As someone who became a Kiss fan in 1977, I clearly existed as member of one target audience for 1999’s Detroit Rock City, a film set in 1978 about fanatical members of the Kiss Army. I obviously become part of the demographic that should look back on those years and smile as I watch the movie.

Unfortunately, that didn’t occur. Instead, City provides a pretty miserable cinematic experience.

In the fall of 1978, Cleveland teens Hawk (Edward Furlong), Lex (Giuseppe Andrews), Trip (James DeBello), and Jam (Sam Huntington) plan to drive to Detroit to see Kiss live in concert. However, Jam’s ultra-religious mother Mrs. Bruce (Lin Shaye) disapproves and destroys their tickets.

The boys don’t give up hope, though, so they make the relatively short trek to Michigan and come up with various schemes to get into the show. Crazy antics ensue.

But does hilarity? Given I already called City a “miserable cinematic experience”, you get one guess what I think of the film’s stabs at comedy.

I initially reviewed City waaaay back in 1999 during this site’s infancy. I ripped both the film and Kiss to shreds at that time.

As mentioned earlier, I loved Kiss as a kid in 1977-1978 but the Beatles usurped them in 1979 and I never looked back. Indeed, I grew to pretty much despise Kiss over the decades between my initial adoration for the band and my initial time with City.

I was wrong about Kiss. I got too hung up on my “rock snobbery” for years but now I can appreciate them as a solid little meat and potatoes band.

Indeed, the biggest strength of City comes from its soundtrack. In addition to Kiss, we get a terrific roster of 70s rock.

And I also disliked most of those songs when I first saw City. Van Halen, Cheap Trick, etc. – all acts I had no use for in 1999 but I like now.

More than 25 years after I hated City, though, no similar revelations emerged related to the film itself. While I don’t hate it quite as much at 58 as I did at 32, I still think this turns into a pretty awful movie.

Since the Beatles took over from Kiss as my number one band, I suppose that makes it ironic that City strongly resembles 1978’s I Wanna Hold Your Hand, a comedy about the Beatles’ first US visit. Both pictures show groups of teenagers desperate to witness live performances by their idols.

However, where Hand became a witty, giddy, sweet ride, City never rises above the level of smarmy trash. A comedy with no humor that depends on toilet jokes for its attempted laughs, it doesn't work for me.

City simply follows the path of other late 1990s comedies. It focuses too much of attempts at cheap laughs and expects these lowest common denominator shenanigans to substitute for cleverness.

We just get a crass film without any real wit. While the filmmakers appeared to believe they made a sweet coming of age tale, the end product doesn’t get there. The film’s biggest stabs at “cleverness” stem from the names of two female characters: Beth (Melanie Lynskey) and Christine (Natasha Lyonne). As fans will know, those names come from two famous Kiss songs.

I also admit I find myself irked by the lack of accuracy. In the disc’s supplements, the filmmakers pat themselves on the back for all their attempts at period truthfulness.

Which they completely fail to extend to the show itself. Kiss performed no concerts in fall 1978, as they left the road in spring of that year and didn’t resume touring until they released Dynasty in spring 1979.

Indeed, Kiss fans will know that the period depicted in City revolved around their four ill-fated all-released-the-same-day solo albums. The final Kiss shows of 1978 promoted late 1977’s Alive II and the band never toured to support those solo records.

Kiss did play two Detroit shows in January 1978. Why not set the movie nine months earlier and allow it to reflect reality?

It also remains befuddling that the characters make the 170-mile drive to Detroit to see Kiss given how often the band played Cleveland. Indeed, Kiss performed in Richfield Ohio – a Cleveland suburb – less than two weeks before the aforementioned Detroit concerts.

Granted, I get this seemingly perplexing decision more than I do the choice to ignore actual Kiss history and force the kids to attend a show that never happened. If the teens go to a Cleveland gig, the movie loses its road trip elements.

Though it doesn’t really need them. After all, I Wanna Hold Your Hand lacked those components and it worked great.

Indeed, the decision to set events 170 miles from Cleveland stretches credulity. Too many characters from the boys’ hometown end up in Detroit as well.

