WE ARE TWISTED F***ING SISTER! is one of the finest Rock Docs you'll ever see!

Being a child in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s exposed me to the peak years of KISS and their merchandising machine, as well as the launch of MTV.  I like to think I have somewhat eclectic musical tastes these days, but I still love KISS not to mention all those bands that exploded to national fame with some assist by MTV.  You know, bands like Quiet Riot, Def Leppard, and Twisted Sister.  In fact, TS’s “Stay Hungry” album--and I owned it on vinyl--was only the third album I bought that didn't feature Mickey Mouse, Big Bird, or Star Wars characters.  

Now, being a longtime fan of Twisted Sister, I know a little about the Long Island outfit’s near-decade long journey before they became “overnight” sensations.  There was BEHIND THE MUSIC on VH1 back in the day, but those specials were always pretty incendiary and going for the lowest common denominator.  After watching WE ARE TWISTED F***ING SISTER!, I feel like an expert on the band.  I can't make it anymore clear than to say this is a truly exhaustive documentary that follows every key moment in Twisted Sister’s rise to stardom.  If you love TS or just enjoy a well done Rock Doc, than this will be a worthy addition to your video library.

Filmmaker Andrew Horn has crafted 136-minute film that somehow breezes by in a snap.   We get plenty of footage from Twisted Sister’s early days, but it's interspersed with band remembrances, longtime fans, as well as others that have worked for the band.  Seeing the footage of the band is a lot of fun, but the real reason to view the movie is the expertly-told narrative.  Seriously, concert footage is great to see once, but a masterful documentary that delves deeply into the subject, well, that’s reason to own a film and watch it over and over again.

How a film is made is often just as interesting as the movie itself.  WE ARE TWISTED F***ING SISTER! has a particularly cool path to DVD.  Crowdfunding!   This is an area which I have a personal affinity.  Not only have I helped fund a number of projects over the years, but a comic in which I’m a creator was successfully completed on Kickstarter.  So, I greatly respect Horn’s ability to raise $36,000 on Indiegogo.  That money helped bring this film to vivid life.  Twisted Sister has always been a band that loves and honors their fans, which are lovingly known as the SMFs.  I find it perfect that those same fans assisted in giving us this film.

I especially like how the subject of the film is all about the rise of band.  We see how Jay Jay French put the crew together.  Mostly over the course of several years.  It moves into a look at  how members joined through a variety of failed bands first.  Each member gets some time.  Obviously Dee Snider gets the most screen time of the other members.  Thankfully, Eddie Ojeda, the recently deceased A.J. Pero, and Mark “The Animal” Mendoza all get their time to offer their thoughts. Once the band really makes it, the documentary comes to a close.  There are some brief updates of the fall from grace and the triumphant return, but this is really just the formative years.  Docs are always more fun when it’s about how hard people work to rise to the top.  

I viewed a streaming copy of the film, but it’s also available on Blu-ray.  I highly recommend giving it a shot either through Amazon Video, YouTube rental, or just buying the disc.  This is as good a Rock Doc as I’ve seen in a many years!