Credit is definitely due to Full Moon for continually giving its fans the opportunity to own their films on physical media. While many of the major studios are backing away, they continue to dig into their archives to bring treasures from years past to disc for collectors to add to their own collections. This past month has brought a few notable releases, including the classic Bad Channels (1992).
The film is directed by Ted Nicolaou from a script by Charles Band and Jack Canson. It starred Martha Quinn, one of the original MTV VJs who made the transition into film. It wasn’t one of their most beloved properties, but it’s still quite a trip to revisit.
Hold onto your headphones, earthlings, the airwaves are under attack. When an alien invader, Cosmo, and his robot crash a small-town rock radio station, KDUL, they turn the dial to DANGER and beam helpless babes into pickle jars using freaky mind-control tunes. It’s up to wacky DJ “Dangerous” Dan (Paul Hipp) to crank up the crazy, outwit the otherworldly weirdo, and rescue the shrunken ladies in test tubes before they’re shipped off to outer space!
It’s packed with mutant mayhem, gonzo effects, spaced-out rock bands, and more cheese than a truck stop nacho plate.
How the hell did they get Blue Öyster Cult to be in a movie called Bad Channels? I’m not sure, but bless whoever pulled it off. For that reason alone, it deserves “cult film” status, but there are so many other reasons as well. It’s a drive-in film for the MTV generation (the original MTV generation, not this disturbing new one) with music video segments, schlocky creatures, cheesy effects, and (surprisingly enough) relatively family-friendly.
The plot is ridiculous, but it allows Nicolaou to just go crazy, and the end results are pretty fun. The cast works well together, and if memory serves me correctly, when I originally saw it, I was excited to see Martha Quinn. Those early years of MTV had a profound influence on me, and Quinn was at the forefront. Also, it didn’t hurt to have Charlie Spradling in the film, who didn’t have a crush on her in the ’90s?
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Believe it or not, it’s the first time it has been presented in its original aspect ratio (1:78:1) in HD. Full Moon includes a handful of bonus features, including commentary from director Nicolaou, the original trailer, a rare trailer, the making of Bad Channels, and a TED Talk: Bad Channels.
Full Moon has made quite a few insanely bizarre films, and this has to be in the top three. It may not be one of their best films, but it is an oddity that deserves an audience, and it’s about time they show up.
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