Zapped! – DVD Review

Film, Reviews

zapped!
Available at Amazon.com
Barney Springboro is a loser straight and simple. He is a big geek in school as is his photographer friend, Peyton. All Barney would like to do is hang out in the science lab and work on his experiments. That is until one day an experiment goes wrong and ends up giving Barney strange powers. He can now use the power of telekinesis to move things with his mind. Being the somewhat normal high school boy that he is, Barney uses his new powers to his advantage in some rather naughty ways.


If you’re looking for a plot here other then that, forget it. Zapped! is one of those films from the early eighties that is simply supposed to give you a few laughs and let you check out chicks in their underwear. Scott Baio was the resident heart throb at the time so they needed a way to get him from the little screen and onto the big screen. Well, they did what they were planning on doing but it wasn’t the most successful thing in the world.


Something actually came to mind while watching Zapped! again for the first time in years. This looked to be one of the first comedy spoofs to ever be filmed. Think about it for a minute. A kid is made fun of and not respected by his classmates. Through the powers of telekinesis, though, he gets back at all of those that were against him. The conclusion and final showdown takes place in the school gym at a dance. Hello…Carrie anyone? Can’t believe I never noticed that before, but it’s true. Good Lord, even the back of the DVD has the film description saying that Barney gets “Carrie-d away.” Wow, you learn something new everyday.


Oh and just to let you know. The guy playing Peyton is Willie Aames. He is now a born-again Christian and is known to many as Bible Man. I kid you not.


The film is shown in 1.33:1 Full Screen format or 1.85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen format. Either way, the film shows its age considerably with dull colors and a look that just screams “Hey, I was shot in 1982!” and it was.

The film is heard in Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo Sound and it comes through perfectly fine. There is some music and such at times, but nothing that would need any more then what is given. I’ll tell you what though; I would have loved hearing that “zap” sound effect in surround sound. Ha!

None

Don’t go picking up this DVD expecting much because you aren’t going to get it. My assumption is that the only people who will buy Zapped! are those that have seen the film before and loved how cheesy it was. Anyone picking it up for a rental is going to be a college student bored on a weekend with their roommate and got tired of walking up and down the movie aisles at Blockbuster for an hour. It’s really better then it should have any right to be but that’s only because I watched it as a kid and thought it was hilarious. Zapped! has its moments, but that’s about all it has. Not a bad way to spend an hour and a half on a lazy Saturday afternoon though. No special features make this DVD far from a purchase, but even though my scores look low, still give it a rental and remember what it was like back in the day.

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MGM presents Zapped!. Directed by: Robert J. Rosenthal. Starring: Scott Baio, Hilary Beane, Willie Aames, Scatman Crothers, Felice Schachter, Heather Thomas, Robert Mandan, Greg Bradford. Written by: Robert J. Rosenthal, Bruce Rubin. Running time: 98 minutes. Rating: R. Released on DVD: February 12, 2008. Available at Amazon.com