Fantastic Fest review: After the Screaming Stops is a hilarious and heartfelt look at 80’s pop stars Bros

Amidst all the scores of blood-soaked genre films at Fantastic Fest lies After The Screaming Stops, a documentary on the UK 80’s pop act Bros, a band that only diehard fans seem to remember today. Made up of identical twin brothers Matt and Luke Goss, the band sold over 10 million albums in the late 80’s and sold-out massive world tours, all while the Goss brothers were barely 20-years-old. With their classic boy-band good looks and saccharine pop hits, the band caused pandemonium wherever they went, with throngs of crowds chasing them down the street and camping outside their homes for days on end.

Anyone who’s seen a few episodes of Behind the Music can guess where things went from there. When the follow-up to their smash debut album Push only hit #9 (!) on the charts, they were derided as washed up in the UK, and the tabloids pounced on the brothers, eventually sending them both to the US to escape the onslaught of negative publicity.

After The Screaming Stops picks up nearly thirty years later. Directors Joe Pearlman and David Soutar follow the Goss brothers in the lead up to a massive reunion show at London’s O2 Arena, their first show together in 27 years. Like any good pair of UK rock brothers, the Goss’ have a difficult relationship, and are barely on speaking terms as the film begins. Matt Goss has had a successful career as a Vegas singer, while Luke has focused on film, with roles in cult favourites like Hellboy II. The filmmakers join the pair in the stressful lead up to the giant London show, following them trough the difficult rehearsals as the Goss brothers constantly butt heads, stewing in deep resentments that threaten to derail their big comeback show.

While on paper this sounds like a generic band reunion story (the Lonely Island mockumentary Popstar follows a very similar trajectory), the strong personalities of the Goss brothers combine to make After The Screaming Stops one of the most entertaining music docs in years. Matt in particular seems to blissfully have almost no sense of self-awareness, spitting out hilariously cockamamie sayings and thoughts that reach Gallagher brothers levels of ridiculousness (“News is the thinking man’s reality show,” he expounds deeply at one point).

The dramatic thrust of the film rests on the tumultuous relationship between the two brothers. Though most of their bickering steps from their inflated egos and fears over their upcoming reunion show, you can’t help but root for the brothers to overcome their differences and put on a killer show. Their music may be borderline unlistenable if you didn’t grow up with songs like “When Will I be Famous,” but the band’s music is almost beside the point in this film. Pearlman and Soutar are much more interested in the family dynamic between the two brothers than they are in the classic music documentary trope of the rise and fall (and successful reunion cycle) of bands that we’ve seen so many times by now.

Filled with hilarious oversize personalities and heightened emotional confrontations, After The Screaming Stops is an incredibly intimate portrait of two very different brothers striving to rekindle a sense of magic and excitement after nearly three decades apart. It’s an incredibly endearing film, and even if you get the sense that the brothers are occasionally playing up the drama for the cameras, the touching reunion and the pair’s eventual reconciliation makes the whole awkward ride worthwhile.

After The Screaming Stops is in theatres on November 9th. For screening info visit the film’s official site.