Entertainment
The 1980s Comedy Flop Turned Cult Classic That Never Gets Old, Stream Right Now
By Robert Scucci
| Published
At the height of “Weird Al” Yankovic’s first wave of popularity, he made the decision to pivot to filmmaking and pen the screenplay for UHF. Known for subverting viewer expectations with his parody music videos, Weird Al made a wholehearted attempt to do the same thing with his feature film debut, and the end result is exactly what you’d expect. The final product is a movie that’s as insane as Weird Al’s hair and one that’s now celebrated as a cult classic despite the lukewarm reception it received upon its release.
It’s Exactly What You Expect
At first glance, UHF is your classic underdog story centered on Weird Al’s George Newman. Following the usual beats, George is a slacker with a penchant for daydreaming that causes him to lose focus and, with that, his many short-lived jobs. Everything changes for George when his uncle Harvey (Stanley Brock) wins ownership of Channel 62 in a poker game and gives George full creative control.
On a diet consisting primarily of Twinkies, hot dogs, and Easy Cheese, George immediately gets to work with experimental programming in an attempt to save the UHF network from bankruptcy. After the initial failure of Uncle Nutzy’s Clubhouse, which comes off as a cross between Pee-wee’s Playhouse if it were hosted by Mr. Noodles from Sesame Street while high on bath salts, George is ready to drown his sorrows in a blueberry daiquiri and give up on his dreams.
However, when the show becomes an unexpected hit after George hires recently-fired Channel 8 Janitor Stanley Spadowski (Michael Richards) to take his place, Channel 62 becomes the highest-rated channel in the region.
In order to be a true underdog story, UHF needs a villain which comes in the form of Channel 8 CEO RJ Fletcher (Kevin McCarthy). RJ decides to buy the channel from Harvey, who signs over the rights because he owes a considerable amount of money to his bookie. George decides that he’s not going to go out without a fight and continues to offer his newfound audience more of the ridiculous programming that made the network an overnight success in the first place.
A Box Office Flop Turned Cult Classic
Through its predictable narrative construct, UHF sets itself apart from its contemporaries because it’s clearly from the warped mind of Weird Al, who offers what can only be described as multiple levels of visual assault. Not only is the main narrative loaded with slap-stick humor, but the programming found on Channel 62 plays out like a Weird Al music video but with a Hollywood budget. Thanks to Weird Al’s innate instinct to lampoon anything and everything, we bear witness to a solid Indiana Jones parody sequence, as well as a surreal movie trailer suggesting that Mahatma Gandhi is a blockbuster action hero in this universe.
For its willingness to never take itself seriously, UHF‘s inherent ridiculousness garnered a 64 percent critical score against an audience score of 77 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. The biggest criticism that UHF received upon its release is that it plays out like a number of disjointed skits instead of an entirely cohesive story. But it’s worth noting that there is a satisfying yet predictable resolution to the premise.
Commercially speaking, UHF only earned $6.1 million at the box office against its reported production budget of $5 million. Since UHF failed to be a commercial success, it was not widely distributed for home viewing and quickly went out of print. While out of print, audiences made it clear that there was a demand for the film, and circulating VHS copies ended up selling for over $100 for those who were eager to get their hands on it.
By 2002, MGM gave UHF a wide DVD release, and it quickly became a best-seller. These days, UHF is celebrated as a cult classic and a must-see for anybody who is willing to let their guard down and let Weird Al do his thing. And thanks to streaming platforms like Tubi, you can watch UHF for free today.
Entertainment
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Entertainment
R-Rated Director’s Cut Of The Worst X-Files Movie Is Streaming In Less Than A Month
By Chris Snellgrove
| Published
Possibly no TV series ever made has had such a meteoric rise and epic fall as The X-Files. The early seasons captivated ‘90s audiences with a potent combination of sexy lead actors and stories about alien abductions and government conspiracies. The franchise arguably hit a high point with the first movie, The X-Files: Fight the Future. Unfortunately, it was all downhill from there. Later seasons got progressively worse, and David Duchovny eventually left the show for good. He came back for the worst revival in television history, one that followed up on some of the revelations of the second movie, The X-Files: I Want To Believe.
Whereas Fight the Future advanced the complex mythology of the series, I Want To Believe was modeled more after the series’ monster-of-the-week episodes. Unfortunately, the monster was weaksauce, and the film’s vestigial ties to some of the stupider lore really dragged it down. But could this failed film be one good edit away from being a banger? Chris Carter seems to think so. Last year, he teased that he was working on an R-Rated director’s cut of the film, one that brings it to bloody life like never before. Now, fans will be able to judge for themselves: The X-Files: I Want to Believe Vrach Frankenshteyn will begin streaming on Hulu on August 14.
Somehow, Mulder And Scully Returned
The X-Files: I Want to Believe is a movie where Mulder and Scully have long since left the FBI; she’s a doctor, and he’s a hermit. But when an FBI agent gets kidnapped, and a Catholic priest starts seeing her in psychic visions, the Bureau gets Mulder to consult on the case because of his prior experience with all things spooky. Unfortunately, the PG-13 movie was a flop: it has a 32 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes from critics and audiences alike. It also earned only $68.4 million against a $30 million budget, with its box office likely suffering because it premiered only one week after Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight.
