Along with being one of my earlier horror movie memories, Jim Wynorski’s “Transylvania Twist” also happens to be one of the earlier horror movie satires that predates “Scary Movie” by almost ten years. It lampoons the slashers of the eighties, it tackles horror movie clichés to a fine art, and even props a few music videos here and there. A mix of “Kentucky Fried Movie,” some “Monty Python,” and a dash of “Young Frankenstein,” Wynorski’s “Transylvania Twist” is an admirable and often giggle inducing attempt at spoofing the entire horror genre and the fads of the mid to late eighties by staging some raucous old fashioned television commercials (with a horror twist of course), while also positing its own plot line in the process. After a hilarious prologue involving a hapless busty traveler and three demented slasher icons getting more than they bargained for, we meet Dexter Ward, a young man who visits his dead uncle at his funeral and is shocked to discover his uncle has yet to kick the bucket.
Tag Archives: Satire
MacGruber (2010)
I’m still not sure if it was a large bid of admirable faith or mind numbing stupidity for Lorne Michaels to fuel an adult comedy based around a Saturday Night Live sketch that barely anyone is familiar with on a show no one really talks about anymore, based around spoofing an old 80’s television show that stopped being relevant ages ago. “MacGruber” is a film that is about eighty minutes too long, an endless barrage of ridiculous and droning attempts at comedy that fails on every single conceivable level.
Family Guy Presents: It's a Trap! (2010)
Fifty five seconds in, I’m not kidding, fifty five seconds in, “Family Guy” manages to meet my expectations in the sense of laziness concerning the writers. Does this show still have writers? Are they just floating around in big pools compiling scripts on cocktail napkins now? Do they even care anymore? Within the first minute, “It’s A Trap!” squeezes in a joke about the nineties, before the Griffins experience another blackout. Just like “Blue Harvest.” Except with the aforementioned special, there was some set-up. Here the family groans at the black out and Stewie asks “We’re doing Jedi now, aren’t we?” to which Peter groans and declares “Let’s just get through this.” So… what’s the joke here? Were the writers obligated to finish off the trilogy? Are they making it heard to their fan base that they don’t even want to do this final installment? Are they echoing our thoughts on yet another “Star Wars” satire? Does the fan base even care that the writers aren’t even trying anymore?
The Big Lebowski: A XXX Parody (2010)
The review of “The Big Lebowski” porn parody was a long time coming… no, I must keep going. Anyway, this review is long overdue for the simple fact that upon watching the PG-13 trailer for the porn parody of one of the greatest films of all time, I found myself mighty giddy at the prospect of a porn parody of the Coen Brothers film. Sure half of the time porn parodies are just lame excuses to grab money from consumers, but on other times, we get “The Big Lebowski a XXX Parody” a hilarious and inventive porn spoof that is 65 percent parody of the original films, and 35 percent hardcore porno. And I guarantee if you’ve seen the original films a thousand times over like I have, you’ll get a kick out of the subtle and not so subtle changes to the original film for porno consumers.
Our Top Ten "Treehouse of Horror" Episodes!
In spite of what you may think of the current state of “The Simpsons,” the fact remains that the show is a dynasty and the annual “Treehouse of Horror” episodes however bland or mediocre they have become are a tradition and one that garners good ratings for FOX every year. “Treehouse of Horror” began as a little nod to Halloween with spoofs of The Twilight Zone and classic urban legends and soon rocketed in to something of an event for the entire crew of The Simpsons to satirize and poke fun at classic horror movies to great episodes of The Twilight Zone. Zombies, King Kong, Robots, Monkeys Paws, Aliens, Witches, Frankenstein, haunted houses, nothing was off the table, and this allowed the creators of the series to throw a party every year for us horror fans to show us what they can do when they rode off the rails of the storyline and allowed for some fun to be had and blood to be shed.
Though none of the new installments have actual tree houses, the origin of the yearly gimmick began with “Treehouse of Horror” where Homer, deciding to scare Bart and Lisa, begins listening in on separate horror stories told by Bart and Lisa in a treehouse, both of whom tell the scariest stories they can think of in an attempt to scare each other. What begins as mocking laughter soon transformed in to Homer going back to bed that night realizing he couldn’t quite go back to sleep thanks to the effectiveness of a good horror story, properly told by two little children with a lot of imagination. While none of them are at all really disturbed by one another, Homer has learned that a good horror story can do wonders for inducing insomnia. Horror is best when imagination is at play, and “Treehouse of Horror” took what was a one and done little nod to Halloween and turned it in to its very own gimmick going balls to the wall every year devising some of the best moments in the series barnone.
Here are ten of our favorite moments from “Treehouse of Horror,” episodes brilliant, hilarious, and just plain memorable.
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Undead (2010)
I was a little hesitant to actually sit down and watch Jordan Galland’s horror comedy since its box describes it as being akin to a Woody Allen film as well as an homage to Shakespeare, because let’s face it, horror fans just don’t care about Shakespeare much. But what I experienced was something of a mixed bag of a horror comedy that is both very intelligent and very entertaining. Not only does the film manage to subtly breakdown famous stage plays and literature of all kinds, but it’s a horror comedy very much in the vein of the eighties comedies in which our hero is an inept schlub who is oblivious to the horror around him until it’s much too late to do anything about it.
Monty Python's Life of Brian (1979)
Monty Python takes no prisoners with what is a movie based around the stupidity, hypocrisy and inherent fallacies of religion, and the entire idea of martyrdom, in which a man named Brian seeking only to gain some sense of importance is suddenly a messiah and god, and only by accident. He has the origins of a normal Biblical figure, but after encountering Romans, mindless followers, moronic praisers, violent apostles, and the like, Brian mid-way discovers that he really never wanted to be anywhere near as important as the boy born in the manger next to him named Jesus.