IMPS* (DVD Review)

6 Feb, 2009 By: John Latchem

IMPS

Street 2/10/09
Monterey
Comedy
$24.95 DVD
Unrated.
Stars Linda Blair, Barbara Bosson, Georg Stanford Brown, Colleen Camp, Marilyn Chambers, Julia Duffy, Sybil Danning, Erika Eleniak, Rich Hall, Deborah Harmon, Audrey Landers, Meadowlark Lemon, Michael McKean, Ed Marinaro, Diana Muldaur, William Sanderson, Peter Scolari, James B. Sikking, P.J. Soles, Wendie Jo Sperber, Jennifer Tilly, Jimmie Walker, Fred Willard, George Wyner, Keenan Wynn.

This artifact from the 1980s serves as a nice time capsule of popular culture from 25 years ago. IMPS*, which stands for the Immoral Minority Picture Show, is a sketch-comedy film in the mold of Kentucky Fried Movie.

It was produced in 1983 and apparently sat on a shelf without a wide release despite a cast that includes a huge roster of 1970s and early 1980s pop-culture icons. Linda Blair (The Exorcist), for example, spoofs her horror-film background in a fake trailer in which she plays a girl who gets mad at the announcer for pointing out her clichéd dumb moves.

As a collection of pop-culture gags, IMPS* offers some good laughs, but the film hits a lull in the middle with a slasher parody called Hanukkah Horror that runs for way too long.

Some of the funnier sketches include an early parody of ESPN in which late-night programming is filled with the “pencil sharpening championships”; a man kicked out of a bar for telling jokes during “unhappy hour”; and a mission controller having trouble communicating with the first black man (Jimmie Walker of “Good Times”) on the moon.

Extras include three deleted sketches of varying quality; a “Whatever Happened To …” series in which still photos of actors from the film are shown with trivia bubbles about their careers; and a “What Should Never Have Happened To …” segment that updates viewers on the lives of the different characters from the movie.