The twenty-fifth anniversary edition of "Animal House" starring John Belushi and Kevin Bacon is just as hilarious as the other two editions about an outlaw fraternity on a respectable campus.
--Randy
Animal House: Double Secret Probation Edition
Directors: John Landis
Producers: Ivan Reitman And Matty Simmons
Writers: Chris Miller, Douglas Kenney And Harold Ramis
Features: Fullscreen And Widescreen, Includes New Music Video "Shout" Remade By Music Group Mxpx, Where Are They Now? A Delta Album Update--A Hilarious Mockumentary Featuring The Original Cast, Did You Know That? Universal Animated Anedotes About The Original Production Of The Film, The Yearbook: An Animal House Reunion, Audio-English Dolby Digital 5.1(CC), English Dolby Digital Mono(CC), Subtiltles In Spanish And English.
Characters:
Otter...Tim Matheson
Bluto Blutarsky...John Belushi
Professor Jennings...Donald Southerland
Kent 'Flounder' Dorfman...Steve Furst
Boon...Peter Reigert
Chip Diller...Kevin Bacon
Katy Fuller...Karen Allen
Larry 'Pinto' Kroger...Tom Hulce
Dean Vernon Wormer...John
Vernon
Marion Wormer...Verna Bloom
Stork...Douglas Kenney
D-Day...Bruce McGill
Hardbar...Chris Miller
'Guy With Guitar'...Steven Bishop
Doug Neidermeyer...Mark Metcalf
Greg Marmalade...James Daughton
Genre: Comedy
Review:
The boys of Delta House are back. "Animal House: Double Secret Probation Edition" is the twenty-fifth anniversary and third edition of this perennial favorite. This movie reaches to the little boy inside every man. This film celebrates debauchery, mindlessness and the total disregard for the opposite sex. If "Animal House" had any social value it would take a magnifying glass to find it. This is a film that just doesn't care. Social conventions are tossed out the window with this mockery of college life in 1962. Though taking place at Faber College this film depicts every college or university that ever spiked a keg. These are fun times that were and maybe never to be again. With all the different laws enacted in the last decade against fraternities and the recent Homeland Security laws, almost any miscue could be interpreted as an act of terrorism. Yet, wherever there are misguided souls there is always a chance that another Animal House might be kicked off campus. To these fine sociopaths this film must certainly have been dedicated.
This is a movie about losers. Every school has losers whether it be elementary, high school or college. It is only in college where the losers might be forced to live together and therefore it is only in college that they can band together to become a fraternity of losers. Delta House is for losers. They give no respect because they know they will get no respect. Dean Wormer(John Vernon) is very aware of the Delta fraternity. Anything that goes wrong on campus probably had its' origination from there. He is willing to bend any rule or law to get this house of animals kicked off his campus and out of his life. To do this he enlists the aid of Greg Marlamard(James Daughton) and Doug Neidermeyer(Mark Metcalf), who are the heads of the 'decent' Omega House fraternity, to help him implement his plans. Dean Wormer puts the Delta House on double secret probation because they are already on probation. All he needs now is for them to screw up their grades and he will be home free. Since 'screw up' is Delta House's middle name he doesn't really need the help of Omega House, but he doesn't want to take any chances.
This movie has a fun time with hypocrisy. In one corner are the upstanding pillars of the school and the community that are just so full of themselves. In the other corner are the Delts that just do as they please to the consternation of the decent folk. And if there is one thing decent folk cannot stand is someone having indecent fun. The poster boy for having unrivaled fun is Bluto Blutarsky played by the late John Belushi. Who better to portray a man of excess than a man of excess. Belushi died from a drug overdose many years ago, but his excesses live on in Bluto. This individual is responsible for being the buffoon of the movie. Anything dumb and gross that needs to be done, Bluto will be there. So why is it not surprising to find Bluto peering up cheerleaders' dresses or making the rounds of the sororities as a Peeping Tom.
Masterminding the Delta House is Otter played by Tim Matheson in the finest role of his somewhat spotty career. Otter is the personification of smooth. Handsome and with a devil may care attitude accompanied by a smartass mouth, Otter is the antithesis of Dean Wormer and Omega House. Where they are uptight, Otter is a loose goose. Can they be anything, but mortal enemies.
What sets "Animal House" apart from other college movies is the meanness of spirit coupled with charm that runs through this movie. Women are treated like dirt in this movie, yet no one is overly perturbed because somehow it is done with a charming smile, much like the charm Otter exudes. Either you have it or you don't. Blacks are treated as jungle animals, yet somehow it is done with a certain flair and no one seems to mind. Dead people are tread upon, but as long as it is done with panache it is okay dokey. Underage girls have sex with college students, but is done with verve so who cares? This balance of cruelty and flamboyancy is the key. It is a fine line to walk and almost impossible to replicate. So many movies have tried to supplant "Animal House", but no one can even remember the name of any contenders, they were so distant.
One of the special features this DVD has is a new video version of "Shout" by the group MXPX which was performed in the movie by Otis Day and the Knights. Basically they try to rev it up a beat like the Ataris' did for the Eagles' "Boys Of Summer," but it doesn't have the same success. There is a "Where Are They Now" mockumentary that is not very funny with some of the surviving characters Like Boon(Peter Reigert) and Katy(Karen Allen) talking about their spate of marriages and divorces. Kent 'Flounder' Dorfman(Steven Furst) talks about his success in Cleveland in the group encounter business. Steven Furst has lost so much weight you will barely recognize him. Then there is the feature called "Did You Know That?" which is pretty cool. You can choose to watch the movie with it on or off. It is sort of a printed audio commentary. Once you have it switched on it will print anecdotes beneath certain scenes telling trivia. When Kevin Bacon is first seen in the movie it prints that this was his first screen appearance. When one of the actresses that was in Playboy appears it will state this and give the date she made her debut. In "The Yearbook: An Animal House Reunion" you have interviews with the cast talking about things that went on during the making of the movie. They talk about how a group of them went to a real fraternity party on the Oregon campus where the movie was being filmed, but met a hostile reaction by the men who problably thought they would be running off with their women. John Landis talks about how no college would allow them to shoot on their campus, but the Dean of the Oregon campus invited them to come there. It turns out that this Dean was at another school in the sixties that turned down "The Graduate" to be filmed there. He was not going to let it happen again.
Donald Sutherland(Kiefer's father) who played Professor Jennings is not part of the group in the special features. One reason may be sour grapes. Originally Southerland was brought in to lend the production of the movie a legitimacy since the only actor that had any fame at all in the cast was the little known John Belushi. At this time Southerland was a name having starred in "MASH" and "Kelly's Heroes." He was offered ten thousand dollars and ten percent of the profit or fifty thousand dollars. Appparently he didn't think much of the movie's chances and opted to take the fifty thousand dollars. "Animal House" went on to make over two hundred million dollars and became the top grossing comedy ever made at that time. Donald Southerland blew an easy forty million dollars.
The sound on this DVD is very clear especially when glass is shattered. That's because this edition has 5.1 Dolby Digital sound where the other two editions did not. In the bid to make the consumer buy it and buy it again the next version will probably be DTS which they could easily have put on this, but then they would not have the added incentive for you to keep buying the different versions.
"Animal House" is one of the finest and funniest movies ever made. This DVD should be in every guy's library.
I give this DVD five out of five stars.
----Randy