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| An Extra hotter than Heather YEAR of ZAPPED: 1981 |
Sort of a MODERN PROBLEMS of the teen set or a racy update of the Disney DEXTER films, ZAPPED stars Scott Baio as a brainy scientific high school whiz kid Barney.
After womanizing rich kid Peyton, played by future CHARLES IN CHARLES co-star Willie Aames, pours beer into a potion that explodes in the laboratory, Barney’s able to move things around at will: ranging from bullies to girl’s skirts and not in that order.
Too silly for the college crowd and too dirty for kids, the lighthearted tale never quite knows where it’s going, or why. But the banal venture is not without merit. Felice Schachter’s spectacled beauty Bernadette, as a snoopy journalist student, is a good love interest, providing a conscious for our hero, eventually using (or misusing) his power to gamble.
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| Scott Baio and Willie Aames in ZAPPED! |
Scenes involving Barney’s skills to save his troublesome friend out of sticky situations, mostly involving ingénue Heather Thomas, are engaging with neat special effects. As are the scenes where Barney causes a ventriloquist dummy to stalk his religious mother (Mews Small)...
Okay, so it’s no comedy classic, but all the hijinx magic, leading to homage of CARRIE – Barney turning the prom into a frantic tornado – is fun enough to keep you entertained. And what else do you expect from a film with this title?
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| Scott Baio and Felice Schachter |
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| Willie Aames and Heather Thomas share a prom dance |
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| Mews Small wards of the devil, or something |
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| Lobby card with the late Robert Mandan (as this was edited in 2018) |
This was one of those cable channel classics that I would watch every time it was on. And as a teenager I remember the controversy about the supposed Heather Thomas topless scene when the picture is taken of her in the dark. When they show the picture in the movie, it shows her sans top. In interviews she said she wasn't. I don't remember if there was a lawsuit. Anyway one night my friend Kevin and I had the VHS copy so we went frame by frame through the picture taking scene. Dark dark dark dark and then FLASH - there was Heather Thomas, and disappointingly she had her top on. Oh well.
ReplyDeleteAnother good review as always James.
There was no lawsuit because it stated they used a double for her in the credits.
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