Hit So Hard

Posted by Charmaine Blake on Apr 13th, 2012 in Documentary | 0 comments

Hit So Hard: A Documentary Film On Patty Schemel Life And Near Death Story

Hit So Hard is a documentary film that is based on the life and near death story of notable drummer: Patty Schemel. Patty Schemel became popular together with the rise of the rock band “Hole”. Hit So Hard is directed by P. David Ebersole who also wrote the screenplay with the help of Todd Hughes. Here’s a review on this raw documentary film: Hit So Hard.

“The Unvarnished Truth With The Documentary: Hit So Hard

Hit So Hard: The Life and Near-Death Story of Drummer Patty Schemel” is one the baldest, most unvarnished looks inside the rock and roll industry you will ever see. Moreover, after you have seen this, you may not want to see another. Schemel’s experience working under the tutelage of mother Courtney Love is a life of looking into the face of death.

It is nothing more, or less, than that. After succeeding in driving her out of the band during the recording of “Celebrity Skin” (with the help of producer Michael Beinhorn) Love recruited her next drummer with an employment-wanted ad that requested, among other things, a whore from hell.

As audiences will learn from viewing this film, Schemel failed miserably in the whore from hell department, having a heart even after a series of drug addictions and near death experiences that would have killed a normal person. This film is the story of her life in big-time rock and roll and, peripherally, the story of Country Love and Kurt Cobain.

Schemel came close to being Nirvana’s drummer but was beat out by Dave Grohl. Even so, she became a permanent insider and landed the spot with Hole when their original drummer, Caroline Rue, left the band in 1992.

Although the film does not dote on Schemel playing the drums, the shots that are included are fascinating to watch. She is strong and confident, one tough lady.

However, her strength would be tested to the limit in the months that followed after Hole struck it rich.

With a new contract and a high-powered studio and producer they wanted world-class drum talent, which Patty was not (at least not in the eyes of producer Beinhorn).

Actually, Patty was already a heroine user and alcoholic before she was crucified by Love and Beinhorn while making “Celebrity Skin.” The grunge-punk scene was a minefield of extremely attractive lethal hazards. Meth and heroine were everywhere, all the time.
They could not have possibly have been more available if they had been legal and free of cost. Neither the war on drugs nor the cost of the drugs seemed to have had any effect in this social circle.

All performers are a bit paranoid about getting their next gig. Rock performers are more paranoid than most and the better they are the more paranoid they are. Any human being would find it hard to believe they are sleeping on a friend’s couch one week and flying in private jets the next.”

Read the rest of the movie review at Monsters and Critics

Read the latest review on the documentary film “Surviving Progress” right in this blog

Charmaine Blake loves movies, musical theater listening to music and taking pictures of anything that she finds interesting. She is a voracious reader and writer, and enjoys her time writing for New Movie Launches. Charmaine loves spending time with her pets and currently has a Siberian Husky, a toy poodle and a cat.