It’s a movie so bad that most X-Files fans would rather forget that it exists. However, when Chris Carter appeared on David Duchovny’s Fail Better podcast last year, he said that he was working on an R-rated director’s cut and hinted that it would premiere on streaming. “Now I have a chance to go back and make the scary movie that I always intended to make,” he said. “It’s not just doing a director’s cut to do a director’s cut. It’s really kind of bringing to life something that for me was on the page and never got to the screen.”
It’s Alive!
For better or for worse, the teasing is over. Previously, the new cut (titled The X-Files: I Want to Believe Vrach Frankenshteyn) was set to debut on Disney+ in June, but it got quietly yoinked off that streamer’s schedule to make time for some last-minute tweaks. Now, the movie is set to premiere on Hulu on August 14. While Carter is excited to show us his original vision for this flawed sequel, it’s not yet clear how it will differ from the theatrical version. It’s also not clear what the weird new title is about, though many think it’s a hint that Carter has, Frankenstein-style, cobbled together a new film out of assorted footage that had been left on the cutting room floor.
Will this director’s cut from Chris Carter leave fans screaming “it’s alive,” or will we just want to burn the movie with fire? Like Mulder always says, the truth is out there. And we can find out together: The X-Files: I Want to Believe Vrach Frankenshteyn premieres on Hulu on August 14. Here’s hoping it can help to erase the stink of Season 11 from our collective minds!
Entertainment
The Greatest Star Trek Icon Just Created A Vulgar Heavy Metal Band
By Chris Snellgrove
| Published
To this day, the greatest Star Trek icon is William Shatner. As Captain Kirk, he taught all of us the importance of boldly going where no man had gone before. In many ways, the actor has led his life by this philosophy: after dominating sci-fi, he killed it in other genres, including cop dramas, legal procedurals, documentaries, and so much more. Heck, he even headlined some infectiously charming commercials for Priceline. After a while, it looked like there might be no new worlds for Shatner to conquer. However, he’s about to boldly go into his own final frontier with the project of a lifetime: leading his own heavy metal band!
I’ll be the first to admit that this news feels like something out of a fever dream. But as William Shatner’s colleague Avery Brooks once said so memorably on Deep Space Nine, “it’s real!” Shatner has assembled a heavy metal band called The *uckers, and they will be making their debut on September 20th at Chicago’s Riot Fest. This will be the group’s first live performance, but in a truly bizarre twist, their appearance took nearly two decades to arrange.
Captain Kirk Gets Heavy
While Riot Fest is mostly about established musical acts, they have a charming tradition of trying to woo various celebrities into attending and performing. For example, after a decade of increasingly wacky invites, the festival eventually convinced Full House star John Stamos into performing alongside the Beach Boys. Similarly, Riot Fest has courted Shatner for the last 17 years. He finally said yes, but instead of performing with a well-known band, the Star Trek legend decided to assemble his own group, the equivalent of a musical away team.
Apparently, both the actor and the festival know how silly it is to have William Shatner playing heavy metal, and they collectively decided to lean into the humor by publishing a hilariously outlandish rider by the actor. The rider includes demands for Chicago to let Shatner co-anchor the local weather, name some local food after him, let him sing “Take Me Out To the Ball Game” at a baseball game, and name a boat after the actor that he can then captain.
Let’s Open Up This Pit!
Additionally, the rider requests a dressing room themed as “Shatner’s Shag Shack,” a bunch of adoptable puppies, an intro video from Gwar, and a bunch of Faygo that is not to be shared with the Insane Clown Posse. Oh, and he wants his artist’s golf cart replaced by a Delorean. Believe it or not, these are just a few of the winking, outrageous, and almost certainly fake demands.
Obviously, most of this is tongue-in-cheek, and as a Star Trek fan, it’s great to see Shatner playing along. But he also expressed some real sincerity in an official statement, writing that, “I’ve always believed that music, like space, is about exploration. Riot Fest is exactly the kind of place where anything can happen.” Continuing, he wrote, We’re bringing volume, intensity, and a few surprises. I can’t wait to share this experience with the fans.”
Somehow, Mr. Tambourine Man Returned
While Shatner is new to heavy metal, he’s not new to music, having released several albums in the past. Instead of taking on Riot Festival solo, the Star Trek actor assembled a band, The *uckers, consisting of several well-known musicians. This includes Marcus Nand on guitar, Phil Soussan on bass, Britt Lightning on guitar, and Fred Aching on drums. Together, they will play reimagined songs from Shatner’s musical history as well as songs from their amusingly titled debut album, What the F Is Heavy Metal. As he told People, “That’s the name of the album because I know nothing or didn’t know anything until I found out how little I do know.”
Want to see William Shatner make his inexplicable heavy metal debut? Be sure to save up your latinum and snag tickets to Chicago’s Riot Fest, which runs from September 18-20. On Instagram, the actor claims it will be an event that fans will want to tell their grandchildren about. We’re inclined to agree: one way or another, Shatner beaming into his metal era is something nobody will ever forget!
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Window World 450 qualifying rained out; Ryan Blaney placed in pole
