Movies
Horror Movie Adaptation of ’60s Variety Show “The Banana Splits” Has Been Rated R for “Violence and Gore”
In a surprise move that was probably inspired by the success of Five Nights at Freddy’s, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment and Syfy announced earlier this year that they’re bringing back the characters from Hanna-Barbera’s variety program “The Banana Splits Adventure Hour” for… a horror movie. And not just any horror movie, but a hardcore rated “R” horror movie.
This week the MPAA has given The Banana Splits an R rating for “horror violence and gore“!
Recently reported by Deadline, kid-friendly (originally, at least) animal characters Bingo, Fleegle, Drooper and Snorky will return in the original movie that’s set to “premiere this year from Blue Ribbon Content, Warner Bros Television Group’s digital studio, via a Warner Bros. Home Entertainment release that will be followed by the television debut on Syfy.”
In the upcoming horror thriller, “A boy named Harley and his family (brother Austin, mother Beth, and father Mitch) attend a taping of The Banana Splits TV show, which is supposed to be a fun-filled birthday for young Harley and business as usual for Rebecca, the producer of the series. But things take an unexpected turn — and the body count quickly rises. Can Harley, his mom and their new pals safely escape?”
The film stars Dani Kind (Wyonna Earp), Finlay Wojtak-Hissong (The Kindness of Strangers), Romeo Carere, Steve Lund (Schitt’s Creek) and Sara Canning (The Vampire Diaries).
Danishka Esterhazy (Level 16) is directing from a script by Jed Elinoff & Scott Thomas.
Thirty one episodes of “The Banana Splits Adventure Hour” aired between 1968 and 1970. Sid and Marty Krofft designed the animal costumes as well as the sets for the series.
Before updating the video nasty Faces of Death, director Daniel Goldhaber and writer Isa Mazzei explored the dangers of online life in tech-thriller Cam, their feature debut that was acquired by Netflix in 2018 after making waves on the festival circuit.
At the end of last year, the Netflix exclusive quietly departed from the streaming platform, left without another streaming home.
It’s not an isolated story; Mike Flanagan’s Hush also left streaming entirely for a period until it was finally picked up on both physical media and other streaming services.
While the tech-thriller currently isn’t available to watch on Netflix, Tubi, Hulu, or any other platforms, that’s not a problem for Cam thanks to a very cool move by Goldhaber: the director has made his breakout film accessible to watch online for free via his website.
As his site notes: “CAM is unfortunately not currently available to view on any platforms, so you can watch it here if you like :).“
No subscriptions or fees necessary, just hit play.
Cam follows Alice (Madeline Brewer), who works as an online cam girl obsessed with her ranking on the cam site. The higher her ranking goes, the more it draws unwanted attention, and Alice soon finds herself replaced on her own show with a doppelganger.
Written by Mazzei, a former camgirl, it uses the horror thriller premise to examine the life of a sex worker; Alice’s career ambition is directly at odds with the shame it brings to her family, and how she tries to spare them from it by keeping them in the dark. It only compounds her danger when the doppelganger enters the equation in Goldhaber’s engaging thriller.
For a deep dive into the treacherous world of Cam, listen to Horror Queers’ episode on it now.
You must be logged in to post a comment.