The Banana Splits Movie

The Banana Splits Movie is a 2019 American comedy horror film written by Jed Elinoff and Scott Thomas and directed by Danishka Esterhazy. A horror reimagining of Hanna-Barbera's 1968 children's television series The Banana Splits, the film follows a family attending a live taping of the aforementioned show and trying to survive when the titular characters go haywire upon learning of their show's cancellation, starting a killing spree around the studio. The film stars Dani Kind, Steve Lund, Celina Martin, Finlay Wotjak-Hissong, Sara Canning, Romeo Carere, and Maria Nash, with Eric Bauza as the voice of the Banana Splits.

The Banana Splits Movie
Directed byDanishka Esterhazy
Produced byAdam Friedlander
Written by
  • Jed Elinoff
  • Scott Thomas
Based onThe Banana Splits
by Hanna-Barbera Productions
Starring
Music byPatrick Stumph
CinematographyTrevor Calverley
Edited byMichael P. Mason
Production
companies
Distributed byWarner Bros. Home Entertainment
Release date
Running time
89 minutes[2]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

The development of a Banana Splits film adaptation was announced in February 2019, following an original idea from Josh Van Houdt, Syfy's vice president of development about turning the project into a horror film. Esterhazy signed on as director from a script by Elinoff and Thomas, saying in an interview they drew inspiration from the 1986 horror film Chopping Mall and the 1988 slasher film Child's Play.

The Banana Splits Movie premiered at the San Diego Comic-Con on July 18, 2019, and was released on August 27, 2019 by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment. The film received generally positive reviews from critics and was aired on the Syfy channel on October 12, 2019 for the Halloween season.

Plot

Harley Williams is a huge fan of The Banana Splits, a successful children's television series featuring four animatronic characters — Fleegle, Bingo, Drooper and Snorky — along with their human co-star Stevie. On his birthday, Harley's mother Beth and his father Mitch take him to a live taping at Taft Studios with his older half-brother Austin and his classmate Zoe. Upon arrival, the family meet several audience and staff members like the show's hostess Paige and her assistant Doug, fan couple Thadd and Poppy, aspiring young performer Parker with her father Jonathan, and security guard Sal.

As the taping is getting ready, the studio's new vice president of programming Andy informs the show's producer Rebecca that he is cancelling the show after the recording as it does not go with his network's vision. After Drooper overhears this through Stevie, the Banana Splits' new software updates malfunction with Bingo and Snorky kidnapping Andy and Drooper killing Stevie by thrusting a prop lollipop down his throat. Outside the studio, Beth learns Mitch is cheating on her with a woman named Kara. As she returns to the studio, Mitch finds Sal's decapitated corpse and is then chased and run over by Snorky.

Meanwhile, Poppy accepts Thadd's marriage proposal while blogging the backstage before Fleegle arrives and murders Thadd by gorily sawing him in half. Fleegle leaves Poppy when he hears Harley and Zoe looking for Snorky, taking them to the workshop. He traps them with Parker, who Bingo kidnapped while Jonathan's face was burned by Drooper as they were looking for Andy for an audition. The remaining survivors learn about the Banana Splits' carnage after finding a seriously-injured Jonathan. While Paige finds all phones disconnected and the confiscated cells destroyed, Beth manages to defeat Bingo before she and Austin find Poppy and convince her to join them.

At the same time, Rebecca and Jonathan are forced to participate in the show's obstacle course, with Jonathan stabbed to death by Fleegle with a key. Rebecca wins before Drooper smashes her face with a hammer. Harley, Zoe, and Parker meet the Banana Splits' creator Karl who considers his creations' actions justified by the show's cancellation and conflicted over freeing the children. Drooper brings Bingo for repair causing Karl to get distracted enough for the kids to escape and lock him in the cell.

While looking for a way out, Harley, Zoe, and Parker come across Snorky and convince him to help them. Beth, Austin, Paige, and Poppy arrive at the workshop to ask Karl how to stop the Banana Splits. He does not provide any information, but the group hears music coming from a hatch in the floor. The others go down while Poppy notices the mask of an unused fifth Banana Split named "Hooty." Losing her sanity, she puts on parts of the costume and kills Karl as revenge for Thadd's death.

