Supercuts and mash-ups are all the rage on the internet these days. Compiling disparate clips with a running theme, or else combining two properties that don’t seem to blend, have yielded entertaining videos. “Megaplex” the newest giant video remix from Smash TV goes beyond all of that to create a giant, three-part saga that rewires the viewer’s brain. Pulling clips from more than 80 movies (plus commercials and TV, it seems), the editors have managed to pull some outstanding visuals and set them to catchy music. It’s hypnotic in its flow, mesmerizing to the point where there’s almost a connective tissue seen between all of the clips.
The sources range from The Secret Of NIMH to No Holds Barred, Cocoon to Total Recall (the original, of course), from Harry And The Hendersons to Akira, and everything in between. Divided into three parts (“Turbo,” “Coming Attractions,” and “Beyond”), the ultimate mixtape for the mind is a descent into a pop-culture universe with images that have been emblazoned onto the cultural zeitgeist for the past 30 years. Words fail when trying to sum up the experience, so here’s the description from the editors (Ben Craw and Brendan Shields) for each of the three parts:
Side A - Turbo
Turbo, Side A of Smash TV’s Megaplex, is the coolest thing you’ve ever seen if you were a late-night-movie-brainwashed 8 year old in 1990. It is the ultimate in-your-face, balls to the wall, no holds barred, over the top, end of the world electric boogaloo dance party, fueled by neon, spandex, ooze, and steroids. So many steroids.
It’s the movie you and your best friends stumble across at the end of the night after frying your brain with nine straight hours of Sonic 2, Streets of Rage 2, and ToeJam & Earl on your Sega Genesis. Or is the whole thing just a Pepsi-induced sugar coma fever dream? It’s impossible to say. But you probably shouldn’t have drunk that fifth two-liter bottle.
Turbo is utterly shameless in its love for the most ridiculous and awesome movies that the 1980s and early 90s had to offer. It’s what would happen if Cannon Films and New Line Cinema got a little crazy at the club and ended up boning in the bathroom. It’s the nights from your childhood that you’ll never forget.
Coming Attractions
Coming Attractions is a collection of vignettes exploring different genres and themes. Comprised of fake trailers, genre retrospectives, and tributes to luminary actors and directors, it acts as a palette cleanser in between the two halves and provides an opportunity to experiment on a smaller scale.
Side B - Beyond
Beyond, Side B of Megaplex, is a psychedelic vision quest for B-movie lovers. Comprised of some of the strangest imagery from the 80s and early 90s, Beyond is a hallucinatory experience designed to amaze, bewilder, and terrify.
Highlighting choice cuts from a strange time in the horror, sci-fi, and fantasy genres, Beyond harkens back to late nights of channel surfing, catching out of context glimpses of the bizarre and fascinating. Something unlike anything you’d ever seen before…something you weren’t supposed to see…
For those interested in the music utilized, they can download the mixes for Side A here and Side B here. It’s a wild trip through nostalgia and junkfood cinema, one that was even wildly praised by that avatar of ’80s nostalgia, Ready Player One author Ernie Cline:
So, without further ado, enjoy “Megaplex.”
(Please note: There is a warning at the beginning of the video that the video “has been identified to potentially trigger seizures for people with photosensitive epilepsy.” So be careful out there, folks.)
Megaplex from Smash TV on Vimeo.