BloodHag: The Faster You Go Deaf, The More Time You Have to Read

Heavy metal songs about Isaac Asimov, Marion Zimmer Bradley, and James Tiptree, Jr.? Welcome to BloodHag's "Read Free or Die" tour, circa 2000, in which the sci-fi loving speed metal band rocked at various venues--including libraries--while preaching their in-your-face message. Filmmaker Brad Vandenburg's short profile is more oddball PSA for literacy than compelling documentary as the band hands out reading lists, and sings the highly selective praises of science-fiction (no general literature plugs here, and the band is openly disdainful of Stephen King, L. Ron Hubbard, and anything set in the Star Wars or Star Trek universes). Even with the short running time, however, roughly half of the film consists of performance footage of BloodHag rocking out (sometimes with subtitled lyrics since the growling lead vocals are nearly incomprehensible) or clips of pint-sized fans voicing their wow-I-got-to-go-to-a-real-concert appreciation. A curio to be sure, but a curio tailor-made for schools and public libraries looking for new ways to promote reading, this is a strong optional purchase. Aud: E, I, J, P. (R. Pitman)