Karaoke From Hell might seem like a simple and silly enough concept: a rambunctious live band backs singers of all experience and confidence levels every Monday night at the Old Town rock club Dante’s. It’s easy to question whether it would translate to a documentary film. As fun as it is watching people sing, how does it fill more than 15 minutes, let alone an hour?

Easily. Chip Marby and Ben Mercer, director of the eponymous documentary, weave together numerous stories in an hour, and could have kept going on their deep dive of Old Portland culture and lore. Their film also indirectly connects the band to the global tradition of drinking songs.

Karaoke From Hell , which depicts the band around its 20th anniversary in 2012, showed earlier this year at the Portland Film Festival and wil

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