Amazon Women on the Moon

March 17, 2010

Amazon Women on the Moon

We follow up on Kentucky Fried Movie with its spiritual successor Amazon Women on the Moon.  It’s not really a sequel (it’s not a Abraham and Zucker film, indeed I don’t believe many of the team from yesterday’s movie were involved) but it shares the sketch comedy format and the risque sense of humor.  Indeed the central film spoof in today’s movie (a sci-fi fifties movie heavily influenced by such films as Fire Maidens from Outer Space) is credited as a Samuel L. Bronkowitz production.

We’re definitely in the eighties today.  The hair!  The cars!  The plastic boobs!

Two things set this movie aside from its predecessor.  One is the much higher level of star caliber.  Practically every sketch has some big eighties star.  Arseneo Hall, B.B. King, Steve Guttenberg, Michelle Pfeiffer.  Andrew Dice Clay!  It’s the eighties!  The list of big names goes on and on.  The other big difference is that this movie is slightly more cohesive.  It has running gags that go from sketch to sketch and call-backs to bits from much earlier in the movie.

I feel like I’m not doing a great job reviewing the movie because I’m so caught up in watching it.  Really, it is full of very funny moments.  Things like Don “No Soul” Simmons and the Son of the Invisible Man.  And the spoofs have such a sense of respect for their source material.  Things like using incidental music from This Island Earth.  All the studio logos (Universal International and such.)

And once again I must advise you not to turn the movie off before the credits end, or you’ll miss the very strange Paul Bartel and Carrie Fisher!  (Makes me think.. we don’t own Eating Raoul.  Should see about fixing that.)

Also: wow that was a short movie.  Clearly this film was a symptom of the success of the home video market.  It has several references to videocasettes and rentals.  I’m guessing it had barely any theatrical release but did gobs of business in the rental stores of the day.