Well holy
shit… I always thought that children’s entertainment of the sixties and
seventies were scary as hell but never thought someone would get their hands on
one of the properties and do something nuts with it. Then I saw the teaser for
The Banana Splits Movie and did a double take. I’ve been dying to see this
since that trailer and honestly it did not disappoint.
A little
boy, Harley, gets tickets to see the Banana Splits for his birthday. He, his
mom and stepbrother as well as his piece of crap Dad head out for a day of fun.
Drug along with them is a little girl that really doesn’t want to go but is
made to by her mother. Don’t worry this is all presented quickly so that we can
get to the good stuff. They arrive get seated and we meet the behind the scenes
crew including the VP of programming that announces they are canceled. One of
the Splits hears this and that gets the ball rolling.
The Banana
Splits are robots and are programmed with the command the show must go on. The
only logical thing to do is go on a killing spree! I mean they only kill the
adults and just kidnap the kids to ensure they have an audience forever. Again,
the show must go on. This leads to some mayhem as Harley’s mother and brother
do battle with the fuzzy menaces as they try to save the day. Cue the bloody
chaos.
I love
this movie. It is twisted, gory, insane fun the likes of which I’ve not seen in
a long time. The kills are inventive with each one having the sort of payoff
that I’m looking for. There are lollipops jammed down throats, a dude sawn in
half, someone else gets hammered and other keyed. My personal favorite is the
last one where Mitch, the jerk Dad, gets what is coming to him in a spectacular
way. Most of the gore is practical and while it is clear they were limited at
times with budget they do have a couple gags that are awesome. If you dig old
school gore and kills The Banana Splits Movie is going to scratch that itch.
 |
| I love this movie |
The
characters are okay, but the real stars of the movie are the performers in the
suits playing Bingo, Feegle, Snorky, and Drooper. The way they move and
interact with their victims is creepy especially since they act just like the
mascots at your typical theme park do. Instead of going over the top this is
more realistic and therefore much creepier. Not to say there aren’t laughs. I
mean when they had a call back to a line about a big hammer I giggled. Then
again maybe I shouldn’t have. Years of watching horror flicks might have
twisted me a bit. I’m okay with that.
I have
nothing bad to say about this flick. It is amazing to me that they were able to
get the property in the first place, much less go so dark with it. Sure, the
Splits aren’t a huge franchise, but they do have some name recognition.
Everyone needs to go out and purchase a copy of this movie. Horror fans need to
support creative stuff like this otherwise all we are going to get is the same
recycled Hollywood BS! I highly recommend The Banana Splits Movie.
© Copyright 2019 John Shatzer
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