Imps* (1983) User Reviews

Imps

[BandSAboutMovies · 3/10 · 30 November 2023]

Immoral Minority Picture Show was made in 1983 and went unreleased until 2009. It's very much a Kentucky Fried Movie but probably closer to Movie 43.

Director and writer Scott Mansfield - yes, the same director as Deadly Games - put together this sketch-filled movie and sure, most of them aren't funny, but there's a great slasher sequel parody called Don't Scream On My Face that has a great part for Linda Blair. There's also a Lite Blood ad with Count Dracula (James Sikking) talking about how he needs to cut the fat. And John Carradine introduces great moments in Polish history, which means he sits in silence. How about a slasher called The Hanukah Horror?

None of these jokes are funny but I can't hate a movie that includes such a cast. I mean, David L. Lander and Michael McKean as Third Reich soldiers? Marilyn Chambers as Marilyn Chambers? Colleen Camp is in this! Barbara Bosson (did she and Sikking ever talk about this on Hill Street Blues?)? Georg Stanford Brown from Roots and the former husband of Tyne Daly? Sybil Danning? Juila Duffy? Meadowlark Lemon and Jimmie Walker as the first black men on the moon? Deborahg Harmon? Sunny Johnson (Flashdance)? Audrey Landers from Dallas? Kim Lankford from Knots Landing? Squire Fridell (Ronald McDonald in Mac and Me)? P. J. Soles!?! Wendi Jo Sperber!?! Jennifer Tilly? James MacKrell (Lew Landers in Gremlins and The Howling)? Ed Marinaro (did he also discuss this movie on the set of Hill Street Blues?)? Diana Muldaur? Newhart's William Sanderson and Peter Scolari? Bruce Weitz (can I make that Hill Street Blues joke again? I can.)? Fred Willard? Keenan Wynn?!? Jere Rae Mansfield, who called herself "the blonde that died on every Aaron Spelling show?" Marie-Alise Recasner (Island of Blood)? Miguel A. Núñez Jr. (Spider from Return of the Living Dead)? Erika Eleniak? Adult director Paul Thomas? Karen Lorre? Sniglets Rich Hall?

Yes, it's not good, but I loved it.

A comedy that went unreleased for over twenty years... now see why!

[capkronos · 2/10 · 28 February 2009]

THE KENTUCKY FRIED MOVIE (1977) is a good example of a collection of comedy skits done right. IMPS* (which stands for The Immoral Minority Picture Show) on the other hand is an example of just how grueling this format can be when everything goes horribly wrong! Even Saturday Night Live on its worst day is funnier than this. I'm not really sure when IMPS* was actually filmed (checking the end credits says the DVD issue year of 2008), but it was obviously some time in the early 1980s since several of the actors here were dead by the middle part of the decade. So is it a bad sign that it took about 25 years to actually release this? Absolutely! You will find yourself groaning and rolling your eyes about twenty times more than you'll snicker at this childish, horribly unfunny collection of skits that poke fun at various movies, TV shows, sporting events, news programs and commercials, as well as Nazis, gays, blacks, "Pollocks," Mexicans, Jews, "orientals" and other groups. I personally don't mind off color or offensive humor at all, but this movie doesn't go far enough to be over-the-top and outrageous, nor does it cleverly play up on stereotypes or anything of the sort. Though I can't recommend anyone watch this, it's now of some interest as a curio piece because of the ensemble cast. Here we have a very interesting mix of up-and-coming young film and TV stars, washed-up former stars in their twilight years, magazine centerfolds, porn stars, cult/horror staples and even a Harlem Globetrotter!

One of the highlights is an ever-so-mildly amusing horror spoof "Don't Scream on My Face" (did Edgar Wright see this?) starring Linda Blair as "The Don't Girl," the dumbest horror movie heroine in history who does the expected stupid things (going into the house alone, the basement, the woods, etc.) Jason Voorhees even makes a cameo appearance in this one... using a walker! A young Jennifer Tilly goes to an auction to purchase a well-established bachelor in the next bit. "The 3 Mile Island People" is a sitcom spoof about a literal nuclear family (with Fred Willard as the dad). Marilyn Chambers shows up wearing see-through lingerie in a credit card commercial. Colleen Camp humiliates some poor guy at a bar for no real reason (was this even supposed to be funny?). John Carradine hosts "Great Moments" in Polish history (where an off-screen narrator reminds him there are no great moments in Polish history... har har). Wendy Jo Sperber is the Marquessa De Sade in a music video spoof about S&M and spousal abuse. Julia Duffy narrates a trashy soap opera sketch from a bed on a theater stage. Rich Hall tries to sell us an album from some Don Ho clone. Busty former Playboy model Lynda Wiesmeier plays sex queen Bambi Juliette in what is probably the most amusing segment - "Teenage French Stewardess Nurse Babysitter," though even that just rips off the much funnier "Catholic High School Girls in Trouble" sketch from the aforementioned KENTUCKY FRIED MOVIE.

