THE STRAIGHT DOPE:
This is absolutely the last unauthorized music DVD that I'm reviewing. The Eminem and Korn discs were so bad that I made this promise once before, but this time I mean it. Once again, here is a disc about a musician (in this case legendary rock group Kiss) that includes no actual music by that group. At least Kiss' blood-and-fire images should provide some entertainment but this home-made production exudes little of that theatrical flair.

In all fairness, the most hard-core Kiss fan will want to watch this disc. Rather than try to string together a documentary like the producers of those other two discs almost did, the makers of Kiss Un-Authorized chose to leave their own voices out of the mix. Instead, the disc presents 45 minutes of press conferences, autograph signings, local news stories on the band, and concert footage (with the music removed, of course). While non-fans or casual listeners will be bored to tears, the hard-core fan will enjoy seeing some of this footage for the first time in years. I just try to imagine a similar disc of a band that I feel strongly about and I know I'd like to watch it, at least once. Without the idiotic narration of other unauthorized DVDs, Kiss Un-Authorized at least escapes the ultimate indignity: Embarrassing the viewer for having watched.

VIDEO:
A compilation of stock footage and dubs, the video is essentially not a part of the equation. It looks bad.

AUDIO:
The audio consists of badly recorded news footage and terrible rawk noodlings not worth upgrading your stereo for.

EXTRAS:
A couple of minutes of bonus footage from a 1984 in store appearance is bafflingly presented as an extra feature. It is just a camcorder recording of the unimportant event.

FINAL THOUGHTS:
As far as these fan-made productions go this one has a leg up on the competition for at least having a market but that only goes so far.