THROWBACK THURSDAY with MUNCHIES (1987) starring Harvey Korman

ER contributor and pal Devin Kelly mentioned 1994's MUNCHIE STRIKES BACK (starring Howard Hessman) the other day and it got me thinking about the post-GREMLINS (1984) wave of crazy critter cinema that produced such classicks as TROLL (1986), GHOULIES (1984), HOBGOBLINS (1988), SPOOKIES (1986) and, of course, CRITTERS (1986). 

But it also got me wondering about the relationship between MUNCHIE STRIKES BACK and 1987's MUNCHIES, exec-produced by Roger Corman for his Concorde Pictures. As it turns out, there's only a tenuous relationship as MUNCHIE STRIKES BACK director Jim Wynorski had lensed 1992's MUNCHIE (with Loni Anderson and Andrew Stevens!) after a request from Corman to create a MUNCHIES '87 sequel. Wynorski discarded the idea, came up with the more kid-friendly "Munchie" puppet and cracked the lucrative family flick market. The success of the first film led to the proposed sequel getting a sequel of its own, the aforementioned MUNCHIE STRIKES BACK.

Somewhere along the way I remembered that I reviewed the original (sic) MUNCHIES back when it was released on home video and thought I kinda liked it. After digging through a few back issues, here's my original review of MUNCHIES from MGM/UA Home Video from the pages of Exploitation Retrospect #9 (September 1987), complete with excessive use of commas.

Roger Corman made a career out of taking a hit film, stealing the idea, and then milking it shamelessly. That's my man. (For proof, see ALIEN and the Corman film FORBIDDEN WORLD.) Since leaving New World Pictures, Corman's output has slackened a bit, but his new arm, Concorde Pictures is finally beginning to pick up the slack.

Tonight, I watched MUNCHIES, a film Corman acted as Exec. Producer for. This is a blatant, shameless rip-off of the Steven Spielberg/Joe Dante film GREMLINS. Nothing new, since one of Dante's best films is PIRANHA. That flick, produced by Corman for New World, is a blatant, shameless rip-off of Steven Spielberg's JAWS. What goes around comes around don't it.

Starring Harvey Korman in a dual role (yes, an evil twin story), the pic tells the story of an archaeologist (Korman #1), who finds a creature that resembles a clearance table GREMLINS plastic toy from the local K-Mart. I can hear Corman now: "Ah, just slap some Vaseline and a piece of cloth on it and no one will know!"

Upon returning home, Korman's evil twin kidnaps the "Munchie" so that Korman #1 can't get the money to pay off his house or land or something. Complicating matters are Korman #1's son and his gal-pal, and Eddie the son of the local sheriff. Weird stuff.

There are a few good jokes, especially when the Munchies steal an AMC Gremlin, and the line "LA is like New Jersey, only with earthquakes." However, the film never goes beyond the "better than expected level".

One thing that really bothered me about the film was the musical score, which amounts to nothing more than a blatant rip-off of the music Danny Elfman composed for the film PEE-WEE'S BIG ADVENTURE. While this did bother me a bit, I shouldn't expect anything else from Corman. Ah well, give it two and a half stars. – Dan Taylor

Dan Taylor is the editor/publisher of Exploitation Retrospect and reading his old reviews makes him cringe.

MUNCHIES (1987) is out of print and goes for more than expected on the secondary market like Amazon and eBay.

#TBT: Take a Ride on Larry Cohen's THE AMBULANCE (1990) starring Eric Roberts from ER 39

If it's Thursday it must be time for another review ripped screaming from the pages of Exploitation Retrospect: The Original 43. This week's review was inspired by a recent viewing of the film in question by ER contributor Devin Kelly. The ensuing on-line chatter about Larry Cohen's THE AMBULANCE sent me digging for issue number 39 and my original thoughts on this underrated thriller from the mind behind such classics as PERFECT STRANGERS, Q and the IT'S ALIVE films.

Like much of the work in his checkered cinematic career, Larry Cohen's THE AMBULANCE played to few (if any) theatrical audiences before making its way to video shelves. And again, like much of his recent output (THE STUFF, RETURN TO SALEM'S LOT, ISLAND OF THE ALIVE), the inattention seems unwarranted. Not that THE AMBULANCE belongs in the upper strata of Cohen flicks occupied by BLACK CAESAR, Q and IT'S ALIVE!, but it does show the same spirited junky fun that marks all of the writer / director / producer's eclectic work.

Eric Roberts – fast becoming an ER fav – stars as a Marvel Comics cartoonist who has a chance meeting with a young woman on her way to a doctor's appointment (Jeanine Turner in a chubby-faced, pre- NORTHERN EXPOSURE role). When she collapses on the street and is whisked away by a vintage ambulance, the cartoonist goes on a mission to find her. With only her first name at his disposal, Roberts continually runs into roadblocks thrown up by hospital staff, the NYPD, and his own employer (woodenly portrayed by real-life Marvel honcho Stan Lee).

Despite initial thoughts to the contrary, the story has something to do with a nefarious scheme involving the use of diabetics as guinea pigs for a scientific/white slavery ring... but it isn't really that important. In fact, the sinister plot is visibly lacking in creepiness, one of the few knocks I can make against THE AMBULANCE. Like all of Cohen's work, the flick's strength lies in the characterization, set-ups and scenes... he continually places characters that we've grown to like to seemingly inescapable, life-ending situations.