Jimmie Walker plays "the first black in space" in another segment that also features Keenan Wynn (who passed away in 1986). James B. Sikking gets to play a weight conscious Count Dracula in a stupid "Lite Blood" commercial. The two longest segments; one about a Nazi interrogation (with David Lander and Michael McKean) and the other a slasher/ detective movie spoof called "The Hanukah Horror," yield no laughs at all. There are also commercials spoofing everything from Calvin Klein jeans (featuring a young Erika Eleniak imitating Brooke Shields) to flavorless diet soda (with P.J. Soles) to dandruff shampoo (with Peter Scolari and Audrey Landers) to telephone companies (with Sybil Danning). Other commercial spoof involve super glue, aspirin, deodorant, Shake N' Bake, beer and "quaaludes for kids."

While some of this may sound amusing and many of the themes seem ripe for parody, this "comedy" is so horribly written and has such lame and obvious jokes that the laughs just aren't there. Like ever! I've seldom seen a film like this fail so badly. It's just plain painful to watch. Most of the segments last about a minute, though a few are longer are manage to wear out their welcome pretty quickly. The only thing the film really provides an abundance of is bare breasts, but you could always spare yourself the headache and just watch a porno instead.

Stupid Uncle

[cofemug · 1/10 · 10 March 2010]

Short skit movies are part of the cinematic language in the couple of decades after Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In made ADHD-esquire scenarios a hit, and both National Lampoon and Mad Magazine became national treasures (that have both failed at living up to their reputation of late).

In a way, the movies are far and few enough to almost be thought of in terms of clichéd relationships. The Kentucky Fried movie is like your overly-knowledgeable film geek friend who cracks you up. The Groove Tube is like that stoner friend of yours who can't get his mind out of the gutter. Amazon Women on the Moon is your sci-fi geek. And, Imps* is like that stupid uncle that comes over retelling all of the off-color jokes you read on the internet or through viral videos last year, but dumbs them down and doesn't know how to finish the joke.

IMPS* (The Immoral Minority Picture Show) is a collection of skits meant to push the boundaries of good taste, and be a spiteful middle finger to the moral majority. And, it may have pushed some boundaries when it was filmed 25-30 years ago, though I doubt it. Since it was released straight-to-DVD in 2009, the jokes have gotten stale, bland, and feel tame as all hell. In addition, almost all the skits that even think about working either end on a wah-wah trumpet note, or just get lost and should have ended 3 seconds sooner so the finale never comes. Python had it right in that you should escape before the skit goes bad.

IMPS* has no less than 4 skits about deodorant and BO. OOOO, edgy. 1 would have been just fine, thank you. The rest of the skits, with few lasting over 2-3 minutes, are a hodge podge of one-liner adaptations or expansions on older-than-dirt jokes. The best ones include Linda Blair in Don't Scream on my Face, and Wendy Jo Sperber's song about spousal abuse and S&M. The rest just go flat.

And, it isn't good pain to watch this.

I couldn't wait to hit the eject button ...........

[merklekranz · 1/10 · 10 November 2010]

I'm all for skit comedy, and have copies of "The Kentucky Fried Movie", and "Amazon Women on the Moon", as part of my DVD collection. Unfortunately what we have with "Imps", is a twenty year old previously unreleased production, which should have remained unreleased. Now this is coming from someone who appreciates this type of film. There are exactly two chuckles in 80 minutes of "Imps". John Carradine presenting "Great Moments in Polish History", and Keenan Wynn communicating with "The First Black Man on the Moon". Other than these two brief skits, everything else is unfunny. I couldn't wait to hit the eject button. Trust me this is BAD. - MERK

Did not laugh once

[rholdridge · 1/10 · 20 June 2023]

I enjoy skit movies; IMPS is not funny. I get the references. I enjoyed seeing a few actors whose work I follow. This just is not funny. It tries to be Kentucky Fried Movie and Grove Tube but remains boring from the first scene. I enjoy skit movies; IMPS is not funny. I get the references. I enjoyed seeing a few actors whose work I follow. This just is not funny. It tries to be Kentucky Fried Movie and Grove Tube but remains boring from the first scene. I enjoy skit movies; IMPS is not funny. I get the references. I enjoyed seeing a few actors whose work I follow. This just is not funny. It tries to be Kentucky Fried Movie and Grove Tube but remains boring from the first scene.