Nitpicking? Perhaps, but after I listened to the filmmakers self-praise so much about a commitment to accuracy, these lapses bugged me. Heck, they keep talking about the show as part of the Love Gun tour, whereas as noted, the 1978 shows promoted Alive II.

Other chronological goofs occur, such as the use of David Naughton's "Makin' It", as song that didn't exist yet. Nor did Deney Terrio's claim to fame, the TV show Dance Fever. A reference to Terrio appears in the film, but since his show hadn't yet aired, there's no reason any of the characters would know who he was or connect him to disco as they do.

Again, these mistakes aren't huge, but they add up and also seem really bothersome when one encounters the filmmakers' bragging about accuracy.

None of this would annoy me as much if I took any entertainment value from City. Unfortunately, the film offers a cheap and puerile affair that lacks wit or charm.

Note that a brief outtake appears after the end credits. It makes more sense if you listen to the filmmaker commentary first, however.

Detroit Rock City appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 2.35:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. The movie looked pretty good.

Sharpness worked fine overall. An occasional slightly soft shot emerged – some of which stemmed from the photographic attempts to make City “look like 1978” – but delineation usually seemed solid.

No issues with shimmering or jaggies materialized, and I saw no edge haloes. Grain seemed natural and print flaws failed to manifest.

Colors went with a pretty natural palette, albeit one that could come across as a bit subdued for the aforementioned period vibe. In any case, the hues were well-rendered within cinematographic choices.

Blacks appeared reasonably tight and shadows offered positive clarity. Though not a visual showcase, the image held up fine.

Given the movie’s subject matter, music dominated the DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack of City. The forward channels showed good stereo presence, and the back speakers added decent reinforcement of the songs and score.

Effects played a smaller role, but they contributed occasional moments of merit. Most of these came from elements meant to accentuate actions, as the track boasted some loud “punctuation” bits at times. Much of the mix stayed focused on music or dialogue, so don’t expect a lot from the soundscape.

Audio quality was fine. Speech sounded fairly natural and concise, without edginess or other issues.

Effects were accurate, while music seemed pretty peppy. Nothing here excelled, but the mix appeared acceptable for a film of this sort.

How did the Blu-ray compare to the original 1999 DVD? Both came with similar soundscapes but the lossless Blu-ray boasted superior sonic quality.

As for visuals, the BD looked tighter, cleaner and more film-like than its dated DVD counterpart. The DVD was fine 26 years ago but couldn’t cut it in 2025.

When we shift to extras, we find three separate audio commentaries. For the first, director Adam Rifkin presents a running, screen-specific look at how he came to the project, story/characters, cast and performances, influences and period details, sets and locations, music, photography, editing, cut scenes and pacing, ratings choices and related topics.

From start to finish, Rifkin makes this a solid chat. He covers a broad array of subjects and gives us a blunt and informative view of the film.

During the second commentary, we hear from screenwriter Carl Dupre, editor Peter Schink, associate producer Tim Sullivan and actors Sam Huntington, Giuseppe Andrews, James DeBello, Lyn Shaye, Shannon Tweed, Melanie Lynskey, Miles Dougal, and Richard Hillman. Huntington’s mother pops up briefly as well.

This edited track appears to place most of the participants together whereas DeBello and Huntington join via separate sessions. The discussion gives us notes about story/characters, influences and inspirations, edits and cut scenes, cast and performances, music, and connected domains.

The format annoys at times, mainly because the track’s producers decided to mix separate recordings together with overlapping remarks at times. This gets old and annoying.

In particular, DeBello’s remarks just grate. He offers “irreverent” interjections that add nothing to the experience and instead become a persistent nuisance.

Still, the track largely brings a good look at the various issues. Despite some irritating choices, we learn more than enough along the way to ensure the track merits a listen.

Finally, we locate a commentary from Kiss members Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, Ace Frehely and Peter Criss, but this doesn’t put the band together to chat. Instead it consists of four separate interviews, and we hear from them one after another.

The track starts with Simmons in a studio and then we get phone discussions between Tim Sullivan and Criss, Stanley and Frehely, in that order.

They discuss the history of Kiss and their involvement in the film. Simmons provides the clearest notes but he also clearly works from a written script, so his segment lacks the looseness of the rest.

