A Band Called Death (2012)
A documentary on the 1970s punk trio Death, and their new-found popularity decades after they disbanded. (imdb)
Cast and Information
Directed By: Mark Christopher Covino, Jeff Howlett
Genre: Documentary
Country: USA
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A Band Called Death belongs to 9 collections
1. Directorial debut (collaborative: moderated by djross - 16 stars)
2. Music documentary (collaborative: moderated by djross - 11 stars)
3. Brothers (collaborative: moderated by djross - 5 stars)
4. Musician / Composer (collaborative: moderated by djross - 5 stars)
5. The Dissolve: 2013's Movies To See (collaborative: moderated by von krogh - 5 stars)
6. Directed collaboratively (collaborative: moderated by djross - 3 stars)
7. Available on Starz (public: Jason212 - 1 star)
8. Detroit (collaborative: moderated by Dorkovsky)
9. Punk (collaborative: moderated by iconogassed)
Browse the full list of collections
| Date | User | Rating | |
| Jun 06, 2020 | matthagen | 50 46th |
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So similar to Searching for Sugar Man, which was better executed and more heartfelt. As a punk fan, I liked the journey, but the movie was instantly forgettable.
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| Jan 03, 2017 | Paulobzu | 85 39th |
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A great movie about a seminal punk band from Detroi. A spiritual trip with a great soundtrack.
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| Feb 19, 2016 | donquixotic | 50 32nd |
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There's not enough music in this to make me care to continue watching - if there was a lot of music I might get why this was a good band and I might care about their fortunes but instead it's far too focused on the band members to the point where it plays like a retrospective on a band I've never heard before
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| Oct 24, 2014 |  |
MontyCircus | 40 37th |
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Before there was "A Band Called Death", there was "Searching for Sugar Man".
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| Sep 15, 2014 |  |
Kojiless | 88 90th |
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So wait. A band can be named after an insect belonging to the order Coleoptera, a pronoun used relatively in restrictive and nonrestrictive clauses to represent a specified antecedent, or a questionable project of one Alan Parsons, but not after the permanent stoppage of all vital bodily functions? Man...the 70s sucked. The music was okay, though, I guess.
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| Jun 02, 2014 |  |
Dolemite23 | 85 40th |
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Not as good as some other recent music docs, but a great story.
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| May 19, 2014 | Jazzaloha | 77 89th |
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You don't have to like punk music to enjoy this film. Two big reasons I enjoyed this film: 1) I really grew to love the Hackney brothers as people and artists--making their rejection and struggles very poignant for me--especially because of David's integrity; 2) Death's story is fascinating because it falls outside of so many stereotypes (a black punk band, being just one of them). The entire story is hugely entertaining and moving as well. ps66
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| Apr 06, 2014 |  |
sidehacker | 66 43rd |
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I guess a glossy, conventional, "taking head" documentary is kind of what was necessary for Death since the film is, among other things, concerned with bringing their historical importance to light. However, that also means that any of its power comes just from the band's story almost in spite of the filmmakers. It's almost kind of jarring because there's this heartbreaking story nestled underneath one of the basic things I've seen formally. Kind of cool to see The Magic Stick on film, too.
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| Apr 03, 2014 |  |
Nolan | 7 61st |
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pretty sick
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| Feb 04, 2014 |  |
closedmouth | 70 41st |
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As a documentary it's pretty rote, and the Hackney brothers just aren't very interesting, but I love that Death record so damn much I still found it an enjoyable watch.
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| Dec 29, 2013 |  |
janus | 70 51st |
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Decent doc of a great band that almost made it.
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| Dec 02, 2013 |  |
DesertPunk | 80 73rd |
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A very compelling story of family, dreams, and not giving up on your roots.
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| Nov 22, 2013 | monkeyflip | 71 83rd |
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This made me very emotional. Great job movie...you made me cry.
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| Nov 07, 2013 |  |
Pursus | 80 81st |
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Let me be honest here, I have to compare this directly to "Searching For Sugar Man." For me, this band has better music, but Sugar Man has a better, more incredible, more compelling story. They both have high production value, and are both interesting and worth watching, but this falls a little flat for me (probably unfairly) because I saw SM first. Still, definitely check it out, especially if you like early metal/punk music.
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| Oct 16, 2013 |  |
BillyShears | 80 77th |
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Worth it for the crowd shots at the end with the dorkiest whitest crowds imaginable
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| Aug 20, 2013 |  |
mattorama12 | 71 64th |
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As a huge punk fan, I wanted to like this more than I did. The problem is that the doc feels unfocused at times. As DMCrimson points out, there was too much time spent on the brothers' endeavors after Death and before its resurgence. The good parts were great, however. It's also really crazy how much they sound like the early punk bands (The Ramones and the Sex Pistols), though apparently neither influenced the other.
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| Aug 13, 2013 |  |
bof | 68 55th |
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So after "Anvil! The Story of Anvil" and "Searching for Sugarman", I guess there soon won't be a single failed group in the history of rock'n'roll who won't have a movie made about them. This is still an intriguing story, even if it feels like more could have been made of it. It remains a story about only the band, not their time, not their surroundings... just three guys trying to invent something of their own.
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| Aug 10, 2013 |  |
DMCrimson | 77 38th |
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This should've distilled the focus to Death in the '70s and the resurged attention in the '00s. The time spent in other bands lost my attention.
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| Jul 08, 2013 |  |
I am prowler | 70 80th |
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..so, there was punk before Sex Pistols and Ramones!
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| Average Percentile 60.01% from 152 Ratings |  |