Pandemonium

We head into horror-comedy with Pandemonium (1982), a PG-rated slasher parody Todd discovered while looking into Paul Reubens’ filmography.

Despite an “insane” cast packed with recognizable comedians and performers, we talk about why the movie tanked, why it feels plotless, and how its nonstop juvenile gags, dated stereotypes, and heavy improvisation don’t land for us.

We dig into behind-the-scenes factors—director Alfred Sole admitting he didn’t know how to direct comedy, mismatched performance styles, and the title change from Thursday the 12th to Pandemonium—and we walk through key bits like the opening javelin kill, the cheer-camp setup, and the final reveal.

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Pandemonium (1982)

Episode 497, 2 Guys and a Chainsaw Horror Movie Review Podcast

Todd: Hello and welcome to another episode of Two Guys and a Chainsaw. I’m Todd.

Craig: And I’m Craig.

Todd: This week I thought we would go into the horror comedy section with something that I’ll bet nobody, maybe none of our listeners have ever heard of. I would be surprised because I thought that I would have heard of this movie.

As soon as I heard about it, I thought, “

Craig: Oh my God, Craig,

Todd: we have to do this.” And I think I discovered it around the time that Paul Reubens died.

Yeah, I think I… Yeah.

Todd: Yeah, I was looking up… So it was a couple years ago maybe. I was looking up stuff that he had been in and this came across and I looked over it. Oh, it’s, it’s a comedy. But then I realized it was a parody of slasher movies.

And then I looked at the cast and I’m like, “There is no way.” This movie just didn’t seem like it could exist without me knowing about it. It’s called Pandemonium from 1982. It’s rated PG. It’s not bloody or anything. It is more comedy, I would say, than horror parody, but that’s the through line. God, the cast list is insane.

If you grew up watching movies and television in the ’70s, ’80s, this is an all-star cast of comedians all together in one film. A lot of the Groundlings in here.

Craig: Yeah.

Todd: So I, I thought we would watch it finally because I had it. You know, you couldn’t find this for a while. Part of the reason why we waited so long is that I had a hard time getting a hold of it.

It wasn’t streaming on anything. It wasn’t available on Amazon. I don’t remember if you could even buy a DVD. And I managed to s- track down some really, really crappy copy of it, and I was like, “Ah, this copy’s too crappy.” And at some point in time it became available on Tubi. Mm-hmm. Because I was looking for it again for the 10th time, and suddenly it popped up on Tubi and I’m like, “Well, great.”

And it’s a beautiful pristine copy of it, too.

Mm-hmm.

Todd: It looks like, yeah, like you would’ve seen it in the theater. So here we are, Pandemonium, 1982. I’m curious if you heard about this before, ’cause I never mentioned it to you.

Craig: I think maybe you did. Just… I think you’re right. I think it was when Paul Reubens passed away, we were talking about him and, and potentially what we could talk about to pay tribute to him, and I think that this came up.

But I had never heard of it before, and I didn’t really look into it then. So no, I, I had no familiarity with this movie at all, which I guess kind of surprised me only because I’m so familiar with so many of the people, not only familiar with the cast, but also at the time that the movie… Well, not at the time that it came out.

The time that it came out I would’ve been three, but- In the ’80s, some of these people were people I was really familiar with and fond of.

Todd: Yeah.

Craig: And, and it also seems like, I think that it was kind of obscure. It didn’t do well at all. It, it tanked for, I don’t know, people argue different reasons that I’m sure that we’ll talk about.

I think the most obvious reason is because it’s not good.

Todd: No.

Craig: But

Todd: That’s the best reason.

Craig: But I, I, I guess because it didn’t, you know, it, it, it didn’t do well, the producers or distributors or whoever just kind of dumped it into late night cable territory where I guess apparently it played fairly often.

This is the kind of movie that I would’ve expected to see on Up All Night with Rhonda Shear.

Todd: Yeah.

Craig: And I o- I think that that’s the only context in which this movie could be enjoyed. Yeah. You have to appoint to… You, you have to approach it from that mindset. Like-

Todd: Right …

Craig: you, you have to go into it knowing that this is going to not only be stupid, which it is, but really pretty bad.

Yeah. And it’s, it’s really not the kind of thing, I think, that you can sit down and pay close attention to and enjoy.

Todd: Yeah. It, it might be so stupid that it drives you crazy.

Craig: Uh-huh.

Todd: Now, we’ve done some things like this. Obviously Student Bodies I think was one of the earliest horror comedies, and that predates this.

Craig: Yes.

Todd: And that one’s actually pretty good.

Craig: It was funnier than this one was.

Todd: It was funnier. I mean, it’s dated in its references of course, because it’s just referencing movies from the ’70s, and horror’s gone through a lot since then. But and it’s dated in some of its, you know, I don’t know, I think there’s like references to weed and things like that, you know, stuff that was just a little more pop culture-y at the time.

But I feel like that one- At least followed the assignment to a T. They were making a straight out slasher parody and they did it. And I find it chuckle-worthy.

Mm-hmm.

Todd: I still like it. And there, and there’s a weird… You know, there’s some interesting actors in there. There’s that guy who was really lanky who they called the Human Stick.

Remember him?

Craig: Vaguely.

Todd: I still sometimes go back and watch Student Bodies if it happens to be around and I’m bored.

Craig: Sure.

Todd: Then we did, um, as a tribute to another comedian who passed away, we did Frankenstein’s General Hospital. Remember that?

Craig: Yeah. Yeah.

Todd: God.

Craig: It was bad, too.

Todd: That was maybe worse than this one, I kinda think.

Craig: I don’t know because it, I felt like at least that one, as stupid as it was, had a plot. This movie doesn’t really have a plot.

Todd: Although you can argue that most slasher movies don’t really.

Craig: I guess. I mean, there, right, there’s that setup. Cheer camp, slasher. That’s it. Like-

Todd: Mm-hmm …

Craig: I mean, you, you’ve kind of got other bits and pieces, like jokey bits of exposition.

But ultimately none of it matters. The, the plot is entirely insignificant. It’s just A series of really juvenile, really silly gags over and over and over, and like, it, it just never stops. Like, everything is a gag. Yeah. The closest thing, I mean, like you said, Student Bodies. Student Bodies was a lot like this.

I think they did it better. I, I think that when it’s done really well, like when we’re talking like Mel Brooks or Leslie Nielsen, like Naked Gun, Airplane type stuff- Mm-hmm … those movies are stupid too, but they’re funny.

Todd: Yeah.

Craig: The jokes may be dumb and juvenile and crass, but they’re funny. Yeah. This movie isn’t funny.

Todd: It’s not.

Craig: It’s not funny. No. The jokes aren’t funny. The gags aren’t funny. They’re just, they’re groaners. They’re roll your eyes, like, “Oh my God.” Like, it’s, it’s bad.

Todd: I liken it to Transylvania 6-5000.

Craig: Ugh, I liked that better than this.

Todd: Yeah. That was years after this, and that one I think benefits from maybe just the humor’s a little bit better.

Again, they’re trying… And that, you know, I think we talked about this when we talked about Transylvania 6-5000, about how some of it was so stupid. I, I think Carol Kane was in that too, wasn’t she?

Craig: Yeah.

Todd: And some of it was so dumb, but you could tell they were going …