With a strong lead turn from Roberts (also great in the dreadful FINAL ANALYSIS and the loud, brilliant BEST OF THE BEST 2) and clever supporting bits from James Earl Jones and Red Buttons, THE AMBULANCE is more fun that it has any right to be. A great beer and Macanudo fick. – Dan Taylor

Dan Taylor is the editor/publisher of Exploitation Retrospect and a contributor to the recently published book, KLAUS KINSKI, BEAST OF CINEMA: Critical Essays and Fellow Filmmaker Interviews (McFarland). He last wrote about MARTIAL OUTLAW for VHS Wednesday.

THE AMBULANCE is available from Amazon.

#TBT: Cannon's NUMBER ONE WITH A BULLET (1987) from ER 11

It was thirty years ago this summer that my buddy Lou and I decided that we needed an outlet for our voluminous opinions about the hundreds of movies that we were seeing each year. The next thing I knew we were out on the tennis courts, batting about names that smacked of both pretension and our love of trash cinema. And that, boys and girls, is how Exploitation Retrospect got its name. Though many of those early issues make me cringe with in-jokes, of-the-time references and attempts at aping better writers (like Joe Bob Briggs), there's still a nugget of a readable review here and there. In this new ER blog feature, I'll be going all Throwback Thursday on you (hashtag TBT!) as I dig through the photocopied pages of the original run of the zine (43 issues published between 1986 and 1995) and yank out something I'm not completely embarrassed to share. So, without further ado and inspired by Valerie Bertinelli's appearances on seemingly every Food Network show my kid watches, here's my look at Cannon's NUMBER ONE WITH A BULLET from November 1987's ER #11...

How many times do we have to see the same tired plot thrown in our faces before it's finally put out to pasture? A crazy cop and a stable cop are partners on the brink of destruction. Their zany antics get them in trouble with the superiors, but they get the job done. One of them is divorced / separated / widowed, etc., but his work gets him through. Oh, did I mention the higher-up in the department who is leaking information to the bad guys? And just in case, throw in a little racial tension by making one cop black and the other white. (Or one Chinese and one white... or one Indian and one black... and so on.)

Ho hum... NUMBER ONE WITH A BULLET is another in a countlessly long line of Oreo Cop retreads with plots more suited to the television screen than the silver screen. Okay, so the opening paragraph could also be used to describe the action hit LETHAL WEAPON, but at least that flick kept the action fast and furious enough that you didn't think about how idiotic, repetitive and familiar the plot really was. That flick also had credible actors like Mel Gibson, Danny Glover and Gary Busey to carry it off. NUMBER ONE has to rely on the questionable talents of Robert Carradine, Billy Dee Williams, Doris Roberts, Valerie Bertinelli and Peter Graves! No wonder this thing disappeared in a week!!!

The story concerns the exploits of Berzak (Carradine) and his partner Frank (Billy Dee). Oh, Berzak is divorced from Bertinelli and Frank plays the trumpet at night in jazz clubs. Ho boy! It seems that ol' Berzak has been watching some guy for years because he's convinced the guy is up to no good. It eventually... LED TO HIS DIVORCE (surprise, surprise)! Finally, after letting a witness they were extraditing get killed, the two partners begin to get close to the drug ring, only to be outwitted each time when the criminal seems to have... INSIDE INFORMATION!!! This is so original!!!

The story jerks along from point A to point Z, barely connecting all the dots in between, and barely keeping me awake as well. The few action sequences are as exciting as watching bread mildew, and it doesn't help that Carradine couldn't act his height let alone convincingly portray and over-the-edge cop!!! (I noticed I'm using the triple exclamation point a lot in this review... this is rarely a good sign!) Billy Dee is no great shakes either and you keep waiting for him to start talking about all the great women he gets when he's plowed out of his skull on Colt 45. I even felt bad for Peter Graves, who still looks like he's embarrassed for appearing in AIRPLANE!

NUMBER ONE ranks right up there with some of the most unwatchable dreck Golan and Globus have ever dumped on us. There are the same guys that have given us AMERICAN NINJA 2, AVENGING FORCE and UNDER COVER? I find this hard to believe. One star. It could have been one and a half if Bertinelli had gone nude, but it was negatory on the celebrity skin so points had to be deducted. – Dan Taylor

Post Mortem: The credits for NUMBER ONE WITH A BULLET reveal some interesting names. The screenplay is credited to a number of scribes including Gail Morgan Hickman, who wrote the story for the mediocre Dirty Harry flick THE ENFORCER as well as the Bronson vehicles MURPHY'S LAW and DEATH WISH 4: THE CRACKDOWN. Unfortunately, other screenplay credits go to SNL writer Rob Riley, Andrew Kurtzman (who also contributed to such delights as CAMP NOWHERE and DOWN PERISCOPE) and James "Don't Call Me Jim" Belushi. Given that pedigree it's a wonder veteran director Jack Smight (HARPER, NO WAY TO TREAT A LADY, AIRPORT 1975, MIDWAY, FAST BREAK and countless television shows) was able to make anything that resembled a coherent film. Future SIMPSONS composer Alf Clausen provides the music and in West Germany the flick was known by the more colorful title of DER BERSERKER, which sounds like an Olaf Ittenbach movie.

NUMBER ONE WITH A BULLET is available from Amazon.