What's Up, Hideous Sun Demon (1983)

Who payed the critics

Simply Perfect

hyped garbage

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

When I purchased "The Hideous Sun Demon", I added this one to my cart on Amazon, thinking that indeed, it was a sequel. Re-titled "Revenge of the Sun Demon", it surely seemed that way. I was terribly disappointed when I got my copy in the mail, but after watching the first film, decided to check it out to give it a chance. Other than the opening sequence of some unfunny drunken college kids watching TV when the original movie comes on, I found myself thoroughly engaged. 75% of the dubbed dialog here works, with special sound effects and reverse photography thrown in with some newly created black and white footage. One character's neck makes creaking noises every time he turns; Cars move backwards down the Pacific Coast Highway; Clarke identifies the rat he picks up as his pet dog, etc. At one point, the monster is even in drag, and as if to playfully rib the writers of the song "Strange Pursuit", it keeps playing over and over throughout the film, sometimes sounding like the speed has been altered as well. I frankly could have done without the sudden vomiting scene of the monster pushing his hand out of the T.V. and throwing up on the kids like he was a live action version of Peter Griffin from "Family Guy". But the playful way this film is ribbed (created by original star Robert Clarke's own son) is done mostly with sweetness and affection, and certainly makes a great double bill with the original. You'll find yourself laughing even harder if you do, keeping this one for the bottom half of the double feature.

What's Up, Hideous Sun Demon (1983) 1/2 (out of 4) Good Lord, what an incredibly stupid idea this was. In the pre-MST3K days, sometimes older films would be redubbed as "comedies" and that's what this thing in. The cult classic The Hideous Sun Demon was redubbed by several comedians and this is the final project. The dubbing was done to add a bunch of sex jokes and that sort of stuff but this piece of crap isn't nearly as funny as the original film. There's no point in talking about the other film because its just in the background here. The dubbed comedy lines fall flat for the most part. Jay Leno (yep, that Leno) does the main voice but you can tell he was a long way from where he is now. Not even interesting as a curiosity thing.

I found this on DVD at a local store and (after some delay at checkout because it wasn't in their system, resulting in me getting it at half the marked price) gave it a spin. The DVD cover and disc do identify the title as "Revenge of the Sun Demon", but the on-screen title is "What's Up, Hideous Sun Demon?" Title confusion aside, it's a pretty enjoyable film. I was rather fearing it would be poorly-done when I read the description on the back of the DVD but had bought it anyways being a massive fan of Mystery Science Theatre 3000 (plus my brother and I used to turn the sound off on bad movies when we were kids and did our own dialog). Also the DVD cover described the film as quite raunchy, with the main character on a quest for sex the entire movie (I guess I'm a prude but I don't like "sexy" movies). While the guy was interested in sex, I don't feel that that dominated the movie, and the raunchiest moment was the very brief appearance of a huge sex toy, as mentioned by another reviewer, in a piece of new footage spliced into the original film.If you are a fan of B-movies and more importantly, making fun of B-movies, this movie is for you!

My pops took me to this one when it was showing at our local Fine Arts theater (not that it's fine art, but definitely small theater material).The basic idea is a voice over of a B movie with comedic intentions. It's been a long time since I saw it, but I recall a send-up of 50's Sci-Fi which was far more humorous than anything Jay Leno has been involved with since. One particularly inappropriate gag with a spliced-in sex toy stands out as a high point.7 out of 10, and I'd love the chance to see it again.