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Music touches people in a way that other media doesn’t. From the littlest babies to the eldest people, the right vibes can get them moving. It can make the people behind the tunes famous, be they passing fancies or lasting legends. They could inspire others to make music, write books, or make movies.
Most of them prefer to play it straight, covering their life story like the upcoming Whitney Houston biopic I Wanna Dance with Somebody. Others highlight the pop star’s image or character, like Britney Spears’ Crossroads or David Bowie’s The Man Who Fell to Earth. But then some films really get creative and tell a story about their stars in really weird ways.
8/8 Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story
On the face of it, Superstar is a straightforward adaptation of Karen Carpenter’s life story from the start of her music career in 1966 to her premature death from in 1983. It aims to be a sympathetic portrayal of the woman, and a harsher depiction of brother Richard, their parents, and A&M Records owner ‘Mr. A&M’ (Tijuana Brass Band composer Herb Alpert in real life). Though that’s despite the fact everyone in the film is played by dolls.
Written, directed, produced, and edited by Todd Haynes, he’d shoot each scene with Barbie dolls, trimming ‘Karen’ down bit by bit to show her worsening condition, alongside tiny prop versions of pill bottles. He also used music by the Carpenters and other artists without permission. This (among other reasons) led Richard to sue Haynes, and successfully block the film from a theatrical release. However, there are bootleg copies available both physically and online.
7/8 In His Life: The John Lennon Story
Before Nowhere Boy covered John Lennon’s early, pre-fame life, In His Life: The John Lennon Story did it for TV in 2000. It covers Lennon’s life from setting up the Quarrymen to appearing on The Ed Sullivan Show. It’s not particularly good, with cheap production and duff acting. Yet somehow, out of all the films about Lennon and the Beatles, this might be the only one that used authentic locations.
Lennon’s school days at Quarry Bank Grammar were shot at the real school. Likewise, John and Paul’s first meeting at Woolton Village Hall was done in the actual hall. Then, the scenes at John’s old home on Menlove Avenue were done at the real house he lived in. They had to break through some walls to make way for the production equipment, which the homeowners sold as props to overeager fans. For being one of the worst films about a Beatle, In His Life somehow manages to be more real than its rivals.
6/8 Yellow Submarine
Speaking of The Beatles. When it comes to weird films involving them, people will usually bring up their own musical effort Magical Mystery Tour, or this famous piece of animation. The former had more involvement from the Fab Four, and John constantly serving a woman shovel loads of spaghetti. But it’s also incoherent and annoying. Yellow Submarine somehow makes more sense.
Which is saying a lot, given it’s about the Blue Meanies and their Flying Glove taking over Pepperland. Only the Beatles can free their doppelgängers, Sgt Pepper and his Lonely-Hearts Club Band, and save the day. Which they do when Ringo finds a hole in his pocket. None of the Beatles voice themselves, and only Ringo’s actor Paul Angelis could pull off a convincing Liverpudlian accent…given he was from Liverpool as well. So, people abroad can feel glad that even other Brits have trouble getting that accent correct.
5/8 Dieter: Der Film
Films about music producers aren’t as common, but they can be found. Some are even pretty good, like 24 Hour Party People. Dieter: Der Film isn’t one of them. It follows the life story of German musician Dieter Bohlen from hitting it big in the band Modern Talking to becoming a producer. At least its story comes straight from the source. The movie is based on Bohlen’s book ‘Nothing But the Truth’, and Bohlen himself narrates the film.
He didn’t mind getting animated as a vapid perv who chose production to avoid getting the Andrew Ridgeley treatment (the other guy in Wham). It was supposed to be an irreverent, South Park-esque cartoon take on Bohlen and the German pop industry. But critics described it as “completely humor-free”. Maybe it should’ve been about Helloween instead.
4/8 KISS Meets The Phantom Of The Park
There are few bands that have merchandised themselves as much as KISS has. There were KISS lunchboxes, KISS clothes, KISS funeral caskets, and a KISS-sponsored professional wrestler. They even made music sometimes, and a few films like Scooby-Doo! and KISS: Rock and Roll Mystery. But that wasn’t their first film. That would be KISS Meets the Phantom of the Park
The movie was made by Hanna-Barbera Productions and involved the band trying to save an amusement park from an evil inventor and his animatronic robots. It doesn’t exactly make them look like the cool rockers that scared parents back in the day, and the band agreed. They rarely talk about it, and it’s hard to find the original beyond a chopped-up edition of KISSology Volume 2.
3/8 I’m Not There
Nineteen years after he portrayed Karen Carpenter in doll form, Todd Haynes wrote and directed this film about Bob Dylan. Kind of. As the title says, Dylan ‘isn’t there’ until some ending concert footage. Instead, it tells six short stories about six figures that represent different stages and events in Dylan’s life. Some are based on real people, like French poet Arthur Rimbaud and Wild West outlaw Billy the Kid, who both died half a century and more before Dylan was born.
But most are fictional. For example, Jude Quinn is most obviously based on Dylan as a folk musician who alienates their fans and friends by going electric. Though it still twists things by having Cate Blanchett play the otherwise male figure. It’s not as overtly weird as Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story, but this portmanteau approach to a biopic is unique.
2/8 Memphis Rising: Elvis Returns
It turns out Elvis never actually died. He got abducted by aliens, where he’d perform for them for the next three decades. But eventually, he got so sad he’d sing the blues because he missed his secret daughter. The aliens grant his wish by dropping him back on Earth to reconnect with her disguised as an Elvis impersonator. His time in space gave him superpowers, but his body has gotten so used to being in another galaxy that Earth’s atmosphere and gravity are slowly killing him.
Can he talk to his daughter and return to space before the CIA, gangsters, and the Earth itself get to him? Sadly, the film isn’t as exciting as it sounds. Whether it’s the original 2011 film or its 2020 re-release as Elvis from Outer Space, it’s a roll call of terrible CGI, acting, and long, boring shots of Las Vegas roads. People would be better off watching Elvis’ actual films, or the next entry on this list.
1/8 Bubba Ho-Tep
If anyone is in the mood for a weird film about Elvis, they should look for this 2002 curio. In it, an elderly man called Sebastian Haff (Bruce Campbell) claims he’s actually Elvis Presley. He just traded places with a lookalike in the late 1970s, which went awry when the lookalike died in 1977. Unfortunately, he has no proof, and he only has one friend: an old, wheelchair-bound black man who claims he’s John F. Kennedy.
If that wasn’t odd enough, an Egyptian Mummy is revived from its tomb in a museum and makes its way to ‘Elvis’ and ‘JFK’s care home to feed on the elderly’s souls. Calling it ‘Bubba Ho-Tep’, Elvis and JFK join forces to finish the undead ghoul once and for all. Made by Don Coscarelli of Phantasm and The Beastmaster fame, it’s a success in every way Memphis Rising falls short, including weirdness. It was going to get a sequel, but in the end, it only got two comic follow-ups: Bubba Ho-Tep and the Cosmic Blood Suckers, and a cross-over with Army of Darkness.
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