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Image / 90 Minutes / 2011 / Unrated / Street Date: June 21, 2011
Nostalgia: I’m a huge fan. It’s the reason that I will thankfully and mindlessly dole out $10 to see the latest Michael Bay disaster just because I used to have an Optimus Prime lunch-box. It’s what keeps me trawling the internet for rumors of Goonies II, a remake of Red Dawn or even - dare I say it - another Iron Eagle movie. Does my blind devotion to anything from the 80s, no matter how neon-soaked and Aqua Net-drenched, bite me on the ass sometimes? Yes, with alarming frequency. And no, before you even ask, I don’t learn from any of my past missteps: I’ve seen every Police Academy movie (and recently).
With that in mind, enter Megapython vs. Gatoroid, another flick from the SyFy channel in the same vein as their wonderful Eric Roberts vehicle Sharktopus and probably fifty other film titles involving the wonderfully creative art of animal-based word-jumbles. Though this phenomenon of mutant animal hybrid television is nothing new, it also isn’t something that my generation can claim sole-proprietorship of.
No, what makes this film tickle my “why the f@#$ doesn’t MTV play videos anymore” nostalgia gland is the simple fact that it stars not one, but two 80’s icons: Tiffany AND Debbie Gibson. I’ll give you a moment to let that sink in, more for my sake than yours since I hyperventilated just typing that. I need another hobby.
If you are on board with the whole terrible plot, horrendous dialogue, soap opera-level acting, ridiculous premises and Commodore 64-era special effects of SyFy’s one-off straight to DVD movies then Megapython vs. Gatoroid is right up your alley. I know that doesn’t sound like much of a sell, but bear with me. When I tell you that Megapython has a scene involving a tattooed and scantily clad Tiffany facing off against a rail-thin Debbie Gibson in a very grope-heavy wrestling match you will understand when I say it is worth a peek just for nostalgia's sake alone. And the rampant cleavage - that doesn’t hurt either.