Finding the underground passage littered with the corpses of Doug, the studio's staff, and the adult audience members, the group discovers Fleegle and Drooper holding children hostage while performing gruesome variants of their acts, like burning Stevie's corpse and brutally murdering Andy by ripping his limbs off. Snorky arrives and chains Harley, Zoe, and Parker with the other kids, but secretly gives Harley the keys to free them. Beth and Austin manage to destroy Fleegle and Drooper, while Parker guides all the kids to the exit. Beth, Austin, and Harley meet up with Paige and Zoe before being cornered by Bingo. Suddenly, Snorky attacks Bingo and crushes his head, destroying him before deactivating himself from critical damage sustained.

As the police and paramedics arrive to attend survivors, Parker asks her mother if she can quit acting class, Austin and Paige start a romantic relationship, and Beth punches a heavily-injured Mitch in the face and demands a divorce. Left behind by paramedics, Mitch is run over again, this time being killed by Poppy with the Banana Splits' remains in the back. Fleegle reactivates and laughs maniacally.

Cast
  • Dani Kind as Beth Williams, Harley and Austin's protective mother and Mitch's ex-wife, who attends a live taping of The Banana Splits television series for Harley's birthday.
  • Steve Lund as Mitch Williams, Harley's father, Austin's stepfather, and Beth's second husband, who was secretly cheating on her.
  • Finlay Wojtak-Hissong as Harley Williams, Beth's youngest son, Austin's younger half-brother and a huge fan of the Banana Splits, especially Snorky.
  • Romeo Carere as Austin Williams, Beth's oldest son and Harley's older half-brother, who is also a fan of the Banana Splits, and accompanies his family to the studio.
  • Sara Canning as Rebecca, the producer and stage manager of The Banana Splits television series. Canning's third film director by Esterhazy (she has appear on Black Field and Level 16).
  • Naledi Majola as Paige, the hostess of The Banana Splits television series and Austin's love interest.
  • Maria Nash as Zoe, Harley's school classmate who accompanies him to the studio for his birthday.
  • Kiroshan Naidoo and Celina Martin as Thadd and Poppy Glarady, an engaged couple and fans of the Banana Splits, who try to record the entire show on Instagram. Martin and Esterhazy had previously worked on Level 16 (2018).
  • Lionel Newton as Karl, a crazed British worker of the studio and responsible for the creation of Fleegle, Bingo, Drooper, and Snorky who sees their rampage as a justified action against their show's cancellation.
  • Richard White as Stevie, the friendly co-star of The Banana Splits television series, that turns out to be an arrogant and egocentric person after the show, secretly hating the Banana Splits.
  • Lia Sachs as Parker, an aspiring actor visiting the studio with her father to demonstrate her talent on television.
  • Keeno Lee Hector as Jonathan, Parker's father who wants her to become a star in The Banana Splits television series.
  • Daniel Fox as Andy, Taft Studios' new vice president of programming who cancels The Banana Splits television series as it does not match his view of the network's vision.
  • Vash Singh as Doug, Paige's assistant and intern to host of The Banana Splits television series.
  • Nicky Rebelo as Sal, Taft Studios' security guard.
  • Liza Scholtz as Zoe's Mom
  • Jenna Saras as Parker's Mom
  • Terry Sauls, Buntu Plam, Kori Clark, and Brandon Vraagom as the in-suit performers of Fleegle, Bingo, Drooper, and Snorky, the main animatronic protagonists of The Banana Splits television series, who go on a murderous rampage after learning of their show's cancellation. Snorky doesn't speak and mostly makes honking noises.
    • Eric Bauza provides the voices of Fleegle, Bingo, Drooper, and the show's announcer.

Production

On February 19, 2019, Warner Bros. Television Group's Blue Ribbon Content division announced that it is collaborating with Blue Ice Pictures on producing a film adaptation of The Banana Splits television series, which would take place in a horror-like setting, scheduled to premiere at the San Diego Comic-Con on July 18, 2019, to be released direct to streaming through Warner Bros. Home Entertainment on August 12, 2019, on DVD and Blu-ray on August 27, 2019, and to air on Syfy on October 12, 2019.[3] Danishka Esterhazy, who worked as second unit director for Syfy's Channel Zero, was hired to direct the film, based on a script written by Jed Elinoff and Scott Thomas, who created Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja and wrote for The Haunting Hour: The Series.[4] The film was rated R by the Motion Picture Association of America for "horror violence and gore", marking it as the first film adaptation of a Hanna-Barbera or Sid and Marty Krofft property to receive this classification.[5]

