ISMN: “Jacob Two-Two Meets the Hooded Fang” (1978) - Thursday Sept. 8th @ 8:30 PM
This week’s feature:
Not available on Netflix exhibit #9
Jacob Two-Two Meets the Hooded Fang (1978)
DVDR/83 Mins/Rated G
This film has been in the ISMN waiting list for several years now! From the same Canucks that brought you strange childhood nightmare inducing films like “The Peanut Butter Solution” comes a kiddie matinee that’s dare I say, even more bizarre?
Jacob always says things twice because he feels that no one listens to him the first time. This bad habit gets him into trouble with adults and sends him into a cerebral Sid and Marty Kroftish world of a child’s prison run by a fanged wrestler, a fish man, slime monsters and a chicken woman? All the while strange ballads are sung over the film by what sounds like Neil Diamond’s little brother trying to write songs by Cat Stevens.
Got it? The other children in prison are colored blue because they haven’t seen the sun in a dog’s age. Being guilty of saying things twice, Jacob does his time and starts to turn blue himself. Meanwhile, two superhero kids who call themselves “Child Power!” who are trying to catch the adults in child cruelty, make Jacob their spy. All Jacob wants is two quarts of chocolate ice cream!
There have been several other film versions made of this story based on the classic Canadian children’s book, but they can’t be half as hip as the Montreal 1978 version.
(Above: Various covers of the children’s book and the 1999 remake?)
Don’t miss your chance to see this imaginative oddball classic :)
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Bonus Short Film:
“Unicorn Tales: The Magnificent Mayor” (1978)
VHS/20 Mins?/Not Rated
Also not available on netflix, this week’s short film isn’t even listed on IMDB! I couldn’t even find photo stills on the internet except this picture above taken from ebay. I wish you could see how extravagantly weird this production is.
Unicorn Tales was a 70’s miniseries of bizarro short stories loosely based on famous child fantasy and fairy tales, and I can’t help but bring back the episode “The Magnificent Mayor” once again since it reminds me so much of this week’s feature film. Just as bizarre, and even filmed the exact same year!
When you see it, you may even say that this was the United States’ answer to “Jacob Two-Two Meets the Hooded Fang.”
A young girl in elementary school thinks books are bogus, and accidentally flings herself into a future where books are banned. She runs into robots, a wizard and lots of odd characters. In court she actually ends up defending books and blasts out song lyrics like “It’s only a book! Who’s afraid of paper and glue?!”.
This over the top bizarro short film should be on everyone’s favorite retro kiddie cult classic list. Did I mention that it begins with a personal introduction by Isaac Asimov and his giant side burns?! Now you know.
(Shown once before at ISMN and discovered in the archive by Christina Thomas. I found both volumes of this a long time ago at the D.I. Don’t pass it up should you see another copy at the thrift store :)
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Time: Thursday Sept. 8th @ 8:30 PM
Place: on the back deck of 986 N 900 E, Chatham Town #40, Provo UT
Parking: Please only park across the street at the BYU ROTC on 900 E. Anywhere else you will get towed!
Lawn chairs encouraged :) Friends and popcorn welcome.
See you there!
BC Sterrett
