In this long-awaited B-Side to HARD CORE LOGO, Bruce McDonald brings a new rock and roll persona to light: Care Failure of the band Die Mannequin, who claims to be channeling the spirit of Joe Dick. Fifteen years have passed since Bruce completed his infamous rock documentary HARD CORE LOGO, a gritty account that chronicled the demise of the punk rock outfit and captured lead singer Joe Dick's on-camera suicide. Though he has since lived with the guilt of immortalizing Joe's death on film, Bruce has moved on to become a directorial success with his hit series "The Pilgrim" for the Home Bible Channel and now occupies a plush home in Los Angeles with his wife and daughter. When lead actor and bible belt heartthrob Rufus Melon is embroiled in a sex scandal, "The Pilgrim" is shelved and Bruce ends up in the company of wiccan filmmaker Liz Moore. Before he knows it, they are on a plane to Florida to interview Care Failure. When they arrive at the overgrown complex in Okeechobee, Bruce manages to interview Care and is immediately sucked in by her tortured soul.
Bruce follows Die Mannequin to a recording studio in a remote wintry town, hoping to get more answers and to document the band's recording process. Here he discovers that Joe's bitter punk mentor, Bucky Haight, has been brought in to crack the producer's whip and push Care to the brink of herself to record something extraordinary. Bruce tries to connect with Care to understand if she really is channeling the spirit of Joe, and why? In spite (and also because) of Bruce's interventions and thinly veiled obsessions, Care's mood becomes increasingly erratic, especially after Rufus Melon arrives looking to clear his name. Jealous that this deviant actor is diverting her attention, Bruce has a confrontation with Care that results in an emotional eruption. Things go from bad to worse when Bruce drinks mushroom tea, stumbles into Liz's wiccan exorcism ceremony, becomes lost in the woods and gets trapped in an ice cave for several days.
When he is eventually rescued, Bruce discovers that Die Mannequin is to perform a live show in the city nearby. Having now had several premonitions that Care will commit suicide just like Joe, Bruce follows the band to the city. Driven by the fear that she may go one further than Joe and kill herself on stage, Bruce tries to save the young rock star from the same tragic fate by storming the stage. HARD CORE LOGO 2 is an innovative collage of now and then which becomes Bruce the Filmmaker's own rock and roll confessional and an anthemic letter to those dearest in Bruce's life.
DIRECTED BY: Bruce McDonald
WRITTEN BY: David Griffith and Bruce McDonald
