According to Fangoriaonline.com, this week, filming will wrap on the Toronto set of Capri Films’ SUCK, with Fango having enjoyed unprecedented access, totaling 17 days of the 20-day shoot. Writer/director Rob (Phil The Alien) Stefaniuk, who also stars as the band’s frontman Joey, hopes to bypass the curse of “vampire rock star” genre clichés with a witty flick that is unequivocally a rock-and-roll movie with vampires, rather than a more stock-in-trade vampire movie with rock-and-roll. Rounding out the lead cast with Canadian actors Mike Lobel and Paul Anthony (who join Paré and Ratz to play the band), SUCK also stars Malcolm McDowell as vampire slayer Eddie Van Helsing, Burning Brides frontman Dimitri Coates as immortal predator Queenie, who changes The Winners’ lives forever with his bite, and Dave (Netherbeast Incorporated) Foley as the group’s archetypically sleazy manager. Firmly anchoring the film in the horror genre without reservation are makeup artists Jordan (Ginger Snaps) Samuel and Colin Penman, from SAW V and the as-yet officially untitled new George A. Romero zombie opus.

Further separating SUCK from the current crop of dewy, post-adolescent romantic TWILIGHT-hour vampire fare is a perfect storm of cameos by classic rock stars, also including IGGY POP, ALICE COOPER, HENRY ROLLINS, Carole Pope of ROUGH TRADE and Alex Lifeson of RUSH. And for the first time ever, Cooper (playing a sinister bartender) will appear opposite his daughter, dancer Calico Cooper, who plays a barmaid.

“I love the mixture of horror and humor,” says Cooper, who stops just short of calling Stefaniuk a genius in this specific area. “And what’s cooler than a vampire?” Adds Lobel, “Rob’s omniscient.” He notes that there are pieces of Stefaniuk (also a musician, and co-author, with John Kastner, of seven of the film’s 11 original tracks) in every one of the characters. “I love the fact that this is a rock-and-roll road movie.”

All of the musicians claim to have been drawn to the wit of Sefaniuk’s script and its not-too-subtle parallels between the wretched life of a couch-surfing rock band, who roam the night in search of fame in bars that stink of beer and cigarette smoke, and the eternal night of the vampire, who roams the night in search of blood. At The Winners’ level, the line between predator (either bloodsucking monsters who take 10 percent of nothing in the form of agent fees, or vampires) and prey is, at best, nebulous.

SUCK, produced by Robin Crumley, Jeff Rodgers and Victoria Hirst and executive-produced by Gabriella (NIghtbreed) Martinelli, is slated for release in the fall of 2009. Look for lots more of Fango’s location coverage here and in the magazine’s pages.