Zapped! - Il college più sballato d'America

It's your basic 80's teen comedy. How can you identify this unique sub-genre? Look for a movie with a good brunette and an evil/bad girl blonde.

Scatman Crothers was probably embarrassed to list this on his resume, but Christopher Aames is actually kinda funny in a few spots: he does a decent Groucho impersonation near the end.

Baio and Schacter have some decent chemistry, and for some odd reason I really like the music. Other then that, it's pretty much a guilty pleasure.

And I ain't joshin'.

Why Scott Baio gets the proverbial shaft when great actors are discussed is beyond me. Here's a cat who has dated all the hottest tail and was the driving force behind what is arguably the edgiest, most acerbic teen flick ever in "Zapped!" ... yet he is often mentioned in the same breath with the two-headed Corey Monster (Haim and Feldman) and his frequent, far less dramatically astute compatriot, Mr. Willie Aames. Such degradation is tantamount to a travesty.

This movie is a cutting comedic triumph. Baio's character makes incisive observations about the empty rhetoric of adolescence, and challenges authority not only with his telekinetic powers, but alcohol, tobacco and sex. And let's examine the telekinesis closer -- is it just another one of those blessing-and-a-curse afflictions that finds the right guy or girl? Absolutely not. We're talking about a uniquely Zen ideal, a manifestation of a young man's private internal nirvana in the laboratory of the local high school. Beakers move, brooms sweep up debris, roulette wheels spin out of control, dad tosses liquid laxative all over himself uncontrollably ... this is a celluloid incarnation of unrivaled genius.

Alas, who am I kidding? This movie is stupid bad. And yet I still love it, dammit. So sue me.

i have not seen an unedited version, but i have to say, this movie ROKS!!!!!!!!!

after i saw the Scott Baio celebrity profile, i fell in love. i looked up Scotty's movie history, and saw this one.

coincidentally it was on Comedy Central about 2 weeks later. even though they always play it at 7 o'clock in the morning. and it is rated TV PG. which means everything good was cut out, ZAPPED is one of my favorites.

i like the line where Barney (Baio) goes: "Are you talkin' to me? are you talkin' to me? well i dont see anyone else here, so you must be talkin' to me" and then Peyton (Aames) says: "then where am i Barn?" i mean sure it is campy, but it got me laughing.

Barney Springboro is really hott and even if Bernadette does fall in love with him, i still watch it every time. i think that ZAPPED is not highly appreciated, because what good teen movies are?? this movie was before the BRAT PACK.

i say that if you hate it, fine. if you have never seen it, watch it! you will be surprised!

Zapped secured the services of three current teen stars to guarantee a box office for this comedic salute to Carrie. The three are Scott Baio from Happy Days, Willie Aames from Eight Is Enough, and Felice Schachter from The Facts Of Life. Would that things had only gone this well for Carrie on her prom night.

Nerdy kid Scott Baio, a misunderstood science genius, gets some kind of chemicals mixed due to baseball coach Scatman Crothers spilling something and a noxious gas overtakes him in the laboratory in school. When he wakes up he finds himself with the power of telekinesis. After that it's one ridiculous situation after another.

One thing about this film, except for the three leads nearly everyone else in the movie is a blithering idiot. Other kids, teachers, Baio's parents, Scatman Crothers is an exception. Best scene in the film is on prom night Baio's parents get a couple of priests to perform an exorcism on him.

As for the prom, the scene is strictly a takeoff on Brian DePalma's Carrie with the damage played for laughs instead of violence. Typical brat pack comedy by three who were trying to break into the pack. Some funny scenes, but mostly kind of dopey.

I just bought a copy of Zapped for $5 and watched it for the first time in several years the other day. All the reviews you will read for the movie here sum it up. It's a bad story, with bad actors, with bad acting, with bad special effects and I enjoy it every time I watch it. I don't know why because I've never liked Scott Baio or Willie Aames in anything else they did, but they click here. I also think Felice Schacter was a cutie in the picture. I always make the comparison to WKRP in Cincinnati when I watch this picture. Felice is Bailey Quarters and Heather Thomas is Loni Anderson's Jennifer (and I preferred Bailey by far). I always got a kick out of Scatman Crothers and he has some great lines in this movie as does LaWanda Page (from Sanford and Son fame). And don't forget the movie industry's biggest geek, Eddie Deezen, who makes an appearance.

As another reviewer put it, watching Zapped is a guilty pleasure. if that's the case, I probably belong on Death Row! If you want to clear your mind of all thoughts and don't want to do it with chemicals, pop in Zapped and enjoy!