: B+
- Audio Grade: B+
- Extras Grade: A
Review
Don’t get excited by the title of this release, these films are not 4K discs and I doubt they ever will be. And if they are, save yourself the upgrade and just keep this Blu-ray. But do pick it up. Both films are quite special and if you haven’t seen them, they’re worth watching. Desperate more than Superstar, but both are here so you might as well watch both. I honestly knew very little about these films until I was exposed to them when reviewing The Secret Lives of Bill Bartell and Born Innocent: The Redd Kross Story. David Markey, who directed Secret Lives, made both of these films on less than a shoestring budget but with access to a veritable who’s who of young emerging up-and-coming musical talent from California’s emerging hardcore and punk scene thanks to his role as editor of the We Got Power fanzine. There’s a lot of backstory and all of it is covered on this fine release. Commentary on both films point out when an extra might be a member of the Bangles or when they are shooting at someone famous’s house. That’s the real value of this set—these films are amateurish, silly and at times somewhat unwatchable, they are for fans of the scene they are a valuable time capsule of what SoCal looked like in the 80s, a time of great change and the birth of incredible music.
If you have to know what these films are about, here: Desperate Teenage Lovedolls and its sequel Lovedolls Superstar, both shot on Super 8, chronicle the rise and fall and rise again of the greatest rock band in the world—The Lovedolls: a three-girl girl band and sometime girl gang running wild in California. Kitty Carryall (Jennifer Schwartz), Bunny Tremelo (Hilary Rubens) and their drummer Patch Kelley (Janet Housden) navigate the mean streets over the course of the two films achieving success together, losing everything, becoming a cult and eventually blasting off into space. Does it make sense? No. Is it fun? Absolutely.
Restored from the original Super 8 elements in 4K and presented here in 1080p and in 4:3 (roughly 1.37:1) capturing the entire frame, these are the best representations of these films ever, full stop. Sound on Desperate is 2.0 Dolby Digital stereo and Superstar ups the ante to give us DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and LPCM 2.0. Both films offer English subs. Bonus materials are presented across both films which are set up on the menu screens so that you can pick which film you want to focus on. Commentary tracks with David Markey and his partner at We Got Power, producer Jordan Schwartz on Desperate, and Markey, Jennifer Schwartz and the Brothers McDonald (Redd Kross’ Steve and Jeffrey) are the best extras of the bunch. On the video extras for the Desperate side there is Redd Kross’ Ballad of a Lovedoll music video, ten minutes of deleted scenes, Markey reads an essay about how the fanzine led to the film in the featurette Story of Desperate Teenage Lovedolls, and we get a 40th Anniversary Panel from the USC Cinema Arts Norris Theater moderated by Mark Olsen of the Los Angeles Times from June 23, 2024. Jennifer Schwartz, Tracy Lea Nash, Steven McDonald and David Markey all talk about what they remember about making the film on stage. There’s also a new theatrical trailer. On the Superstar side there are twelve deleted scenes of various quality, a featurette about the David Markey Tribute at American Cinematheque in the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood, which was also the premiere of Superstar on December 9, 2004, and features various cast, crew and friends being interviewed man-on-the-street style by Markey. There is also a theatrical trailer for Superstar.
If you get the chance to see these films and you’re a fan of hardcore and/or punk—or even music history in general, don’t be scared off by the lo-res aspect of these films. On this Blu-ray they really come to life and you’ll marvel at how jam packed with history these films are.
- Todd Doogan