Also, Simmons never has been the most reliable self-narrator, as he tends to prefer to promote the legend of Kiss rather than the reality. Still, Simmons gives us enough believable insights to make his part worthwhile, even if his claim that rock music defeated disco seems comical 25 years later.

Stanley tends to seem guarded, as he also appears to want to protect the Kiss brand and not be totally frank. Criss offers a bit more insight, though he doesn’t come with a lot of particularly interesting thoughts.

Always the loosest band member, Frehley gives us the most entertaining and honest take on the topics. No, he doesn’t really cut loose – Ace wouldn’t truly bite the hand until he quit the band again a few years after this recording session – but at least he gives the discussion more life.

Even with the flaws, I still like this chat, though I wish Sullivan provided a less “fanboy” vibe as an interviewer. He also seems to think Kiss invented everything, and that means the musicians actually correct him occasionally to remind him the Beatles previously did most of what he credits Kiss for doing.

Two multi-angle sequences come next. “Rock and Roll All Nite” (2:07) gives us two angles: one shows the final movie’s performance by “Mystery”, while the other lets us see the song’s recording. It’s mildly interesting.

Next we locate Kiss’s concert rendition of “Detroit Rock City” (4:57) that displays four views of the song. I like this kind of feature and this one becomes fun.

Song Xpress runs nine minutes, three seconds and presents an instructional video as Tommy Anthony teaches us how to play “Rock and Roll All Nite” on guitar. If you want to learn, this adds a nice bonus.

Six Deleted Scenes fill a total of 18 minutes, 48 seconds. We find “Too Many Cigarettes” (1:21), “Elvis” (2:06), “Highway Patrol” (5:21), “Long Way to Go” (2:22), “The Confessional” (1:57) and “Another Movie” (3:52).

These generally just extend versions existing pieces, though “Long Way” radically changes the tone of the encounter between Edward Furlong and Shannon Tweed.

“The Confessional” also includes an alternate option (1:49) that allows you to view the audition tapes for Sam Huntington and Melanie Lynskey. Their try-outs were for the deleted scene shown and are edited to correspond to it. This option is a lot of fun and is well-executed.

"Another Movie" allegedly comes from an unfinished film that was to be shot simultaneously along with City. Director Adam Rifkin introduces this piece by saying that they wanted to make an improvised experimental movie that would be made during downtime so that way they could have two films for the price of one.

Unfortunately (?), they only had time to shoot this one segment. I don't know if this is true or a put-on, but the presented scene is pretty dopey. The story behind it seems funny, though.

Look Into the Sun (7:47) was shot on video by cast members - mainly James DeBello – as it edits together some random images that are connected by little sound and video effects. It's a mildly amusing but pretty nonsensical view of the production.

Despite the irreverent title, we get a more traditional “making of” piece via Miscellaneous Shit (36:56) provides a more traditional “making of” program. It comes with comments from Simmons, Rifkin, Shaye, DeBello, Sullivan, Huntington, Andrews, Frehely, Stanley, Criss, producers Kathleen Hasse and Barry Levine, and actors Natasha Lyonne and Edward Furlong.

The show looks at the project’s roots and development, how Rifkin came to the film, cast and performances, costumes and period details. It becomes a pretty solid summary.

In addition to the film’s trailer, two music videos ensue, as we find “Strutter” from the Donnas and “The Boys Are Back in Town” by Everclear. “Strutter” mixes antics from the Donnas with movie clips, but it does it in a way to become more fun than usual for the genre.

“Boys” combines lip-synch performance with new footage of the actors, so it delivers another reasonably good video, though I prefer “Strutter”.

While it wants to become an irreverent throwback to the wild comedies of the 1970s, Detroit Rock City instead turns into a puerile mess. With unlikable characters and little wit or cleverness, the movie flops. The Blu-ray comes with positive picture and audio as well as a nice roster of bonus features. Though I don’t like the movie, this release brings it home well.

Note that Detroit Rock City originally came out on Blu-ray in 2015. This 2025 release offers a literal reissue of that disc, so don't expect changes/upgrades in any way.