The Banana Splits Movie

Like many I suppose, I was drawn to the novelty factor having the iconic Banana Splits made into a modern horror film. I was all for the concept and the basic premise is quite a good one. However the film takes itself far too seriously for it to actually work properly.

It's a ridiculous setup so there should be some humour involved. It's all delivered with such a straight face that after a while it becomes an ordinary, if not bland, slasher film.

The first execution is quite fun but after that these bananas are slipping on their own dropped peels. A shame but ultimately it's pretty dull.

I was a fan of the Banana Splits as a kid so disappointed that this instalment has no segments of The Arabian Nights or The Three Musketeers!

I doubt many people under the age of 45 years of age may even know about The Banana Splits so would not be too bothered that some kids show characters has been turned into stars of a horror film.

Set in an universe where the Banana Splits television show is still being made. This is in fact a gory version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

A group of people go to the taping of the show. Our hero Harley is a big Banana Splits fan and it is his birthday, so his family plan a special outing. Some others include a girl with a pushy parent who thinks his daughter can be the next big star. A vlogger with his girlfriend who plans to broadcast from his mobile phone.

However the new network head plans to cancel the show and the robotic puppets having heard the news go on a murderous rampage. The show must go on and on for the demented Banana Splits.

There is some grisley carnage and black humour. You kind of hope some people will get slaughtered such as Harley's stepfather, you just know he is not on that mobile phone to stay in touch with his office.

The film has a variety of ways of annihilating some of the characters. It is a shame that security is so lax at the studio where the show is taped.

While not as well known as today as they were back then, the Banana Splits were quite a big hit in children's programming as far as rock band animal costumed characters went. So when one would imagine a movie based on these upbeat icons, they would picture a faithfully happy colorful movie centered around the adorable mascots. However, little did anyone imagine that a horror plot would come into fruition, which is what happened in 2019 with the Banana Splits Movie. Despite getting quite the amount of attention back in 2019, it has fallen into obscurity, which is a shame as there's much to unpack with this.

The plot follows a family attending a live taping of the Banana Splits show, only to realize that the titular characters have started a killing spree around the Taft studio due to an upcoming cancellation. As straightforward of a plot as that sounds, that is exactly what we get in the execution, as everything we get throughout the 89 minute runtime is your typical kids show mascot gone psycho premise told so routinely that few surprises actually remain. It doesn't help that the center family we focus on ranges from the number one fanatic kid, the struggling parents, and the dorky half brother, with fairly mediocre performances from their actors. It's easy to figure out what will happen in the story and the film's first act is fairly rushed just to get the obvious gory outbreak of the Splits characters going on a killing spree. Even with a fair amount of screen time dedicated to the Split's programmer Karl, there isn't enough explanation given as to why he'd be okay with his creations going on a murderous spree. What we're left with is a slasher movie less focused on substance than the premise it promised.

However, for all of the film's narrative shortcomings, it does deliver some fairly creative killings in the execution. Since the Banana Splits are so innate in their determination to keep the show going, the amount of vengeance they display on the show runners and audience members is excruciating to say the least. While it's easy to say that anyone who grew up on their show will most likely resent this film for how it portrays the characters, it makes all the more sense to those who have been creeped out by mysterious costumed mascots in kids shows for decades, albeit in a more literal killing sense. Since the filmmakers went for a more practical effects driven direction based on a possible small budget, it makes the film feel more believable in how it wants to tell its story, with lots of fake gore and gushy blood effects to count. As far as the acting is concerned, the performances become a lot more earnest as the film gets more gruesome, complete with the mom coming into the picture to kick some serious splits butt. As odd as a film like this is, at least it gave what it promised.

Outside of any other notable production qualities, the real star of the picture is veteran voice actor Eric Bauza providing the voices for the Banana Splits, recreating the right amount of upbeat energy needed for the contrasting murderous rampage these characters inflict. While a lot of credit needs to go to the performers behind the Splits in the physical stunts alone, Bauza's broad range captures the disturbing fun needed for these kinds of oddball mascots, especially once the real bloodbath ensues. Even though the editing works well in the film's sporadic nature, it can often get a little too choppy for its own good, although that issue is far and few in between a fairly well paced feature. Patrick Stumph's music score adds the right amount of terror and suspense needed for a thrill ride like this, especially once the titular characters go on their obvious carnage spree. It makes sense why the film would choose to focus on the shock value more than any commentary in the entertainment industry, because with scares like this, who needs a well rounded story?

It's safe to say that The Banana Splits Movie is not going to be everyone's cup of tea, specifically those who grew up on the original show and expected a more lighthearted adaptation of the memorable rock group. While it does deserve its place in oddball obscurity, there's some delightful fun just waiting for those who have never seen the original show, let alone heard of it before. No one would have ever imagined a film like this actually happening beyond a simple online parody, and yet somehow it managed to come into fruition. Here's to whatever bizarre entity will occur next time in kids show slasher cinema.

Apart for the first couple of minutes it lost all of the personality of the original show, I could have been watching any modern low budget badly made slasher movie. So why contemporary? I guess to draw in a younger audience, but 1970's setting would have been so much more fitting, in keeping with the original vibe while paying homage to all those 70's slasher movies. Wasted opportunity.

I've always felt that there was something deeply unsettling about The Banana Splits (especially that moose head); clearly I was not alone in thinking this, for The Banana Splits Movie uses the once-popular '70s kids TV show as the basis for a gory horror in which furries Fleegle, Bingo, Drooper and Snorky run amok, killing those present at a recording of the programme (weirdly, the moose head is nowhere to be seen).

Trapped in a studio soundstage, young Banana Splits fan Harley (Finlay Wojtak-Hissong) and his family are hunted by the furry TV stars, who are revealed to be robots that have gone haywire upon cancellation of the long-running show. This premise looks set to be a whole load of demented fun, especially for those familiar with the source material, but Danishka Esterhazy's stilted direction, a general air of cheapness (the Splits' studio set is poverty stricken), and the terrible script all add up to a big dose of mediocrity.

The gory death scenes are the best thing about the film, and include a bisection (with guts!), a severed head, a scalded face, a hammer to the head, and a guy having his arms and legs torn off. But as impressive as most of the bloody mayhem is, one can't help but feel disappointment at the lifelessness of the whole thing, the lack of scares, and the fact that Esterhazy didn't go even further with the lunacy and gruesomeness. The opportunity to go large with the craziness was definitely there and should have been seized with both hands.