Munchie Strikes Back
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''Munchie Strikes Back'' is a 1994 American
comedy Comedy is a genre of dramatic works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. Origins Comedy originated in ancient Greec ...
feature film A feature film or feature-length film (often abbreviated to feature), also called a theatrical film, is a film (Film, motion picture, "movie" or simply “picture”) with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole present ...
directed by
Jim Wynorski Jim Wynorski is an American screenwriter, director, and producer. He is known for making B movies, softcore pornography, and exploitation films, such as '' The Witches of Breastwick''. In 2009, the documentary '' Popatopolis'', directed by C ...
and written by Wynorski and R. J. Robertson, as a sequel to '' Munchie''. While
Dom DeLuise Dominick DeLuise (August 1, 1933 – May 4, 2009) was an American actor, comedian, director, musician, chef, and author. Known primarily for comedy roles, he rose to fame in the 1970s as a frequent guest on television variety shows. He is widely ...
provided the voice of Munchie in the first movie, this time it was done by
Howard Hesseman Howard Hesseman (February 27, 1940 – January 29, 2022) was an American actor known for his television roles as burned-out disc jockey Dr. Johnny Fever on '' WKRP in Cincinnati'' and the lead role of history teacher Charlie Moore on '' Head ...
.


Synopsis

Because of the repercussions left from his last adventure, Munchie must appear before a celestial court presided over by Kronus. The tribunal proceeds to blame Munchie for a number of historical calamities, including the sinking of
Atlantis Atlantis () is a fictional island mentioned in Plato's works '' Timaeus'' and ''Critias'' as part of an allegory on the hubris of nations. In the story, Atlantis is described as a naval empire that ruled all Western parts of the known world ...
, the crash of the '' Hindenburg'', the cataclysm of
Vesuvius Mount Vesuvius ( ) is a Somma volcano, somma–stratovolcano located on the Gulf of Naples in Campania, Italy, about east of Naples and a short distance from the shore. It is one of several volcanoes forming the Campanian volcanic arc. Vesuv ...
and the meltdown of
Chernobyl Chernobyl, officially called Chornobyl, is a partially abandoned city in Vyshhorod Raion, Kyiv Oblast, Ukraine. It is located within the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, to the north of Kyiv and to the southwest of Gomel in neighbouring Belarus. ...
. As punishment, he is sentenced to help single mother Linda McClelland. Linda's son, Chris, is the only one who can see Munchie and Munchie and he become best friends. Chris is the pitcher of a Little League team and is being bullied by Brett Carlisle, who is his rival in baseball as well as for the attentions of the
girl next door The girl next door is a young female stock character who is often used in Romance novel, romantic stories. She is named so because she often lives next door to the protagonist or is a childhood friend. They start out with a friendship that late ...
, Jennifer. While out of town on a business trip, Linda's boss makes improper advances to her. When she refuses his advances, he fires her. This creates financial hardship on the family. Munchie intervenes in their lives, making it so Chris has a perfect game and impresses Jennifer, and Linda finds a bag of money to prevent eviction. Munchie appears back before the tribunal, who assign his next punishment...to help
Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...
.


Partial cast

*
Lesley-Anne Down Lesley-Anne Down (born 17 March 1954) is a British actress and singer. She made her motion picture debut in the 1969 drama film '' The Smashing Bird I Used to Know'' and later appeared in films ''Assault'' (1971), '' Countess Dracula'' (1971) a ...
as Linda McClelland *
Andrew Stevens Andrew Stevens (born Herman Andrew Stephens; June 10, 1955) is an American executive, film producer, director and actor. Early life Stevens was born in Memphis, Tennessee, the only child of actress Stella Stevens and her former husband Noble ...
as Shelby Carlisle *
Howard Hesseman Howard Hesseman (February 27, 1940 – January 29, 2022) was an American actor known for his television roles as burned-out disc jockey Dr. Johnny Fever on '' WKRP in Cincinnati'' and the lead role of history teacher Charlie Moore on '' Head ...
as Munchie (voice) *
Angus Scrimm Angus Scrimm (born Lawrence Rory Guy; August 19, 1926 – January 9, 2016) was an American actor, author, and journalist, known for his portrayal of the Tall Man in the 1979 horror film '' Phantasm'' and its sequels. Early life Scrimm was born ...
as Kronas *
John Byner John Byner (né Biener; born June 28, 1938) is an American actor, comedian and impressionist who has had a lengthy television and film career. His voice work includes the cartoon series '' The Ant and the Aardvark'', in which the title characte ...
as Coach Elkins *
Steve Franken Stephen Robert Franken (May 27, 1932 – August 24, 2012)Slotnik, Daniel E. (August 31, 2012)"Long Career Followed 'Dobie Gillis' Role" ''The Atlanta Constitution''. p. B7. Retrieved November 20 , 2023. was an American actor who worked in ...
as Professor Graves * Natanya Ross as Jennifer * Toni Naples as Newscaster *Trenton Knight as Chris McClelland *Ace Mask as Mr. Poyndexter *Cory Mendelsohn as Brett *Antonia Dorian as Cleopatra *Jamie McEnnan as Gage Dobson


Critical response

Reviewers generally found the movie a poor sequel to '' Munchie''. ''
TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media In mass communication, digital media is any media (communication), communication media that operates in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital content can be created, vi ...
'' offered that ''Munchie Strikes Back'' "turns an annoying, no-budget children's movie into an annoying, no-budget children's series," and in considering the film's attempts at humour, wrote the film "is the sort of ill-considered comedy in which a Little League team can be named the '
Hillside Strangler The Hillside Strangler, later the Hillside Stranglers, is the media epithet for one, later discovered to be two, American serial killers who terrorized Los Angeles, California, between October 1977 and February 1978, with the nicknames originatin ...
s', and big laughs are expected from the sight of a woman kicking a dog." ''X-Entertainment'' was only slightly less harsh, with its review saying, "The series saw its last hurrah in the movie we're reviewing today, 1992's ''Munchie Strikes Back''. Assuming that at least some of you have seen ''Munchies'', throw away everything you think you know about the lore. The last two films were entirely different and strictly for kids. It's for this reason that I'm having trouble calling this pile of shit a pile of shit — putting myself in the mindset of a seven-year-old, it's not too terrible. Can't really recommend it as fodder for your bad movie nights (stick with the original for those), but if you've ever wanted 80 minutes' worth of Howard Heeseman voicing the poor man's ALF, ''Munchie Strikes Back'' caters to your unique and pitiful whim." John Stanley gave the film one-and-a-half stars, denouncing it as a watered "down kiddie fantasy from the Roger Corman factory..."John Stanley, ''Creature features: the science fiction, fantasy, and horror movie guide'' (2000)
354


References


External links

* * {{Jim Wynorski 1992 films American comedy films Films directed by Jim Wynorski Puppet films Films produced by Roger Corman 1990s English-language films 1990s American films American sequel films