Review: ‘Quiet Riot’ looks back at the hair, the noise and the band

A long title for a movie devoted to a flash-in-the-pan rock band, “Quiet Riot: Well Now You’re Here, There’s No Way Back” is a documentary about the spandex-and-frizz group whose 1983 release “Metal Health” became the first heavy metal album to top the Billboard charts.

The band’s meteoric rise — after toiling away unsigned for years — spawned the ‘80s hair metal scene as well as a hard-partying public loudmouth in singer Kevin Dubrow, who died of an overdose in 2007. Quiet Riot had long been a jokey footnote by then, but Dubrow’s death shattered bandmate Frank Banali.

It’s drummer Banali’s efforts to revive a functioning lineup beginning in 2010 that are the real focus of director Regina Russell’s film. That she’s engaged to Banali makes for a strange mix of tones, part “Anvil! The Story of Anvil” (wittingly) and part “This Is Spinal Tap” (not so wittingly). She’s not afraid to show her dude crying over his anger and grief issues or struggling through sparsely attended gigs, or losing it when a new singer forgets lyrics onstage to, of all things, their biggest hit, “Cum on Feel the Noize.” (Your grandmother would know the words after watching this movie.)

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There are occasionally interesting peeks into the hard work of keeping a flame alive that burned briefly 30 years ago. But mostly this is a video tour book for fans, no more, no less.

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“Quiet Riot: Well Now You’re Here, There’s No Way Back”

MPAA rating: None.

Running time: 1 hour, 45 minutes.

Playing: Arena Cinema, Hollywood.

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