Ultraviolent Symphony: ‘Stabbed in the Face’ and the Blood-Soaked Legacy of Eat the Turnbuckle
Metal and wrestling have gone back a long time like horror and metal hybrids. Chugging guitars plus head slamming drums have been standard entrance themes for many a grappler over the decades. Yet, metal, punk, rock, and grind music feel right at home in two rasslin genres: Hardcore and Deathmatch Wrestling!
It all began in the ‘90s with the game changing promotion, ECW, where a dirty street feeling enveloped the talents who did their thing in the squared circle whilst shedding tons of blood. Really loud ass music pounded out and the directions were altered for many. There was CZW, XPW, IWA then onwards to GCW, RPW (I’m not gonna list all the companies that do it). This time ‘round I’m not here to talk about Deathmatch wrestling, but rather, I’m reviewing the documentary, Stabbed in the Face: The Rise and Fall of the World’s Most Violent Band. It’s best to check all my Deathmatch reviews and stuff on Severed Cinema for more.
There’s a solid muscular heavily tattooed wrestler on the Deathmatch and Indie scene called Shlak. This guy is also a tattoo artist and a guitar choker. I reviewed the album released by his latest band, The Crippler (named after the late Chris Benoit) (see The Crippler: I’m Just Going to Let Myself In Album Review here) and was meant to slam on another review or so about his other bands, Call the Paramedics and Eat the Turnbuckle, but never got ‘round to it. Then along came my chance to view ‘n’ review this documentary and I genuinely filled my pants from both ends!
As you can gather (those who understand rasslin speak) by their name, Eat the Turnbuckle is a predominantly wrestling themed music band, via sound clips and lyrics, but don’t let that switch you off. Musically they’re heavy as a really heavy thing, plus visually it’s like (as quoted in the movie) “…if GG Allin was still alive, but without the poo!“
Stabbed in the Face begins with the iconic underground ring announcer, Larry Legend, and his well spoken, dramatic epic sweeping introduction, which boils down to, “This is the story of the world’s most violent band.”
It all began in Philly. We have a quick backstory on ECW with some nice footage, then we hit the genesis of Eat the Turnbuckle. Their birthplace was in the Philadelphia area — the birthplace of true hardcore wrestling, and “Ultraviolent rock ‘n’ roll!” Debauchery, blood, and glass! There are interviews with Shlak and all the band members. Shlak explains how he got into wrestling, punk rock, then tattoos. Jag 13 (the vocalist) explains how he used to see all the ECW guys like Cactus Jack, Sandman, etcetera, and found himself building up his passion for rasslin. They were both in bands at the time, Call the Paramedics and Bad Luck 13. They caused mini riots sometimes when they performed but decided to work together on something new and to gather a new gang of maniacs.
Then we meet the rest of ‘em, Antman, Captain Hook, Chris Fear (who wore cheese graters on his wrists), and Chubb Rock. My Partner in Gore, Willow, and I, loved the mellow and comical use of classical music in the background. Their first show was booked, opening for underground legends, Antiseen, but they hadn’t really practiced together, nor did they really have any songs. Fuck it, they just made about eight songs fast. No one had heard of them, but they were memorable. “We fucked up a lot of the songs,” says Shlak, “but no one knew the songs yet.” he grins.
Eat the Turnbuckle were off and running. Antiseen helped to spread the word due to their unorthodox stage shows. The band mixed loud music, genuine violence and blood with wrestling moves, including going through tables, and suplexes — a chaotic shit storm. Members of Antiseen and the Mentors are interviewed. They describe the insane spectacles, which is helped by loads of footage. Violent and dangerous. They were so intense that, whilst doing a few shows with headliners, Mentors, they were asked to perform last as nobody wanted to follow up their set. When Hook went from getting handjobs to blowjobs in piss-soaked toilets, he knew the band was made. On tour they were constantly buying tables and makeshift weapons from Home Depo. This is how it was.
When Antman left due to family ties which didn’t really work with the endless nudity, blood and a broken ankle, they gained a new drummer, Beer Dust, and he quickly absorbed himself into the maelstrom of madness.
Stabbed in the Face has tons of live show clips, insane crowd slamming, and brutal wrestling — the audience in Mexico are totally another level! The building ended up surrounded by cops whilst the promoters barricaded everyone inside. Soon afterwards, new member, TGO who was the crowd control bloke, and backing vocalist, received a huge chunk of light tube in his throat, then the life changing event happened…
Eat the Turnbuckle were invited to perform for a Gwar festival — the Gwar-B-Q — along with Deathmatch Wrestler, Necro Butcher (regular readers of our stuff on Severed Cinema will deffo know that name), however the festival promoters attempted to shit on them, but it backfired greatly, resulting in Eat the Turnbuckle gaining notoriety on the radio and in the media. Suddenly it was show after show, Death Metal, Extreme, Grind, everywhere. Then they toured Europe and the chaos truly began…
Among the broken bones, aggressive stage invasions, hacksaws, barbed wire, splattering blood, and loud music, Shlak decided to train to be a wrestler. They performed a set at the Combat Zone Wrestling Annual Tournament of Death and he figured, before he gets too old, he needed to actually live his dream. These days (aside from playing guitar in bands and tattooing folks) Shlak is one of the world’s most known Deathmatch wrestlers.
The pinnacle of their life span as a band comes when they perform at Wacken on the Beer Garden stage. As they sum up, Wacken, that year had Iron Maiden and Foreigner (I also checked, The Haunted, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Lemmy, Metal Church, Therapy?, and Henry Rollins also performed on various days) that was peak for them. They’d done many extreme festivals in loads of extreme countries, but a decision was made after Wacken and they split rather than go on longer and risk fading away, much to the obvious disappointment of some members (they have actually reformed in recent years), but Hook and Jag teamed with Shlak (along with Dan O’Hare and Evan to create The Crippler.
Stabbed in the Face: The Rise and Fall of the World’s Most Violent Band is unforgettable. It’s the next level boss to Hated: GG Allin and the Murder Junkies (see Hated: GG Allin & the Murder Junkies review here). The chants of “Huss! Huss! Huss!” will ring in your ears afterwards. Many important historical documentaries are tinged with violence and blood; this is no different and is as important as anything you have seen. It’s doubtful it’ll be taught in schools though.
Whether you’re a fan of the band or Deathmatch wrestling, Stabbed in the Face is sheer balls to the wall chaos and extreme entertainment. Director, writer, producer, editor, Eric Griffin has done a monumental job putting this together. It keeps you interested throughout its running time. Personally, Willow, and I, knew of their music (The Crippler, Call the Paramedics, and Crack House come highly recommended as well) but hadn’t seen any footage of their live shows. This was a revelation.
Go in with a crazed mindset and enjoy. Huss! Huss! Huss!
The film is available on Amazon Prime. Also, here’s a link to Stabbed in the Face on VHS as well as other merch for the film.
Directed by: Eric Griffin
Written by: Eric Griffin
Produced by: Eric Griffin, Mike Beer, Casey Prosick
Cinematography by: Eric Griffin
Edited by: Eric Griffin
Music by: Eat the Turnbuckle
Cast: Jag 13, Shlak, Antman, Hook, Chubb Rock, Larry Legend, Chris Fear, Jeff Clayton, Necro Butcher, Beer Dust, Dr. Heathen Scum, Shawn the Butcher
Year: 2023
Country: USA
Language: English
Colour: Colour
Runtime: 1h 30min
Studio: PatchTown Films
Official Website: Stabbed in the Face
