Microwave Massacre (1983)
“Well,
the only problem is,
I can’t make love to a woman,
unless I eat her”
Despite the release date being 1983 the film had been delayed by 5 years due to no-one wanting to pick up the rights for the film.
As a send up of T&A and horror films but laden with bad jokes director Wayne Berwick decided to add more T&A and gore which worked and the film was distributed.
Microwave Massacre is a film about construction worker Donald played by stand-up comedian Jackie Vernon who is put upon by his nagging wife that only want’s to cook gourmet food using their new, massive, microwave.
His wife is more akin to classic sitcom character Hyacinth Bucket (pronounced Bouquet) with Donald playing long suffering husband Richard except Donald does something about the situation.
He does take it too far by killing her, cutting her up and cooking her in the microwave only to pass around to his work colleagues.
I can’t see the BBC okaying that as a final episode of Keeping Up Appearances but it would’ve been fun to watch.
Of course he needs more meat for the feast so to say and goes on a little killing spree.
Very low budget and just filled to bursting with bad puns or quips in almost every line in the film.
Some actually do work giving me a couple I have to remember for real world use but most sort of blend together as a white noise that fills the film but eventually I managed to become used to it.
And like it.
Apparently the original script was not like this and had an edge to it as the director said but on the first day of filming when the final script came through they had something more akin to Jackie Vernon’s stand-up show.
As filming was at the house of Mickey Dolenz from The Monkeys whilst he was waiting to move they only had 5 days to film scenes there so all they could do was embrace the stupid.
Not overly sleazy or gratuitous but does come off as one of those 70’s exploitation films at times so if you like that and constant bad puns then this could be one for you.
It is light on the gore with the prosthetic effects for the limbs, especially the wife’s head, looking fake which isn’t helped by the sound effect of saw on wood when Donald is carving them up but to me all this helps add to the absurdity of everything going on.
On a side note IMDB does list Paul Reubens, Pee-Wee Herman or Spleen from Mystery Men (1999), as appearing in the film but that isn’t true. Just an urban myth.
Given this is arrow the transfer is fantastic with the usual 2K restoration from the original negatives and sound quality is very good too.
A bit light on extras compared to what we are used to but the interviews was fun to watch.
The trailer below obviously is not taken from the Arrow release but the only one I could find on YouTube
DIRECTOR-APPROVED SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS
Brand new 2K restoration from the original camera negative
High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentations
Original mono audio (uncompressed PCM on the Blu-ray)
Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
Brand new audio commentary with writer-producer Craig Muckler, moderated by Mike Tristano
My Microwave Massacre Memoirs – brand new making-of featurette including interviews with Muckler, director Wayne Berwick and actor Loren Schein
Trailer
Original treatment and 8-page synopsis (BD/DVD-ROM content)
Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Wes Benscoter
