Label: Eclectic

Reissued 4/24/2026

David Markey's Desperate Teenage Lovedolls (1984) and its sequel Lovedolls Superstar (1986), two underground Super-8 cult films together for the first time, rebuilt and remastered in UHD. Chronicling the rise and fall and the subsequent resurrection in the sequel of the fictitious all girl band, the Lovedolls. "Kind of an all-girl Spinal Tap" said the Los Angeles Reader at the time of release. The positive critical response didn't stop there. "This is worthy of a Joan Crawford vehicle" chimed The Village Voice. Made on a micro-budget and cast with members of the Los Angeles punk scene (Redd Kross, Black Flag etc.), shot guerrilla-style on the streets of Hollywood and Santa Monica and Venice. This was a true Do-It-Yourself effort, made for the ragged fellow travelers on the scene at the time. It was also a testimony to inventiveness- made by disaffected kids without much resource, raised on junk food and trash television. The rags to riches story is one of classic Hollywood lore with tongue planted firmly in cheek. Produced for paltry $250.00, the film inspired a sequel with a budget 40 times that amount, made possible by Desperate Teenage Lovedolls success. Lovedolls Superstar was an even more ambitious project with more expansive, if not completely out-there story telling. The parodies were even more pointed, confronting pop and rock culture of the time. No one was spared; from "Brews Springstien" to Billy Jack, from feminism to cult behavior, and to punk rock itself. They were unafraid to poke fun at themselves! The Lovedolls films offer an antithesis to the squeaky clean, conservative 1980's America. They display just how far you can go with very little. David Markey would go on to helm many film projects, notably documenting the Sonic Youth / Nirvana tour in 1991 The Year Punk Broke.