Monday, April 3, 2023

As Happy as Harry

Joyous day for Dada Debaser as Allan Moyle's classic teen drama Pump Up the Volume (1990) is finally out on blu-ray today. Sure it's already available in other world regions, and I could have just as easily imported it, but times are tough and I can't be arsed shelling out extra for what's probably an old transfer on a barebones disc from Warner Bros. Ideally, it should have gotten the deluxe treatment like Christian Slater's other nineties classic True Romance (1993) did, but beggars can't be choosers after waiting all these years.

The second film in what's unofficially dubbed (by me anyway) "The Christian Slater Trilogy", Pump Up the Volume was one of the few films that really seemed to nail the disillusionment of Gen X and what seemed like an oppressive period in time keen to suppress various media; especially in film and music. Regardless of today's contrarians, the film was able to tap into a generational zeitgeist.

Favourite trivial detail from the film is Christian Slater's shock jock alter ego Happy Harry Hardon sharing the same initials as the autoritarian high school he attended, Hubert Humphrey High, as evident in the school's letterman jackets. Not being an American meant we never had letterman jackets at our school, which is a shame. As a seventies baby, I always wanted one ever since Starsky & Hutch (1975 - 1979) used to be on TV.

12 comments:

  1. Everytime I give advice the fit hits the shan.

    What are the extras? I've got the fabled DVD version where you have to turn off the Chinese subtitles.

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  2. Sorry, I wasn't receiving any notifications on my phone to let me know I had received comments.

    The latest release of Pump Up the Volume is barebones. It's just the film and a trailer. Typical Warner Bros. Archive b.s.

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  3. Back like I left my car keys.

    Stingy Warner Brothers twats. Need guest commentaries from Slater, Mathis and the punk lad with the bleached hair.

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  4. I kept thinking the punk kid was Pauly Shore back in the day.

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  5. Me too. Still do until I see photographic evidence of them together 😆

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  6. No matter how many times I've watch it, I keep forgetting Seth Green appeared in this film.

    Also, while writing this blog post, I found out that the actress who played Cheryl Biggs became an adult film actress by the end of the nineties.

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  7. Oh shit.

    She coulda been Stormy Daniels, she coulda been a contender. Oh well, at least she got some loot outta Tiger Woods.

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  8. Of all the porn stars out there, why pick the one that looks like Steph McGovern?

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  9. Could have been worse - he could have picked one who looks like former Daily Mirror betting tipster Derek McGovern.

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  10. 😀 Both linked to Piers Morgan now.

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