Good , But It Is Overrated By Some

A lot of fun.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

I'm a huge music connoisseur/music enthusiast of all types of music and genres-- especially punk/no wave stuff--- hence how I found out about this film because of Tomata Du Plenty/his involvement in the L.A. punk scene/him being the vocalist for somewhat-rare and "unrecorded" band the Screamers, who quite possibly are one of the earliest synth-punk outfits.There is one other review on here already for this-- I'd say he got the story part right/very accurate description and IMDb has a very on-point/accurate description of the plot as well--- so I'm just gonna' touch on the factors I feel weren't quite hit on yet: 1. The story is amusing and different-- it's this very odd apocalyptic musical based in punk & no wave (the music isn't a million miles away from the Screamers, but it's definitely not the same either)-- but in my opinion, the film does feel extremely dated (which isn't necessarily bad, but that depends on your taste--- it's dated like the way the movie Weird Science is dated--- it screams hey this is the 1980's, so if you can deal with that--- then this is not a deal breaker).2. The music itself--- it's surprisingly pretty cool that the music really did click well with the format of being a musical/not your typical musical-kinda music (big band swing, Broadway sorta stuff)-- it actually pulls through very well in that aspect. However, it simply doesn't touch the Screamers material either (which is what drew me towards wanting to see the film, and I imagine what would cause most people to ever find out about it now as it was never well-known to begin with, and the Screamers have slightly re-surfaced in various interviews (such as one with Jello Biafra who stated that they were the, "perhaps best unrecorded band ever")-- though one should note, they never had a proper studio recording, bootlegs/demo recordings that are clear enough exist/hence how I or anyone else interested in this ever heard the Screamers to be further intrigued into this movie-- books like, "We've Got the Neutron Bomb" and other books on L.A. Punk and bands from that period/in L.A. mention them, etc.3. It's not a mind-blower-- but it's definitely an interesting art-film project-- a neat collaboration of original music and film-- I can only imagine in the 1980's how difficult an off-the-wall punk-sorta musical of this nature would've been to pull off/it must be very low-budget, I don't imagine people we're lining up to help the guy-- so sure albeit some parts are cheesy and dated, you gotta' give the guy credit for being truly original and pulling off a project like this.Overall, if your into L.A. punk and interested in the Screamers music-- this is neat little part of that chapter and worth watching. If your not into L.A. punk/the Screamers--- and if your not into very sorta avant-garde obscure musicals either-- then I'm guessing it might not be for you. I give it 5 or 6 out of 10 stars.

I'm a record collector and somewhat of a music connoisseur. I am most interested in punk and Avante Garde music yet I've never heard of the Screamers, Tomata Du Plenty, Sheela Edwards or Population 1 prior to seeing it. After discovering the trailer for it on youtube my interest was peaked enough to order the DVD and it was well worth the $20.I hate to hype things up for fear that what I say won't live up to expectations (I've had plenty of movies ruined on myself because of too high expectations) Well, let me just say that the music, tone, acting and direction in this movie are creatively beyond compare. The closest thing that I could relate it to would be if Frank Zappa, Roger Waters, Malcolm McLaren, Ray Bradbury and the producers of Pee Wee's playhouse got together with a cast of random people from a late night early eighties after party and got strung out on every drug imaginable to make a movie utilizing the very first video production techniques similar to early MTV music videos. In addition to all of that, there are the 2 main characters as themselves, Tomata Du Plenty and Sheela Edwards, both of whom are as convincing and talented as any actor or musician that I have ever seen. Strangely enough, besides this movie, Tomata doesn't seem to have any other acting credit and Sheela Edwards is virtually unknown.Sheela caries the movie with her amazing voice. Her style and looks morph throughout the picture from glamorous to scary to sexy to dumpy. Her voice reminds me of Debbie Harry and is every bit as good. Her singing style and the music in this movie is a mix between Avante-Garde, Punk, New Wave, No Wave, Jazz, Broadway and Rock Operas. Then there's the main character, Tomata du Plenty. In a style which is a cross between a 1980's kid's Saturday morning cartoon TV host and Jim Morrison narrating "An American Prayer" he narrates the story of his life, his memories of what America meant to him and his love affair with Sheela, appearing in and out of random, unrelated moments throughout the early to mid 20th century. His story is a mix of moments in literary fiction mixed with actual historical events. He speaks in prose sometimes hinting that everything he says is merely his own twisted interpretation of the bits and pieces of what he remembers of the way that America was before the big bomb hit. He is the sole survivor and appears optimistic despite the fact that he's alone for the rest of his life. He dances and drunkenly stumbles about his walled in apartment telling his story to an audience of appliances and video cameras.Tomata's brilliant performance left me wondering why he was never cast in other movies, every movement and action is so believable, it appears continuous and unrehearsed yet carefully calculated and unintentionally endearing. This movie gets better and more interesting as it moves along, there is never a dull moment, it was only the ending that to me was a bit of a let down. Watching this movie is like trying to interpret the strangest but most meaningful dream that you've ever had. On the surface, this movie appears a bit dated and at times can seem like a disjointed but artistic mess yet it flows so well from one scene into another. Nothing about this movie is ever pretentious or phony as other movies that try too hard to be like this are.The 2 disk DVD set comes with tons of special features including live Screamers performances from the 70's. After hearing the music, I can't get over the fact that they never signed a recording contract which explains why they are so forgotten. I explained this movie to all of my knowledgeable record collectors, independent movie lovers and musician friends. Surprisingly, no one, not even those who were big into the music scene during the time of this movie had any knowledge of it. I really hope that Lady Gaga's people don't get a hold of this movie. She's one who is known to mine creativity from forgotten sources and then people credit her as being a creative genius. If you're tired of the American Idol modern music scene and if you find yourself disgusted by contrived Hollywood garbage music movies like Across the Universe then you'll probably love Population 1.

The 1980s have been sanitized in "histories" of what the decade meant and produced. POPULATION 1 captures the delusional narcissism and palpitating nihilism that were everywhere in the 1980s.This film is a great vehicle for the late Tomata DuPlenty a man with talent galore who is more legend than producer of tangible record (his short oeuvre with THE SCREAMERS a smidgen of his over-the-top personality).Tomata is trapped in a bomb shelter and reliving his warped version of history after the human race has been wiped out. This allows the film to liberally interweave new wave videos to illustrate concepts (the fact that some of these pieces had been shot way before the movie made of course for a cheaper production - again, a totally 80s tradition).In addition to noticing that Tomata looks a LOT like Kevin Bacon, the heretofore unheralded Sheela Edwards almost steals the show with sexy performances, JAZZ VAMPIRE being the most intense and passionate.Terribly unresolved and choppy, the movie nonetheless artfully delivers the mindset of the post-punk boomers at their most creative and fearlessly unpolished. If you recall being at parties in the 80s where art-damaged scenesters were coked up and talking all night about a deep concept for a movie that was actually nonsensical and self-indulgent... well this is the one that actually GOT MADE!