Another in a long line of low budget, predictable teen movies. A group of nice kids rent a building from a skid row bum who claims to be in possession of the domicile. Of course, he lied. They work hard to turn it into a rock club, but are ousted by a local repo company run by a smarmy thug and his imbecile boys. Things come to a head when the teens learn they can have the property back if they re-install the bum into his living quarters on the place before a certain date. This film should appeal to young teens, but me, I thought it was a total waste of time.
5 Reviews
No one remembers this
BandSAboutMovies14 May 2020
Warning: Spoilers
Pen Dasham wrote and produced Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves and the 1980's revivals of The Outer Limits and The Twilight Zone. He often worked with John Watson, making this film and Backdraft. They wrote, directed and produced this late 80's teen film.
Kate (Tiffany Helm, O.C. and Stiggs, Friday the 13th: A New Beginning, Reform School Girls), her brother Ricky (Robert Jayne, half-brother of Scott Jacoby who also is in Tremors and Dr. Alien) and their pals Danny, Val (Marc Price, Ragman!) and Bobbi buy an old nightclub from a bum named Leatherface (Ben Vereen).
Before you know it - and after getting past the adults in town - The Zoo becomes an overnight success.
That's when the Donnelly Clan decides they want to take it over. They're led by Little Joe, who is played by a demented looking Jackie Earl Haley nine years after The Bad News Bears and 25 years before he'd play Freddy Krueger.
His twin brothers are played by Glen and Gary Mauro, who were the twin vampires in Once Bitten.
How did this end up in wrestling week? Well, it turns out that Leatherface used to be a wrestler named The Winch and he teaches the kids how to defend themselves.
Some claim that this was the first movie to actually be awarded a PG-13 rating, despite Red Dawn being released first.
Kate (Tiffany Helm, O.C. and Stiggs, Friday the 13th: A New Beginning, Reform School Girls), her brother Ricky (Robert Jayne, half-brother of Scott Jacoby who also is in Tremors and Dr. Alien) and their pals Danny, Val (Marc Price, Ragman!) and Bobbi buy an old nightclub from a bum named Leatherface (Ben Vereen).
Before you know it - and after getting past the adults in town - The Zoo becomes an overnight success.
That's when the Donnelly Clan decides they want to take it over. They're led by Little Joe, who is played by a demented looking Jackie Earl Haley nine years after The Bad News Bears and 25 years before he'd play Freddy Krueger.
His twin brothers are played by Glen and Gary Mauro, who were the twin vampires in Once Bitten.
How did this end up in wrestling week? Well, it turns out that Leatherface used to be a wrestler named The Winch and he teaches the kids how to defend themselves.
Some claim that this was the first movie to actually be awarded a PG-13 rating, despite Red Dawn being released first.
Dance Hall Days (minor spoilers)
vertigo_1418 February 2007
Warning: Spoilers
Nostalgics should enjoy this mid-80s cheese fest, as far as spying familiar faces of the decade: Jason Gedrick (who routinely played the troubled, but well-meaning defender teen), Bobby Jacoby, Marc Price, and Jackie Earle Haley.
But as a movie geared for older kids (given that the young characters have no problem letting the expletives fly and hence the PG-13 rating), it is indeed, as another viewer wrote, predictable. A bunch of trouble teens invest themselves in putting together a rock club they once thought was owned by the bum (because of squatter's rights) who granted them permission to use the club. So when the feud with their rivals get out of hand, they rivals take advantage of the lack of property claims and so the Zoo Gang (named for their rock club) as the underdogs, have to do what they can to save the club.
It's terribly dated. With its predictability, there is plenty of 80s corniness: the work-out montage, the bad haircuts (get a load of Jackie Earle Haley's mullet-tude), and dialog. Granted, the filmmakers could only be sophisticated to a certain point in a movie that primarily stars and is primarily geared towards teens and pre-teens.
But as a movie geared for older kids (given that the young characters have no problem letting the expletives fly and hence the PG-13 rating), it is indeed, as another viewer wrote, predictable. A bunch of trouble teens invest themselves in putting together a rock club they once thought was owned by the bum (because of squatter's rights) who granted them permission to use the club. So when the feud with their rivals get out of hand, they rivals take advantage of the lack of property claims and so the Zoo Gang (named for their rock club) as the underdogs, have to do what they can to save the club.
It's terribly dated. With its predictability, there is plenty of 80s corniness: the work-out montage, the bad haircuts (get a load of Jackie Earle Haley's mullet-tude), and dialog. Granted, the filmmakers could only be sophisticated to a certain point in a movie that primarily stars and is primarily geared towards teens and pre-teens.
Injustice
helfeleather14 May 2003
This is the sad story of the Donnely brothers. They want to be accepted by their peers but they can't because of bourgeois prejudices. The local rich kids use their parents' money to convert a deserted warehouse into a club. The boys want to help out, but their poor single father can't spare any money. So the boys offer to work at the club. They even throw out a troublemaker to show their good intentions. However, the rich kids don't want them around. The boys are expelled from the club, teased about their clothes and hair, ostracised from the community and even assaulted.
Watched the movie being filmed
m_trevillyan30 December 2008
I was living in Prescott when The Zoo Gang was being filmed. I lived right down the street from the main filming site. The club that the Donnelly's tried to take over was an old Checker Auto Parts Store before they closed it down. The Hotel that was across from that was the Hassayampa Hotel. That is where the other kids got on top of the roof and cheered everyone on. Across the street from the Hassayampa was the old Library, I used to go to that Library when I was a little girl before they built the new one. Down the street from there was the Marina Movie Theater. I watched many movies in that Theater. The hill that they take the motor home down on is Elk's Hill, we used to sled down that hill when we were kids in the winter when it snowed. We used to skate in the Plaza by Bucky O'Neal in the square. My fondest memories in Prescott are around the time that this movie was being filmed. I had a couple of friend's that were extras in the movie. So, I know this movie personally, I am a native of Prescott. I thought it was cool to actually know people that got to be extras in it.
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