Born in the Basement

Born in the Basement. Kundrat Productions, LLC. (A free copy from Luke's work.)

I wouldn't buy this movie, but it was worth the hour we spent watching it. This is basically an autobiography of Lee Kundrat, AKA Rat Skates of the bands the Lubric*nts and Overkill.

Megalomaniacal and vulnerable, Rat tells the story of '80s American thrash metal, specifically the DIY attitude and hard work that made him more than a bit player in it. I don't know anything about thrash metal, so I have no idea how much of this is bullshit. Basically Rat had, or has, incredible determination that first made him a semi-pro skateboarder at 15 and then made him an obsessive drummer, songwriter, t-shirt designer, costume designer, silkscreener, guerilla marketer, promoter, manager, stage designer, and everything else. I imagine he's approaching filmmaking in the same way.

I actually felt like I learned some things from this movie. I'm not sure I admire Rat's choices, but I do admire his determination. He studied all the bands he loved and copied what he liked, or what he thought worked best. He built a dungeon (out of foam and milk crates) to go under his drum kit riser. He designed the band's logo, using the triangular "o" from Iron Maiden's logo. He picked fluorescent green and black colors because Twisted Sister's hot pink and black was so easily visible. And on and on.

In spite of all the posturing and the strange documentary "tics" (undoubtedly patched together from various influences), the movie has some charm. It seems like Rat is being as honest as he can about his experience, including his disappointment at not becoming a massive rock star. Reading between the lines, it's a love story -- the movie was ostensibly directed by his wife, the woman who spent the Saturday nights of her youth silkscreening Overkill t-shirts with Rat in his parents' basement. She was also his merch girl, selling the shirts out of a suitcase at shows.

The movie reminded me of Grizzly Man. Both subjects are self-obsessed, but their insatiable desires for fame are combined with genuine passion. If anything, Rat is a little more self-aware -- painfully so. He's still trying to be a star. He's hurt and angry and wistful about his disappointing career. He's also refreshingly, uncomfortably, nerdy -- social skills don't necessarily come with the rock star job description.

In someone else's hands, this could have been a great review of rock history, with lots of photos and memorabilia to make it interesting. In Rat's, it's just propaganda (with some good how-to information thrown in).

Here's the trailer, which is probably all you need to see:
http://kundrat.com/trailer.htm