They paint the apartment where Grandpa lives with fellow sad old person Rita (Shelley Winters, in a role that probably did not challenge her as much as working with Stanley Kubrick did) and when Grandpa gets a little blue paint in his hair, his grandson assures him that the look is “very punk.” Then Billy starts hanging out with him, and he regains his lust for life. Grandpa is, like most old people, grimly waiting for the sweet release of the grave. The action kicks off when the parents of Neil Patrick Harris’ shy, animal-loving loner Billy Johnson go off on an extended vacation, leaving him in the care of his grandpa (multiple Academy Award nominee and legendary character actor Ned Beatty). No, instead, Purple People Eater begins with a song hearkening back to the carefree pop culture of the 1950s and pre-Beatles 1960s, only this time it’s not a Sheb Wooley joint at all but Chubby Checker singing about the Twist.Īh, but Checker isn’t singing the actual “Twist.” Instead, it’s a Mexican, non-union equivalent of “The Twist” called “Twist it Up”, from the songwriting team of Mann and Appel, whose hits include “Let’s Twist Again” and “Let’s Limbo Some More.” Instead of opening on a goofy, irreverent, kid-friendly note, this odd opening substitutes something that’s weird and ethereal and seemingly targeted more at pedophiles than kids themselves. No, that would be too easy and make too much sense. That song? Not “Purple People Eater”, perversely enough.
#Song purple people eater movie
The movie begins in a jarringly off way, with ecstatic children leaping into the sky, presumably after bouncing on a trampoline while a song plays in the background. So when I discovered that Monster Mash is also a motion picture written by two of the screenwriters of Toy Story, I knew I had to include it in Control Nathan Rabin, the column where the living saints who contribute to this site’s Patreon page, and make this Happy Place possible in the first place, have a choice between two films I must watch and then write about.Īnd since I’m all about finding complementary competitors for Control Nathan Rabin, I gave patrons a chance to choose between either the Monster Mash movie or another low-budget horror-comedy exploitation movie based on a classic novelty song in the form of 1988’s Purple People Eater, a loose adaptation of Sheb Wooley that gave star Neil Patrick Harris one of his earliest and worst roles, and not just because he shares the screen with both what appears to be a little person in a store-bought purple monster costume and a young Dustin Diamond.Īs a motion picture for children, Purple People Eater is a proposition about as curious as, well, a one-eyed, one-horned, flying purple people eater.
I was equally overjoyed when my son became obsessed with “Monster Mash”, and, to a much lesser extent, the original Ghostbusters theme song. Let me tell you, it sure did make my heart soar to see Declan enraptured by The Ramones’ take on one of his favorite songs about probably his favorite hero. It’s no exaggeration to say that in the last month or so, I have probably listened to the theme song to the 1960s “Spider-Man” cartoon over a thousand times, both in the original version, Michael Buble’s cover and The Ramones’ kick-ass version for the 1995 compilation Saturday Morning: Cartoon’s Greatest Hits.
My three year old son Declan adores music, and I love exposing my little dude to the music that gave me joy as a child.
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