This Is Spinal Tap

This Is Spinal Tap is a 1984 American mockumentary comedy film directed by Rob Reiner in his feature directorial debut. Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, and Harry Shearer play members of the parody heavy metal band Spinal Tap, while Reiner plays Martin "Marty" Di Bergi, a documentary filmmaker following the band on tour. The film satirizes the behavior and musical pretensions of rock bands and the hagiographic tendencies of rock documentaries such as Led Zeppelin's The Song Remains the Same (1976) and the Band's The Last Waltz (1978), similarly to what Eric Idle and Neil Innes had done for the Beatles with the Rutles. Reiner, Guest, McKean, and Shearer are credited with writing the screenplay, though most of the dialogue was improvised and dozens of hours were filmed. This Is Spinal Tap was released by Embassy Pictures on March 2, 1984, to critical acclaim, but found only modest commercial success in theaters. Its later VHS release brought greater success and a cult following. Credited with launching the mockumentary genre, it is also notable as the origin of the idiom "up to eleven". Deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the Library of Congress, it was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry in 2002. Reiner, Guest, McKean, and Shearer reprised their roles for the 2025 sequel Spinal Tap II: The End Continues and the unreleased concert film Spinal Tap at Stonehenge: The Final Finale.