Episode 907-
Hobgoblins
Movie
Summary: The vast, deserted
movie lot of a once-prominent Hollywood film studio is home
to a vicious group of furry, grinning, toothy little aliens
who read their victims' minds and kill them by making their
dreams come true. But I've got this week's show to talk
about, so I'll get back to that situation later.
I'm kidding, of course. That IS the story of Hobgoblins.
There's a lot more, too. Why, there's a nerd who's really
into phone sex; a mean guy with a van who delights in
beating up his friends; a wiry slut with a perpetual sneer
and her uptight never-been-blanked friend; an old janitor, a
bad nightclub emcee, and a hairy bouncer, and all this
disparate crew are united by two very important things: they
can't act and I don't care about them.
Neither will you, once you've seen this movie.
Oh, I forgot, there's our requisite hero who doesn't do
anything. Other than that I can't remember anything about
him.
Just so this summary does its job, here's the basic outline:
These hobgoblins escape the studio, follow a rookie security
guard home, and all his friends are nearly killed by their
perverted fantasies. Following a long scene at a "strip"
club that simply does not fulfill its stated premise, the
hobgoblins somehow get back to the studio (I honestly forget
how and I refuse to go look) where a crotchety older
security guard who's been keeping them trapped for decades
saves the day by blowing them up.
Which, of course, begs the question as to why he didn't do
that a long time ago, but you won't have enough energy to
ask that question, believe me.
Prologue: Everyone on the SOL is turning each other on,
even though (like Robert Palmer) they don't mean to.
Segment
One: Pearl needs the SOL to
store a couch for her, and they immediately don pajamas and
begin jumping on it. In retaliation, she sends them
Hobgoblins.
Segment Two: Crow produces an instruction film for young
men on how to treat women. His only real claim is that they
don't exist.
Segment Three: Crow sets up a crisis hotline for people
watching the movie. Bobo calls with his own kind of crisis
-- he's in love with a woman of another species.
Does he mean Pearl?
Segment Four: Mike has a brilliant plan: They all escape
while decoying Pearl with cardboard cut-outs of themselves
while a crude tape plays. It early works, too.
Segment Five: Servo goes back in time and kicks Rick Sloane
in the shins; Crow reads an interview with Sloane wherein he
says being kicked by a robot gave him the inspiration to do
the movie. In the castle, Bobo and Brain Guy are jumping on
the couch, which makes Pearl quietly yet seethingly
angry.
Stinger: Several shots of the hobgoblins driving a golf
cart.
Reflections: Oh,
man. You have no idea the torture it was to watch this movie
several times in the space of a week. It shoots right to the
top of the list of the worst movies we've ever done.
Speaking personally, the only one I hated as much was
probably Overdrawn At The
Memory Bank, and even that
experience bred a less intense sort of hate, leaving an
aftertaste not quite so malignant and foul.
On the bright side, there's potential for a real peace in
Northern Ireland for the first time in living memory. At
least this movie did nothing to prevent that. -- Paul
Chaplin.
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