AllMovie

Thrash metal's tongue-in-cheek answer to the on-stage performance art of the Tubes, GWAR (an acronym for God What an Awful Racket) began as a marketing experiment at Virginia Commonwealth University. David Brockie, Steve Douglas, Peter Lee, Michael Bishop, and Brad Roberts conceived the group thematically in 1985 -- reinventing themselves as characters, intergalactic warriors descended from extraterrestrials who were stranded in the Arctic and have come to wage war on (and sexually enslave) as many humans as they can find. The group dresses in outlandish spiked costumes, mount spectacles of on-stage gore and perversion, and have become notorious for their (literally) filthy stage shows, during which they often spray bodily fluids into the audience and mutilate effigies of public figures before screaming crowds. The group has culled a rabid following of fans who thrive on its eccentricities. The home video release GWAR: Blood-Bath and Beyond travels back to 1985 and from there, traces the history of the band into the present via performance clips, rare behind-the-scenes footage, and exclusive interviews to provide an in-your-face, no-holds-barred look at the GWAR phenomenon.