Review of Midnight Madness (1980) by Zane T — 02 Apr 2010

If HBO hadn't come on full force in the 1980's, this movie, which was panned by critics and bombed at the box officer, would have gone into obscurity. But the countless airings in the first half of the 1980s on HBO, made it cult classic.

It's a Disney movie and that's somewhat why it's so bad production wise. This was Disney's attempt at an older market. Those Kurt Russell college comedies were very lame and this has the look and feel of one.

Disney distanced itself from the movie in an attempt to get more people in the theater. It didn't help. Nowadays, it's pretty tame compared to 30 years ago when dirty words, like "damn" and sexual innuendo that is tame in family hour TV today and scenes of people drinking BEER!! were risque back in the day.

It's cheesy and campy, but that's what makes it so good. Five teams of college students go on an all-night scavenger hunt that takes them all around the L.A. area. While the overhead on such a hunt would seem outrageous in real life, in the movie it's excusable.

This was the first movie featuring Michael J. Fox and Paul Reubens, aka Pee Wee Herman, as well as a featuring B-movie actors such as Eddie Deezen, David Naughton, who at the time was a rising star, and Stephen Furst hot off Animal House.

Many of the other actors went nowhere. Simpson fans might notice Maggie Roswell as one of the game players. Yes, the movie is a collection of stereotypes and silly, corny jokes, but it's also a kids movie and sometimes, that can be foregiveable.