DVD Review: ELECTRIC BOOGALOO: THE WILD, UNTOLD STORY OF CANNON FILMS (2014)

ELECTRIC BOOGALOO:  THE WILD, UNTOLD STORY OF CANNON FILMS
Written & Directed by  Mark Hartley
Distributed by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment

  If you watched a lot of VHS tapes back in the 1980's, there is no doubt you at some point ran across a Cannon Films tape.  Cannon was one of the most popular labels back in the height of the VHS popularity.  This new documentary, ELECTRIC BOOGALOO is a comprehensive look at the rise and fall of Cannon Films.  Here is a brief synopsis of the film from the Warner Brothers website:

  Director Mark Hartley takes us on a hilarious thrill ride through the masterworks of Yoram Globus and the late Menahem Golan, two movie-obsessed immigrant cousins who became Hollywood's ultimate gate-crashers. With hair-trigger randomness, these cousins of chaos churned out a breathtaking cavalcade of hits and misses, made movies out of posters, released a sequel before the original film, botched plots, bounced checks and burned careers - and in so doing, changed the way movies were made and marketed.

  Cannon Films was responsible for some great films back in the 1980's, including MISSING IN ACTION,  DEATH WISH 2,  SUPERMAN IV, THE LAST AMERICAN VIRGIN, LIFEFORCE, and CYBORG just name a few.  It was very interesting to see how they got the ideas for some of these movies, some of which were almost direct remakes of foreign films.   It was neat getting to see some trailers and clips from these old films, as well as hear about their production issues and problems told straight from the people that were involved.    I saw a lot of films I recognized, but also saw quite a few films I was unfamiliar with.  One of these was a Cannon Film called THE APPLE, which was supposed to be an epic Rock Opera.  Turns out it was a complete flop, but from the scenes showed in this movie, it looked to be one of those "so bad, it's good" type of films.  Needless to say I had to find a copy of this film!  I found a reasonably priced DVD of THE APPLE on ebay.  I can't wait to check it out! 

For a hint at what you will see in ELECTRIC BOOGALOO, check out these clips from the DVD courtesy of Warner Bros. Home Entertainment:

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ELECTRIC BOOGALOO is available now on DVD from Warner Bros.  The DVD contains over 25 minutes of deleted scenes and over 30 minutes of trailers!

CLICK HERE to watch the trailer
CLICK HERE to purchase the DVD