Zip II

Todd Eric Andrews is brilliant in this film, working with a very witty, charismatic and charming character. His presence is not only enough to compensate for a silly plot and a predictable, lifeless romance, but he is also able to bring this sequel to a level higher than the first film. The are a number of amusing moments, and they are genuinely funny this time round, with likable even if very silly characters and Andrews heading the cast. Just like the first entry, this is not a film to watch for nudity, as there is very little. It is not one to watch for the premise either, because all the science behind it is not deeply examined. But, it is a film to watch for amusement - simple good fun.

Zapped with Scott Baio, borrowed from The Exorcist and Carrie and hordes of other films in the horror genre. The sequel tends to go in a different direction, borrowing from teen comedies like Revenge Of The Nerds, Some Kind Of Wonderful and Teen Wolf. The outcome is surprisingly better.

Similar premise as Revenge Of The Nerds finds a group of nerdy Science Club members being muscled out of their giant Science lab by the jocky Key Club members. The Key's want a place to party and the Science lab is just big enough to accommodate their needs. A hitch arises when the new kid in school, Kevin Mathews (Todd Eric Andrews), a sort-of outcast jock, persuades the Science Club members not to give in. The rivalry comes to a head when the two clubs face off in an event called ‘The Penguin Run.'

In the middle of all this rehashed material emerges a formulaic but sweet love story. This is the main reason I found the film so appealing. Kelli Williams(The Practice) plays Lucy, a shy, kind-hearted but nerdy Science Club member who falls in love with Kevin on the first day of school. Kevin spends so much time chasing Amanda, a beautiful Key Club member, that he doesn't notice Lucy's subtle advances. When Lucy attempts to pour her heart out, her awkward insecurities doesn't allow for the words to come the way she intended, `Before you came here all I cared about was studying and now...' Needless to say Kevin chooses the more confident Amanda. Heartbroken, Lucy soon distances herself from him. It is only then that Kevin notices just how beautiful the less attractive girl is.

The only reference to the original Zapped comes with the discovery of prune juice bottles stored inside the Science lab wall. Inside the bottles is the formula which gave Baio telekinesis in the original. Kevin Mathews uses the formula to help win ‘The Penguin Run' among other things. Zapped Again doesn't get bogged down in the implications of having telekinesis the way the original film did. It's more like a background thought in this one.

Despite what some reviews say about Zapped Again, it is not an overtly sexual movie. The amount of nudity in Again equals about one half of a second of screen time. Watch for Linda Blair, Lyle Alzado and Karen Black as teachers.

There was nothing so terribly great about the first Zapped movie, certainly nothing that warranted inflicting a sequel on the American movie going public. But who knows what the producers thought in making another film. I can't believe there was a great demand for a sequel.

All the tumult from the Carrie like prom night that ended the first Zapped movie has died down. It's some eight years later and a whole new group of kids is at Emerson High School. A new misfit of a kid in Todd Eric Andrews comes to town.

After that it's the usual angst as the various cliques in the school shun him and he joins the science club where they find in the lab where Scott Baio accidentally discovered that telekinesis formula. It's seems like he hid a stash of it behind the Albert Einstein picture in a hole in the wall. When Todd imbibes, the high school world becomes his.

Of course Todd's got eyes for the head cheerleader Maria McCann even though Kelli Williams of the science club really digs him. Maria's property of Reed Rudy the head jock at the school and he and Todd keep having it out. Of course Reed's overmatched from the gitgo with that telekinesis thing Todd's got going for him.

The climax at the homecoming was really dumb. Rudy frames the science club and gets their space for his exclusive fraternity and then further tries to humiliate them at the homecoming. But putting them in charge of the food? Dumb, Dumberer, Dumbest, that's just begging for payback. What a MAROON.

It's funny like the first Zapped in a juvenile sort of way and its for them I'd recommend it.

My review was written in March 1990 after watching the movie on Nelson Entertainment video cassette.

This made-for-home video (it even lists a teleplay credit) sequel to 1982's "Zapped" offers the same formula of teen t&a, but it's gotten stale over the years.

With verbal references to the Scott Baio-starring original, pic covers exactly the same territory. Todd Eric Andrews, a poor man's Kevin Bacon, is the new boy at Emerson High School who joins the Science Club and finds Baio's mysterious elixir, which gives him telekinetic powers.

These are used, naturally to cause girls' garments to raise, drop or split on cue. Other dumb gags proliferate as Andr4ews, plain Jane heroine Kelli Williams and their friends fight with the stuck-up campus bullies led by Reed Rudy.

Overacting in the adult roles are Lyle Alzado as the football coach and Sue Ann Langdon as school principal. Linda Blair and Karen Black camp it up in guest shots as teachers.

Limp effort is quite dated, presenting a condescending, old fogeys' approach to the way young people supposedly talk and behave.

This is one of those movies that suffers from painfully poor reviews here at the IMDb, from people who are the most pretentious film snobs you will ever not meet. If you are going to judge this film against something with legitimate cinematic merit, like Citizen Kane, or Seven Samurai, or whatever stock staple film you choose, of course you will be disappointed.

However, if you just want a ridiculous early 90's teen film for a little escapist fun whilst flipping through the channels at 4am on a Saturday night, then you could do a lot worse than this movie. If you are a big fan of teen movies in particular, you may find this pretty enjoyable. It's no Breakfast Club, don't get me wrong. It's complete crap. But it's fun crap.

So, if you are the kind of person who generally enjoys teen movies and has a high tolerance for zany antics, over the top performances, and silly plots, then you should watch this movie in the event that you happen across it.

If you are the kind of person who refuses to acknowledge anything as cinema except for films produced during the French New Wave, then not only should you avoid this movie, but also, maybe not waste so much time and energy criticizing it so harshly, you Godard-watching hippie.