Highly Overrated But Still Good

Crappy film

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Straight-laced nerd Alistair (an engagingly geeky portrayal by David Weidorff) moves into a college dorm with hardcore stoners Larnell (likable John Patrick Jordan), Brett (a nicely jerky Brian Lloyd), and Bachman (amiable Mitch Eakins). Brett orders a mysterious giant old bong named Eebee (voiced with sassy aplomb by Michele Mais) with strange magical powers that causes any person who smokes it to become trapped in a bizarre drugged-out alternate realm from which there is no easy escape. Director Charles Band, working from a blithely absurd and inane script by August White, does a solid job of creating a winningly breezy'n'easy laid-back vibe which gives this picture a certain pleasingly light and frothy buzz. The strip club fantasy set pieces deliver a sizable serving of tasty gratuitous female nudity. The crude special effects are appropriately trippy and outlandish. The cast have a ball with the cheerfully asinine material: Weirdorff makes for an appealing hero, Jordan, Lloyd, and Eakins are all suitably spaced-out as the heavy duty marijuana users, Tommy Chong contributes an excellent turn as sage pothead Jimbo Leary, and both Robin Sydney as the snarky Luann and Kristyn Green as the sweet Janet are sexy and attractive. Popping up in nifty bits are Phil Fondacaro, Tim Thomerson (in a cool cameo as his immortal Jack Deth character), and Bill Moseley. Mac Ahlberg's garish cinematography gives the movie a neat bright look and boasts plenty of snazzy psychedelic scene transitions. The groovy chilling soundtrack hits the get-down funky-digging spot. Good dippy fun.

There was a time whenever I spotted Charles Band's name before a title, I instantly knew that what I would be watching would be nothing less than brilliant! However this is not the 1980's and those glory days of Empire Pictures have long since diminished. Such classics as 'Zone Troopers' & 'Dolls' have now entered into my hall of fame when it comes to my all time favourite Charles Band produced pictures.As we now know, Charles Band's Empire may have crumbled and for over two decades now the vast majority of his output has been hiding behind a Full Moon shadow, only a handful of titles beyond the endless stream of sequels have truly stood out, these being 'Doctor Mordrid' & 'Lurking Fear'.Whatever the downturn in Charles Band's fortunes can be theorised in many ways, we've all read the articles and heard the whispers of his Fagan like approach to business.Now I could claim to be the Charles Band's biggest fan, granted I am a huge admirer of the man and his movies, be they from his Empire heyday or even to the early days of Full moon.Of course my fandom of Mr Band could probably be usurped by someone else out there in fanland, but ever since my first brush with Empire Pictures and a certain movie called 'Ghoulies' I was instantly hooked.However it saddens me to say, that the output being distributed on DVD over the last couple of years has been less than startling. Yes the titles of these movies have been as ever a major highlight, but the execution has been somewhat lacking.In case anyone wondered, I didn't intend on straying to far from the subject matter at hand, you always need that lead in, and so it that I find myself watching 'Evil Bong' a supposed comedy but still in keeping with Charles Band's fantasy and supernatural themes.To be honest the only original highlight about the movie was the editing courtesy of Danny Draven, and the way he cut between the scenes.As the movie approached the eighteen minute marker I suddenly realised that something was rather amiss, for a stoner comedy, I hadn't laughed. It was only when Jacob Witkin appeared as Arnell's grandfather 'Cyril' that I actually found my smile.His character was similar to that of Rip Torn's foul mouthed world weary Patches O'Houlihan from 'Dodgeball' when he finally exited, it was the same old show.I've often been curious as to who actually writes these scripts for Full Moon, I realise that Full Moon themselves have never accepted unsolicited material, but I would gladly submit an idea to Mr Band for free with no strings attached.There was a run of movies that Band made, sometimes utilising his alias Robert Talbot and the scripts had been penned by Benjamin Carr, now Carr's name sounded so much like an alter ego and sure enough, he was revealed as Neal Stevens.So now I find myself thinking just who is August White, as his name has adorned the last couple of Full Moon flicks. Now whether or not it's the ideas he has to work with or he suffers from a terminal case of writer's block, but the man can't write, he has no ear for dialogue.Bring back C. Courtney Joyner, now there's a screenwriter! Another embarrassing feature to 'Evil Bong' was the cameo's from the likes of Phil Fondacaro, Sonny Carl Davis and more importantly the saddest sight of them all the great Tim Thomerson donning the raincoat to essay the role of Jack Deth for a meaningless walk on.Like I said before, I used to watch a Charles Band production because I knew that I was going to be entertained.These days, they can only be viewed with a critical eye and the biggest sigh the world has ever heard!

After recently accepting a new room mate, three potheads order a bong from New Orleans. It comes with a warning about dangerous effects. And this warning is real: toking up will take the marijuana enthusiast to Bong World, where they encounter strippers who want nothing more than to take your soul.Charles Band is a strange man. He apparently sits around, looks at random objects in a room, and decades they could be a monster. R. L. Stine had a similar method, I think. In this case, after puffing and passing, Band saw his bong and knew he had struck Acapulco Gold. Except that this film turns out to be completely schwag.The writing is pretty good, as far as the one-liners and conversations go. But there is no plot (unless women grinding on poles is a plot) and the execution is just awful by the main characters. The only actor who was at all convincing was Tommy Chong, who was more or less playing himself (an aged stoner who has become immune to the powers of the weed). The directing? Nothing special.We are given a glimpse of upcoming starlet Kristyn Green, who did alright as the main character's love interest. Michelle Mais does the voice of the Evil Bong, which looks mysteriously like the mushroom from "Troll" (another Band-Buechler film). There's Phil Fondacaro, who you probably just know as "the bearded midget" (another "Troll" actor). He convinced me that he was a bearded midget. The most unusual cameo is from none other than that jerk Bill Moseley as a strip club patron. He appears for about thirty seconds, makes a crack about being in the wrong place (I assume he means this movie) and leaves.One appearance I can't even begin to understand is that of the Gingerdead Man (voiced by John Carl Buechler). Why do we need to have him in this film pleasuring himself in a world full of strippers? An evil bong and satanic strippers weren't enough, so we had to cross the line with a demonic cookie. Thanks, Charles Band. You're either a genius or nearly retarded.I guess I found the film somewhat enjoyable as far as it being one of those "so bad it's almost good" movies. With no plot, poor acting and nothing but naked women, it's not going to be one of those horror films that end up on t-shirts at the next Fangoria convention with quotes we all love. Unless they use a line like "He destroyed the bong, but perished in the attempt." For some reason, that struck me as funny. But please don't watch this film unless you're familiar with Band and need his kind of pathetic film-making to make you happy.

I saw this in my local Blockbuster, and seeing that it had stoner movie legend Tommy Chong in it, I had to check it out.As stupid as the jokes were, they were jokes that you didn't have to think about... those are the kind that are truly enjoyable.I could probably recommend a better movie than this (Idle Hands), but let's not forget that this is a stoner movie.I also just read another comment that said that it might have been pro-terrorism, what with Tommy Chong's character blowing up the bong... it's not. It's a lost concept called self-sacrifice.Now for my verdict: this is at least a 6 out of 10.