One of the wildest, funniest movies of all time, a 25th anniversary version of National Lampoon's Animal House comes out on DVD tomorrow with bonus material "Where Are They Now? A Delta Alumni Update," "Did You Know That (Universal Animated Anecdotes)," and "The Yearbook: An Animal House Reunion."
Animal House is the only work of popular art to successfully recreate the empowerment of youth that was the impetus behind the rock 'n' roll explosion of 1955. All of those pent up juices running rampant within all of those adolescent bodies, hyperheating themselves into gas, had to blow eventually. When the sound connected to the feeling, that stuff blew out of there like lava out of Mt. St. Helens. Dust from Mt. St. Helens circled the earth for years after the blast. The dust from 1955 has yet to settle.
Animal House, set in the early '60s, recreates the conditions under which rock 'n' roll was launched. Larry (Tom Hulse) and Kent (Stephen Furst) are Freshmen at Faber College and are rushing the fraternities. The first one they visit is Omega. "Now I'm not going to say that Omega is the best house on campus, but a lot of outstanding guys figure they'll pledge Omega or they won't pledge at all. We do have more than our share of campus leaders. Something that never looks bad on your permanent record, Chip," who is Kevin Bacon in his first screen role, setting up the first degrees of Kevin Bacon.
Kent is oblivious to the fact that he couldn't possibly fit into this rarefied social environment, where the Social Dance is as complex as a gavotte. Larry is painfully aware that he is an "unacceptable candidate" at the Omega house. He and Kent are, after all, "a wimp and a blimp."
So they press on, Larry discouraged, Kent ever optimistic. Larry's problem is that his social ambitions far outstrip his social prospects.
Kent - "Look no sweat, my brother Fred was a Delta, that makes me a legacy. They gotta take me, it's like their law. Don't worry, I'll put in a good word for you."
Larry - "Great, I heard Delta is the worst house on campus."
This is the penultimate moment. In my birth of rock 'n' roll analogy, this pause represents the days just before The Blackboard Jungle was released. The calm before the storm. The world would never be the same after the next instant.
Article comments
1 - Mark Saleski
nice article eric. i am so looking forward to getting my hands on a copy of this.
ever wonder how leonard maltin types those reviews in with that stick up his ass?
2 - Chris
"Hey look, it's Otis. Otis loves us."
3 - Eric Olsen
And indeed Otis does - I used to DJ frat parties with the actor who played Otis in the movie ( actually I DJ'd between his band's sets) and it was mutual love all the way around.
"So hit it ..."
4 - TDavid
A shame what happened to Belushi. Animal House is a classic comedy and well deserving of its success. Nice to see them push this thing for the 25th anniversary.
5 - Eric Olsen
Belushi, as was said of James Dean, was too fast to live, too young to die (bye bye). It was a total waste - he was unique. I am very interested to see what kind of public response the re-release gets - will a new generation care?
6 - TDavid
Whatever they do, I sure hope they don't attempt to remake Animal House.
It seems like almost every remake of classic original movies has been a disaster. Miracle on 34th street sucked, Chris Rock trying to remake Heaven Can Wait with that horrible Down To Earth and I'm sure, if desired, others can keep the list going.
Then there are the rumoured remakes like The Warriors and how about Westworld (going to be very difficult to top Crichton's sci-fi masterpiece with Yul Bryner saying, "draw") and most recently John discusses Superman here elsewhere.
Remakes and in some cases sequels too, pardon the pun, are the ultimate ghost whores.
7 - Eric Olsen
Yeah, ghost sluts are better because they're free.
8 - Phillip Winn
I can't even begin to imagine what a 2005/2006 remake of Animal House would be like. Yuck!
9 - Eric Olsen
some things are better left unimagined
10 - Eric Berlin
I'm ready for Blogcritics House!