ROGER CORMAN and CHEESE, part XV: "Munchies" and Ellio's Cheese Pizza

An homage works best when it's good enough to get you to forget what it's homaging. Then, there are those that remind you of the source material at every turn, and Roger Corman not only sought out the "knock offs" but he put in extra effort towards knocking them off as accurately as possible because, clearly, why shouldn't the formula work a second time? 

Munchies (1987) was directed by Bettina Hirsch, who was the editor of 1984's Gremlins, and obviously that wasn't an accident. Harvey Korman plays an archeologist who finds a small creature with a funny Frank Welker voice in a cave in Peru. He smuggles it back to the U.S. and Harvey's twin brother (also Harvey Corman, in a wig and a fake mustache that's one breeze away from falling off) steals the creature, probably for some monetary gain (can't really remember). In the struggles of kidnapping we learn that cutting the creature into pieces only creates more of them, and soon we have a gang of "Munchies". The biggest threats they pose are making messes and lewd comments; if you were to rank them alongside the Gremlins, Critters, Ghoulies, and Hobgoblins, the Munchies would be dead last - you're never not aware that it's just puppeteers moving their hands around. The movie is colorful, funny, and fast paced -- or, it wants to be all those things but it never really gets out of the breakdown lane and completely runs outta gas 20 minutes before its 83 minute runtime peters out. With a sorta animated opening credit sequence and a music score meant to mimic Pee-wee's Big Adventure, the vibe is nearly there. It's just too damn dull. 

If DiGiorno is made to resemble the quality of delivery pizza, Ellio's is always front & center to represent frozen pizza in its truest form. This square-cut staple of youth may already be familiar to most of you; never enough cheese to cover the sauce, never enough sauce to cover the crust, and yet all the proportions are scientifically balanced for a satisfying experience. As a kid it came with the big initial hurdle of "What the hell is this, this isn't what pizza is like!" but slowly the realization creeps up on you, "Oh, this tastes just like Ellio's!". And so to reevaluate after however many years and decades: there's not enough cheese, or sauce, or even enough food, but goddammit it tastes just like Ellio's! 

The Movie: C

The Pizza: B