Tales From The Crapper

I had some kind of expectations for that movie... It is certainly not a good introduction to Troma. They do great stuff, but Tales From The Crapper is not par of it. Look for other Troma productions before that one.

Tales from the Crapper is a film that only one studio in the world could deliver. The one that has brought us innovative and original REAL independent films for 30 plus years now: Troma. This is truly a very special film because it manages to be certainly not my favorite of the Troma-productions, but released on a disc that because of what I just said is one of my most valued and favorite DVD's. Not only counting the countless Troma discs I own, but counting my entire collection of films. The film itself is the result of an ill fated plan to produce a television series to be directed by a director who was trusted with a substantial amount of money (especially for Troma) to make something wonderful and delivered a lot of unfinished and incomphrehensible material before quitting (or being fired, I am not sure which at this moment). In order to prevent having to shove a vast investment down the toilet Lloyd Kaufman and Michael Herz decided to get together a team of directors and actors and use the material as the backbone of one movie. One movie that really consists of two, in the nice old Tales From The Crypt anthology fashion, hosted by the Crapkeeper played by Mr Kaufman himself. But, as I said, not quite my own favorite of all their movies. That is greatly due to a weird sense of discipline at the various sets, forgetting about the hard Troma rule of "no booze on the set" which was discovered by a furious Lloyd and other less respectable emplyees that Troma had at the time of the filming of the added scenes. All this made it all but impossible for Mr Kaufman to make a worthwile product in the editing room.

But Lloyd Kaufman is a genius, and with the troubled added scenes to an already misshapen startproduct he crafted not much less of a masterpiece. The film itself is as good as circumstances would allow the most brilliant

filmmaker to slice together and it is certainly highly entertaining, totally confusing, loaded with those elements that made Troma great and certainly unique and one of a kind. As a film itslef, though, not as brilliant as many other Troma productions. The genius of Independent Cinema however made the DVD of this film so much more than a release of a film with some extra's. The film is, when push comes to shove, actually only a part of the entire dvd that in its whole is a document of the difficult situation serious filmmakers find themselves in having to survive in a world that is monopolized by the few Very Big Ones who don't really allow any other players on their market turf. A document of the problems one has when trusting people to be on the level, only to find out that freedom sometimes is something that is hard to live up to and realisation that access to a Movie Budget when the Boss is not around can corrupt even those who should really know better.

The brilliance of this DVD is that the film is not perfect, and that Lloyd KNOWS it, and doesn't want to make anyone think he believes it is. The full-length commentary is a show in itself (as is often the case with Mr. Kaufan's audio commentaries), mixing humor, sneers at those who deserve it and highly interesting information for anyone interested in Independent Filmmaking in such a fashion that watching the film again with this commentary straight after viewing it on its own merits is so interesting it is hard to stop. The feature-length documentary THE THICK BROWN LINE takes us behind the scenes at the various locations where Lloyd visits the sets only to sometimes take over and make the most of what he finds there. We see him somewhat desillusioned sometimes, different from his appearances in other Making Of Documents such as Fart of Darkness and Apocalypse Soon, both to be found in the must-own MAKE YOUR OWN DAMN MOVIE box set.

The added scenes with James Gunn (who started his carreer at Troma only to find success as a writer an now a director in Hollywood) and Trey Parker (again someone to start out with a Troma-released work, to later be a national hero with his South Park series) are entertaining and probably (as is much else on this release) a reason for obtaining this disc alone for anyone remotely interested in the work of these two characters.

Loaded with much more than I could mention here (including a SECOND audio-commentary) this is one of the best Troma-dvd-releases.

It's simply amazing how the fine people at Troma keep sinking to new and unheard of lows in their pursuit of true independent "art". It is safe to say that there has never been a film to wander this far over line in terms of pure filth and perversion.

Gratuitous lesbian sex, dismemberments, blood, guts, anal sex, ku-fu action, terrible dubbing, amateurish acting, freakish mutants, vampires, aliens, the production value of a cheap porno...it's all here, and in abundance. There is NO plot and it makes NO sense whatsoever. It is TALES FROM THE CRAPPER, and it has no equal...it has no peers...and it has NO point!(other than being absolutely hilarious that is)

TALES FROM THE CRAPPER is pure b-movie bliss. If you are a Troma fan, you are going to love this. However, if you are easily offended or prudish, please stay far away from this movie...you have no business watching it. This is a movie for only the most hardcore of Troma fans and "bad" movie lovers.

If the above description looks like a good time at the movies for an obviously twisted individual like yourself, then by all means indulge. If not, turn around and run in the opposite direction as fast as you can!

With TALES FROM THE CRAPPER, the Troma Team has outdone themselves once again. This movie is not for the weak of heart...

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!!

The DVD boasts some nifty and colourful packaging, not to mention a TON of Tromatic extras including a 60 minute documentary on the making of the movie, deleted scenes, interviews, commentaries, trailers, and alot more Troma-riffic goodies.

This DVD is worth every penny, do yourself a favour and invite THE CRAP KEEPER into your living room.

YOU WILL BE TROMATIZED!!!