Deeply inconsistent sketch comedy that mostly just falls flat

[I_Ailurophile · 2/10 · 19 August 2023]

If one revisits the earliest years of cultural landmark 'Saturday Night Live' one will find that, even more than could be said of the show's recent years, the program struggled sometimes with big misses among its many swings. Some jokes just don't land, the acting and comedic timing might be stilted, and the fundamental editing and pacing of and between sketches might be disjointed. Jokes or gags that rely on recent cultural references will not age well, and even less so will be jokes or gags that carry a mean streak and punch down, or which lean on stereotypes or cliches. Why, even setting aside particulars, tastes in humor change over time, and what was stupendously funny at one time may fail to even elicit a smile at another. For that matter, these are problems that trouble sketch comedy at large. So what are we to think of a full-length feature of such a slant that was filmed in 1983, but which apparently didn't see the light of day until 2009? Who can overcome a gap in relevance of 26 years? More so than not, I'm sorry to say that the answer is "not 'Imps.'"

There are many recognizable names and faces who got roped into this, which is kind of impressive since filmmaker Scott Mansfield has completely vanished into the obscurity that he has called home for all his career. There are, I should say, a bounty of splendid ideas all throughout these eighty minutes, including parodies, plays on social situations, absurdism, wry and deadpan humor, situational comedy, sight gags and physical comedy, clever dialogue, the stated references, and much more. Some bits may last a few minutes, while others might be filler of only a few seconds. To Mansfield's credit, some of the intended frivolity is lightly amusing, some of it indeed elicits a smile, and sometimes the assemblage genuinely earn some glad laughs. However, sadly the fact remains that all too much of the length has difficulty even getting one or two happy neurons to fire off.

The issues I indicated above that can plague sketch comedy are proliferate in this film. For all the wit and intelligence that this can claim at its best, too much of the humor falls desperately flat. There are some bits that are altogether offensive in some capacity, or which are at least inappropriate and were never appropriate in the first place; some jokes which do indeed punch down in some measure, mostly with homophobia but also racism, xenophobia, and misogyny; tasteless and bawdy sex jokes, anatomical gags, or otherwise cheap ploys; some moments that are allowed to linger too long, or in which the timing is otherwise off; instances in which the cast is guided into performances that are ill-fitting in one manner or another; and so on. Simply put, the quality is highly variable, and nevertheless tends to languish on the much lower and unfunny side of the spectrum.

I won't say that 'Imps' is entirely without value, because that's just not true. Some of this is really enjoyable! What I will say that is that there is far, far too little value to actually make this worthwhile. It's well made, such as it is, with fine production design, costume design, hair and makeup, cinematography, editing, direction, and so on. Mostly the cast is just fine. None of this especially matters in a movie that's meant to make audiences laugh and fails to do so except in uncommon, scattered, irregular moments. It's possible that this would have met with more success had it actually been released in the 80s, but frankly I doubt even that to be true. What modicum of entertainment the picture is able to provide is all too regrettably small, and I feel bad for those who somehow got involved. It's hardly the worst thing I've ever seen, but there's just not remotely enough fun to be had to ever really earn a recommendation. Whatever it is that drew your attention to 'Imps,' I unfortunately must suggest putting it out of mind and finding something else to watch. If anyone, leave this to only the wildly curious cinephile, who will watch truly anything at all, and look elsewhere.

Put it in context of the era

[Davart · 9/10 · 27 June 2021]

I think most of these reviewer weren't alive or don't remember the 80's a lot of parody commercials here that have long been forgotten or people are too young to relate to - if you remember the 70's and 80's and the show "Not Necessarily the News" you'll enjoy this show, loaded with stars of the day and full of that glorious 80's T&A back when people weren't so uptight and knew how to have fun and enjoy life. Stream it, watch it and enjoy it's not nearly as bad as some humorless people would have you believe. Is it top shelf comedy, nope not even close but it was fun to watch and remember the days before PC.