Munchies

Cute and playful, but lame and cheap. 'Munchies' is another Gremlins clone to come out from the 80s. I'm not much of a fan of the imitations.

First it was the excellent 'Gremlins'.

Then came the very average 'Critters'.

Lets not forget the lousy 'Ghoulies'.

But the complete pits would have to go to 'Hobgoblins'.

Is there more??

Now 'Munchies' for me would have to fall somewhere between 'Ghoulies' and 'Hobgoblins'. Actually I probably found it more entertaining than 'Ghoulies', but I preferred thst one's darker tone.

From the get-go it plays up its goofy nature (which it's better for it), but due to that nature the hammy acting (Alix Elias and Charlie Phillips), can get rather overbearing that you rather just see the munchies running amok. That's where the fun occurs. Mostly light-hearted fluff though, as the story mainly centres on the munchies (who are either hungry, horny and destructive) in a whole bunch of supposed comical encounters (some moments do work) in the small desert town as a couple of people are on the chase. It's silly, but strangely engaging thanks to the zippy pacing. The creatures themselves look rather bland and poorly detailed, as they're basic dolls being chucked about. Where their personalities arrived from is that they can actually speak... and with attitude.

Charlie Stratton and a feisty Nadine Van der Velde (who was in 'Critters') were fair leads. Harvey Korman was acceptable in two roles. Robert Picardo also pops up.

Amusingly low-cut entertainment for the undemanding.

Another film watched for the "How Did This Get Made" podcast, "Munchies" is a film rather cynically designed to cash in on the success of "Gremlins" and the similar low budget versions that aped it. Having fallen asleep during my first attempt to watch the film (let's not judge it based that though) I picked up from where I could remember and finished the film.

Whilst trying to prove that Machu Picchu was built by Aliens, Simon Watterman (Harvey Korman) returns to America with his son, Paul (Charles Stratton) and a strange creature they've discovered. The creature is kidnapped by Simon's twin brother Cecil (Harvey Korman) who wants Simon's land for himself, but Cecil's stepson, Melvis (Alix Elias) gets frustrated and attempts to kill the creature, inadvertently transforming one into four. More aggressive as a group, they start to terrorise the town, whilst Paul tries to chase them down.

It wasn't the films fault I fell asleep the first time I tried to watch it, but it really didn't help itself. The budget is, as I say, modest and the puppets that result from it are pretty rubbish. Their made of a hard rubber and are incapable of much in the way of movement. The performances are generally quite poor, Korman is probably the standout, as you might imagine, but even he's struggling against a shallow and confusing plot.

I can get past those sorts of issues though, if the film is interesting around it's budgetary limitations. "Munchies" isn't though, it's predominantly quite boring and the lack of fun scenes really makes it drag to watch.

It's maybe not the worse film I've watched for the podcast, but it's a really bad time and I don't recommend it.

Terrible little film that has small creatures from outer-space terrorizing people in the desert. Harvey Korman plays dual roles in this amazingly bad movie that is nothing but a bunch of stupid scenes pieced together and called a movie. Lowest common denominator film-making from start to finish. Turkey (0 stars out of 5).

Munchies is an interesting film. It's definitely trying to ride off the popularity of creature feature critter movies like "Gremlins" or "Ghoulies," but it does so in an interesting manner. The first part of this movie is a little more straightforward with a few jokes here and there. But a little over halfway through, we go to just straight up comedy. By the end of this movie, rather than being a knock off of the previously mentioned movies, it's more of a parody. Just straight up spoofing movies like Gremlins and Ghoulies. The budget for this film is also so low that we barely even actually get to see the munchies in action. They're hidden for most of the movie and it shows. Overall, if you can turn off your brain for an hour and a half and just have fun, you'd enjoy watching this movie. But if you're looking for absolute cinema, this movie is not for you. Just goofy fun, nothing major.

An excellent performance by Alix Elias highlights an otherwise mis-directed and confused pile of dreck. I have seen this movie, perhaps 12 times, and with each run through, I find less and less pleasure. Why are Munchies so lustful? Is that ever explained? Are they a reflection of our wanton, boorish 'animal selves?' If they are, why not make it more obvious? Why not peal back just a touch of the subtlety that plagues this movie, and make that connection explicit? Another part of this movie that bothers me to no end - motorcycles. The jacket the little monster wears on the front cover seems to suggest 'street-wise' traveler. The sun glasses say 'pretty cool dude.' With all this I'm ready for Easy Rider meets the Muppets. All I get is Munchies (1987). What gives? Stick to the Gremlins series if you're a fan of diminutive, wise-cracking, reptile puppets - it'll give you the treatment you deserve.