The national lockdown measures in response to the pandemic have brought many industries to a screeching halt. Among those industries affected by these times is the film industry. Fans have no doubt noted the announcements of movies being postponed, among other decisions made in response to emergency regulations. Clearly, film shoots are not social distancing-friendly. Charles Band’s Full Moon Features laughs in the face of such things.
Full Moon snapped back against the crisis with the release of their highly criticized horror comedy, Corona Zombies. Now, Full Moon is back with the sequel to their timely zombie film, Barbie & Kendra Save the Tiger King, another quick turnaround capitalization on a recent viral trend.
Barbie & Kendra Save the Tiger King feels like a comedic variety show revolving around the popular Netflix documentary series, Tiger King. Our titular characters, Barbie and Kendra, sit in their living room on lock down and binge Tiger King. Clips of the girls making jokes about Joe Exotic are intercut with news clips, an interview with John Reinke (one of the subjects of the Netflix series), and other Tiger King-centric gags. The bulk of the film is comprised of scenes from an old jungle adventure film with new dialogue (i.e. very crude jokes) recorded over it. The clips tell the story of a boy who is lost in the jungle and must be rescued. Full Moon’s film frames this character as a young Joe Exotic as a sort of origin story. This voice-over-old-films approach was also utilized for Corona Zombies, only using clips of an Italian zombie film instead. Rest assured, the jokes are very heavy on COVID references and current pop culture.
To be clear, this is a total cash grab. An obvious attempt to coattail Tiger King mania, and the uptick in video streaming by people on lockdown. I doubt anyone going into a viewing of this film would miss that point, and the film obviously doesn’t take itself seriously or attempt to pass itself off as anything more than a gag. That said, anyone immediately writing off these movies is missing the point.
This is perishable filmmaking. The shelf life on a movie like this is very short and, frankly, I think that’s the point. Both Barbie & Kendra and Corona Zombies were clearly produced remotely, hence the use of old stock footage, green screen, and footage in characters’ homes, etc. While they may seem cheap and exploitative, viewing them reveals something else; a filmmaking outfit putting out movies by any means necessary.
In the midst of a disaster that’s crippling many artists, Full Moon is still knocking out movies. Surely, the absurd titles of these movies are driving curious viewers to Full Moon’s streaming service, and ultimately that’s a good thing for independent film. Sure, they’re goofy, low-effort, and in poor taste, but these movies are being served to an audience that never needed mindless distractions more.
Barbie & Kendra Save the Tiger King is not high art. It’s tasteless goofiness with a short run-time and a heap of immature humor…and there’s nothing wrong with that. I can’t recommend this movie to everyone, but I would recommend this movie to anyone who’s seen Tiger King, likes voice-over comedy ala Mystery Science Theater 3000, or is a fan of Full Moon’s other raunchy comedies.
Barbie & Kendra Save the Tiger King is available exclusively on the Full Moon Features channel and app.
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