Let’s me start by saying that these are about 1000 miles away from what would be considered my type of film. In an effort to go out of my comfort zone, I have watched these three films and their extras for you all.
The Bootleg Files: Chu Chu and the Philly Flash
BOOTLEG FILES 892: “Chu Chu and the Philly Flash” (1981 comedy feature starring Alan Arkin and Carol Burnett).
LAST SEEN: On YouTube.
AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: Only available on VHS.
REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: It fell through the cracks.
CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Nope.
While viewing this 1981 comedy film, a nagging thought kept cycling through my mind: Did anyone during the creation of this work genuinely believe they were making a funny movie? Granted, there is a surplus number of unfunny comedy films – but “Chu Chu and the Philly Flash” is such an astonishing misfire that it could inspire an academic consideration of how not to make a comedy film.
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Every Bugs Bunny Ever: Water, Water Every Hare (1952)
Water, Water Every Hare (1952)
Directed by Chuck Jones
Story by Michael Maltese
Animation by Ben Washam, Ken Harris, Phil Monroe, Lloyd Vaughan, Richard Thompson, Harry Love
Music by Carl Stalling
Comedy horror movies rarely work, if only because they devolve into the obvious buffoonery of having the funnymen go into unamusing spasms of anxiety when confronted by ghouls, ghosts, creepy beings, and other unpleasant entities. The 1952 cartoon “Water, Water Every Hare” clicks because it doesn’t sink into the standard nonsense of the comic (in this case, Bugs Bunny) being endlessly frightened by the stock villains. Instead, it offers some brilliantly inventive segments that take the comedy horror genre to a new dimension.
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They Stooge to Conga (1943)
Among Three Stooges fanatics, “They Stooge to Conga” is notorious for a few seconds of roughhouse involving a climbing spike and Moe’s head. But that’s just a one of too many brilliantly surreal moments that occur in this deliriously insane short film.
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The Fabulous Thunderbirds: Live in Houston [Cleopatra Records]
Available from Cleopatra Records on 01/17/2025
A live show recorded in 2006 at the warehouse in Houston.
Red Peony Gambler Trilogy [Film Movement]
Now available on VOD and Digital from Film Movement
A bit of a misnomer, these are the first three in a series that, if IMDB is to be believed, has a ton of entries.
Demolition Man (1993) [Arrow Video]
Now available from Arrow Video
The film starts with Detective John Spartan causing all kinds of mayhem while chasing a criminal. Due to this, he is imprisoned in a Cryo facility only to be awakened early in 2030 when criminal Simon Phoenix escapes. Soon, he finds out that the world has been sanitized, and Taco Bell has won the fast-food wars (or Pizza Hut for those not in the US).