Whoops Apocalypse (1986)

Director:

Tom Bussmann

Writers:

Andrew Marshall (writer) &
David Renwick (writer)

Release Date:

February 1988 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | War

Plot:

A British satire on the beginning of WWIII.

Plot Keywords:

Terrorist | Spoof | WWII | Remake | Sadomasochism

Cast

Stuart Saunders	...	Governor of Santa Maya
Graeme Garden	...	Man who walks to the phone
Marc Smith	...	Dan Hickey (TV anchorman)
Loretta Swit	...	President Barbara Adams
John Benfield	...	Secret Service agent
Ben Robertson	...	Secret Service agent
Peter Cook	...	Sir Mortimer Chris
Anthony Correa	...	Convict
Alexander Davion	...	Maguadoran general
Herbert Lom	...	Gen. Mosquera
Daniel Benzali	...	William Kubert (US Defense Secretary)
Phil Marquis	...	Rock pit guard
Murray Hamilton	...	Jack 'Kill the Commies' Preston (former President)
Shane Rimmer	...	Marvin Gelber (US Secretary of State)
Robert Arden	...	White House reporter

Runtime:

Brazil:93 min | USA:93 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Iceland:16 | UK:15 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

England, UK

Company:

Incorporated Television Company (ITC)

Trivia:

Trevor Baxter was booked to play a featured role but was replaced.

Quotes:

Specialist Catering Commander: Duncan! Post the heads to their widows. And get the addresses right this time.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Comedy Connections: One Foot in the Grave (#5.1)" (2007)

Soundtrack:

WHOOPS APOCALYPSE

Wildly anarchic and highly entertaining spoof

As anyone who loves extreme comedy will tell you, there is the play-it-safe school (think VERY BAD THINGS, for example) where the film-makers lack the courage of their convictions, and there is the real thing, where the film-makers rampage through all notions of taste and decency with the reckless abandon of an amphetamine-addled bull in a china shop. Luckily, WHOOPS APOCALYPSE belongs firmly to the latter category, and it remains somewhat amazing that this film actually got made, because there is practically nothing - sacred or otherwise - that escapes this pungent satire's lethal swipes. The Prime Minister is insane, the President incompetent, the former Presidents an ex-circus clown and a convict ("How's life?" "Still serving it!") respectively, the SAS are slap-happy thugs, the popular press are semi-retarded buffoons, a member of the royal family is repeatedly humiliated and debased in ludicrously over-the-top fashion, and the only character with a single scrap of intelligence is a ruthless international terrorist! If ever a film came close to matching what the British satire magazine PRIVATE EYE regularly achieves in print, then this is it. The direction is a little uneven in places but there are still lots of clever touches, like the truly chilling scene in which the Prime Minister goes on an inane pre-war walkabout presenting nuclear fallout umbrellas (to Conservative voters only!), and the script combines AIRPLANE-style manic spoofery - a rarity in British films - with a very eighties line in grotesque slapstick, most notably in the castration skit and the shamefully delirious scenes spent with Rik Mayall (one of his few really effective big-screen roles) and his brainless SAS squad as they rampage through a wax museum, destroying the dummies and each other in a hilarious haemmorage of blood, gore, vomit and profanity that you'd have to be dead not to at least chuckle at. This is not a film for the faint of heart, but the subject matter warrants a strong, fearless treatment and that's what it gets. All the performances are wonderful (the cast mostly play it straight) and there are lots of good cameos to watch out for, including PORRIDGE regular Ken Jones, former Goodie Graeme Garden, eternal nutcase actor Daniel Peacock (who has one of the single funniest lines in the whole film) and even real-life page three girl Maria Whittaker displaying her best assets. Seek this one out, you won't regret it.