On June 13, 2019, when Syfy Wire released the official trailer for the film, some drew comparisons to the upcoming Five Nights at Freddy's film adaptation.[6][7] Patrick Stumph from Fall Out Boy composed the score for the film, as well as his version of The Banana Splits' theme song.[8]

Home media

The Banana Splits Movie made an estimated $279,000 from DVD and Blu-ray home media sales.[9]

Reception

Critical response

The Banana Splits Movie received generally positive reviews from critics. As of November 2020, 63% of the 19 reviews compiled on Rotten Tomatoes are positive, with an average rating of 5.50/10.[10]

Kat Hughes of The Hollywood News praised the film and its direction, saying "Danishka Esterhazy proves the breadth of her directional range. The Banana Splits is a fun-filled, cacophony of zany deaths and characters, that plays out as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory for grown-ups".[11] William Bibbiani of Bloody Disgusting gave a positive review saying that the film "offers a satisfying sequence of slasher slays" but that it "relies so much on cognitive disconnect that never feels like more than an ironic kill count".[12]

Reviewer Jim Johnson, of Comic Book Resources, wrote that "it's a bold move that works, because, here in 2019, there's really nothing better to do with the Banana Splits. And it's not like anyone else had a better idea".[13] Russ Burlingame of ComicBook.com praised the performances and script, saying "The Banana Splits Movie will be controversial — especially among those who still have a fondness for the original series — but it mostly sticks the landing, buoyed by a great cast, script and crew".[14] Luke Thompson, writing to Forbes, says that "... until we get an actual Five Nights at Freddy's movie, this does deliver in that unique niche of furry animal animatronics gone scary".[15]

Ben Kenigsberg of The New York Times gave the film a negative review, writing that it is "far less crazy than it wants to be and far more soporific than a synopsis would suggest".[16] Mike MGranaghan of Aisle Seat gave the film 2 out of 4 stars, writing "When it's doing what it's supposed to do, The Banana Splits Movie has some definite novelty, value. Unfortunately, that's only about 50% of the time, tops".[17]

See also

References
  1. WARNER BROS. HOME ENTERTAINMENT PREMIERES ‘BATMAN: HUSH’, ‘TEEN TITANS GO!’, MORE AT SAN DIEGO COMIC-CON 2019 | San Diego Comic-Con Unofficial Blog
  2. "BANANA SPLITS". British Board of Film Classification.
  3. "WATCH: The Banana Splits first trailer gives horrific twist to beloved children's show". Syfy. June 13, 2019.
  4. "‘The Banana Splits’ are getting a horror movie" from The Los Angeles Times (February 19, 2019)
  5. Drooper's Revenge: First Banana Splits Movie Clip Cancels the Show from Movieweb (August 9, 2019)
  6. "The Banana Splits Movie - Official Trailer | SYFY WIRE" from SYFY WIRE (June 13, 2019)
  7. "Syfy basically turned the kids show Banana Splits into a Five Nights at Freddy’s movie" from Polygon (June 13, 2019)
  8. "Fall Out Boy's Patrick Stump Has Written The Soundtrack For This New Horror Movie - News". Rock Sound Magazine. Retrieved 2019-08-30.
  9. "The Banana Splits Movie (2019) - Financial Information". The Numbers.
  10. "The Banana Splits (2019)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved November 28, 2020.
  11. Hughes, Kat (Aug 27, 2019). "'The Banana Splits Movie' Review: Dir. Danishka Esterhazy [Frightfest 2019]". The Hollywood News.
  12. Bibbiani, William (19 August 2019). "[Review] 'The Banana Splits Movie' Delivers Gory Fun and Amusing Novelty Value". Bloody Disgusting.
  13. Jim Johnson (25 July 2019). "REVIEW: Banana Splits Movie Ruins a Childhood Memory – and That's OK". Comic Book Resources.
  14. Russ Burlingame (August 14, 2019). "The Banana Splits Movie Is Strange, Silly, Bloody Fun". ComicBook.com.
  15. Thompson, Luke Y. "Blu-Ray Picks: Elton John, 'Godzilla,' Jimmie Fails And 'The Banana Splits'". Forbes. Retrieved 2019-11-07.
  16. Kenigsberg, Ben (2019-08-22). "'The Banana Splits Movie' Review: Tra La La Ahhhhhh!". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-08-30.
  17. Mike McGranaghan (Aug 26, 2019). "The Aisle Seat - The Banana Splits Movie". AisleSeat.com.
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