The New York Hardcore Chronicles
DVD Reviews | Jul 1st, 2017
Directed/Produced/Edited By: Drew Stone/Stone Films NYC
Website: thenewyorkhardcorechroniclesfilm.com
Buy on Amazon.com
There’s been many great hardcore documentaries but this one takes it back to day one and shows you the evolution of the infamous New York Hardcore scene. Drew Stone brings you a film that delves into the birth of NYHC. The film starts out with Roger Miret and Vinnie Stigma of Agnostic Front outside the infamous A7 club going into details of how they started small, with little understanding of what they were creating, not knowing it was going to turn into this huge underground phenomena. Through interviews with a huge list of who’s who of members who made the scene like members of Agnostic Front, Sick Of It All, Murphy’s Law, Cromags, Youth of Today, Biohazard, S.O.D., Carnivore, Blood, P.M.S., Crown of Thornz, Judge and so on, in addition to interviewing others who weren’t in bands in the scene such as Kirk Hammett of Metallica and more.
Split up into oddly numbered chapters (starts at chapter 24 And ends at like 13?), the movie focuses on the evolution of the scene, and the various changes the scene made. Throughout you get interesting details including the creation of the actual NYHC logo, the cross culture of Graffiti tagging, straightedge coming into the scene and the integration of metal into the scene with what became the crossover. The interviews are a really cool, and if you’ve been following the channel on YouTube, you know there’s a bunch more individual interview footage Drew’s had and I do encourage to check that out. I think one of the good things this film does is focusing more on the positive than the negative.
This film doesn’t dwell in CBGB’s lure or discussing various clubs that have since closed down. It spreads a great light on the culture and community of the scene. The film ends with a great chapter on Craig Setari, who’s basically been in every classic NYHC band at this point, and only after that the question is asked “Is Hardcore dead?”
You also get bonus features such as outtakes, commentary by Drew Stone and the hour long ‘Into The Pit’ documentary which goes over the evolution of hardcore dancing.
Bottom Line: A great peek into a scene that launched an entire subculture, and a MUST WATCH for any NYHC supporter. If you’ve ever seen the other NYHC Documentary that focuses on the scene in 1995, this almost serves as a great prequel to it. If you can catch a screening, make a point to be there!
Running Time: 105 minutes
Rating: NR
Overall Rating:
