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This is one of those movies that works for all the
wrong reasons--disgusting, lowbrow, base humor that we are all far too sophisticated to
find amusing. So, just don't tell anyone you still think it's a riot to watch John Belushi
as the brutish Bluto slurp Jell-O or terrorize his less-aggressive fellow students. This
crude parody of college life in the '60s spawned many imitations, but none could match the
fresh-faced talent or bad taste of this huge box office success. (Remember all those toga
parties in the '80s?) The first of the National Lampoon movies, this was originally
released as National Lampoon's Animal House. Keep an eye out for a very young Kevin
Bacon in his first credited screen appearance. --Rochelle O'Gorman , AmazonVideo Annotation from
Amazon
Budget estimate $3 million. Color by Technicolor. Released theatrically in the USA
July 1978. "Animal House," which was shot in only 35 days on location in Oregon,
was allegedly based on the college experiences of National Lampoon writer Chris Miller.
This was comedian/actor John Belushi's first starring role in a feature film. He was
already well-known as one of the "Not Ready for Prime-Time Players" on TV's
"Saturday Night Live." The film helped launch the careers of director Landis,
screenwriter Harold Ramis, and producer Ivan Reitman, as well as its cast of relative
newcomers, including Belushi, Tim Matheson, Tom Hulce, Karen Allen, Kevin Bacon, and Peter
Riegert. ABC aired a short-lived television series in the spring of 1979 based on
"Animal House," entitled "Delta House." The series was produced by the
team responsible for the movie. Reprising their film roles were John Vernon, Stephen
Furst, Bruce McGill, and James Widdoes, with the other parts recast. A new female
character, "The Bombshell," was played by then-unknown Michelle Pfeiffer. Also
looking to capitalize on "Animal House"-mania, NBC and CBS each produced their
own "Animal House" rip-offs, "Brothers and Sisters" and "Co-Ed
Fever." Rated BBFC AA by the British Board of Film Classification.
The DVD version of
Animal House includes:
• Region 1 encoding (for
use in US and Canada only)
• Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen
• Behind-the-scenes material, production notes
• Theatrical trailer(s)
• "The Yearbook" - An Animal House Reunion, an original documentary
featuring new interviews with director John Landis, producers Ivan Reitman and Matty
Simmons, cast members Tim Matheson, Karen Allen, Stephen Furst, Peter Riegert, John Vernon
and Kevin Bacon, composer Elmer Bernstein and writers Chris Miller and Harold Ramis plus
rare behind-the-scenes footage and clips with John Belushi
• Universal web links
• Widescreen anamorphic format
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