DARE-AOKE: Munchie Strikes Back

Munchie Strikes Back (1994, US, dir. Jim Wyrnorski)

There’s a story behind this one. As our dares surely died around July (and we had stopped watching them before that even), there have been no real viewing challenges for a little while now. While I never stop intentionally catching bad movies (hi, Death Race at midnight for no apparent reason), there have been none assigned to me. I'll do it myself, then. The company I work for is bankrupt and recovering, and as a means of said recovery they closed up shop on a number of stores, and had an outside contractor buy all the titles they wanted. The rest the company sold off in super sales. I mean, we’re talking dollar movies, and I got some great titles. I also picked up this terrific Roger Corman production, which is (get this) a sequel to Munchie...

...which itself was a family friendly sequel to the not-so-family-friendly (yet still PG rated) Munchies...

Munchies, of course, was the Gremlins rip-off we all remember so fondly. No? Nobody? Munchies is NOT to be confused with Critters...

OR with that other Gremlins rip-off Ghoulies...

Adorable, isn't he? Phew! You got all that? I have no idea why I actually chose to buy this heap of shit, but perhaps its this irresistible alien star on the cover, who appears to look a bit like Vincent Gallo as a burn victim in blackface.

See? When his animatronic mouth moves to (not really) fit words, and those eyes blink and bulge at the wrong times, you can’t help but fall in love with him. Madly, madly in love. The best thing is that occasionally his eyes go crazy, and his eyebrows spaz out, and it looks like he might be having a stroke. MIGHT. We have no proof of it. At any rate, Munchie returns (though no longer voiced by the enigmatic Dom DeLuise) to help out ANOTHER kid using his magic powers. We aren’t really told the limits of his powers, much like Superman. He’s like a genie in a bottle, only there are no limitations to the wishes. Meanwhile, Munchie is on trial back in his homeworld for using those powers. Can’t they see he’s HELPING people? He better get a good lawyer, counter sue.

I know what you’re asking; don’t you need to see the original Munchie first, so as to follow the continuing storyline? No, idiot! That’s the beauty! I have seen Munchie, and Munchies, both when I was younger, and though I’ve forgotten anything that happens in them, their memories will forever be etched in my heart. In other words, you’ll pick up easily when Munchie helps young Chris mow the lawn by putting the lawnmower on autopilot. Unfortunately, the cranky gay neighbor Mr. Poindexter's tending to his garden next door! You can see where this is going. But can you? In a wildly unpredictable twist, the lawnmower hunts down Mr. Poindexter and his little dog, and RUNS THEM OVER. In true cartoon-ish fashion, Mr. Poindexter and his little dog have bad haircuts and are covered in dirt. He’s probably got a blacked out tooth, too. Lawnmowers do that!

I also particularly loved during Chris’ little league game that Munchie saves (SPOILER ALERT!) where they couldn’t afford the rights to John Fogerty’s "Put Me In Coach," so they get some bargain bin copycat to do something almost exactly like it. Of all songs to try to ape, I don’t think this was the best one. This is a brilliant film. Munchie makes a baseball fly around somebody as they swing wildly, and the umpire’s response is "that was the strangest thing I’ve ever seen." Strange? A baseball acting possessed? This guy should be absolutely freaking the fuck out! Munchie’s making Chris throw 100 mph fastballs, and send the balls into the stratosphere off a homerun! I would imagine the whole crowd would be running to church to pray for salvation, as this black magic is surely a sign of the apocalypse. We learn that Munchie has alledgedly been helping important figures throughout history accomplish everything, like Christopher Columbus, Napoleon, and those Egyptians who built the pyramids. Yup. Cultural phenomenon Munchie. It's not often you get to see the shaper of our world AND Angus Scrimm in the same film. Munchie promises to be back, and he's assigned to help out President Clinton! Ahh!! I will warn you there were no further sequels.

I'll leave you with this wonderful quote from a Netflix review: Once again, however, the cover is dishonest: at no time does Munchie ride the planet Saturn like a surfboard.

Touche! I know, right??? Why did I write so much about this??? I'm really, really hung over. -M