Joysticks Blu Ray Review (MVD Rewind Collection)

Joysticks is a 1983 comedy produced and directed by Greydon Clark (Dance Macabre, The Forbidden Dance, Uninvited, Wacko, Final Justice, The Return, Without Warning, Black Shampoo, and Satan’s Cheerleaders). It was written by Al Gomez (Edges of Darkness, River Bottom, and Trap), Mickey Epps (The Phantom of the Opera, Wacko, and The Return), and Curtis Burch (Ladybugs, The Return, and It Lives Again). The budget was $300,000 and it grossed almost $4 million worldwide at the box office. Jefferson Bailey (played by: Scott McGinnis from Star Trek III, Last Gasp, Secret Admirer, Making the Grade, Wacko, Thunder Alley, and Odd Jobs) is in charge of the successful “The Video Arcade” in town while he’s family is away. Local rival businessman Joseph Rutter (played by: Joe Don Baker from James Bond franchise, Congo, Mars Attacks!, Walking Tall, Criminal Law, Fletch, The Natural, Cape Fear, and Reality Bites) is trying to shut him down at any cost. He gets help from his moronic nephews Arnie (played by: John Diehl from The Shield, The Client, Angel, D.C. Cab, Miami Vice, Kickboxer 2, Mikey, Stargate, Mind Ripper, Nixon, Jurassic Park III, Fire Down Below, and A Time to Kill) and Max (played by: John Voldstad from Newhart, Stripes, 1941, and Leprechaun) to execute his evil plan. Jefferson gets help from Eugene Groebe (played by: Leif Green from Grease 2 and The Facts of Life) and McDorfus (played by: Jim Greenleaf from Evilspeak, Gorp, and Toy Soldiers) to fight against the shady businessman. Jefferson faces his fears in a video game duel to save his arcade against the leader of the punks King Vidiot (played by: Jon Gries from Napoleon Dynamite, Get Shorty, Real Genius, Taken franchise, Helter Skelter, The Monster Squad, and Fright Night Part 2) who was hand picked by Rutter to destroy the video game spot once in for and all!!!! Greydon Clark tested his directional skills in several different genres and styles over the years, this was one of his bigger projects from back in the day. Joysticks was a unique entry into the 80’s teen sex comedy sub-genre mixing it with the popular arcade and video game world at the time. It brought together the best of both worlds in the 80’s for Joysticks. You can see the influence of all the other teen comedies mixed in here especially Porky’s but it was one of the first features to really show off the new technology when it put together so that what makes it stand out a little more. Scott McGinnis is a solid lead as smart ass that’s running this local arcade for his family. He has good chemistry with all the girls in this. Joysticks has so much eye candy that includes Corinne Bohrer (Police Academy 4, Vice Versa, and Surf II), Playmate Kym Malin (Guns, Die Hard, and Weird Science), Kim G. Michel, Lynda Wiesmeier (Avenging Angel, Malibu Express, Evil Town, Teen Wolf, and Wheels of Fire), and Becky LeBeau (Back to School, Hollywood Hot Tubs, Bikini Drive-In, and Transylvania Twist). Joysticks is never shy to show off all these beautiful women. Joysticks has a way better supporting cast than expected with all kinds of familiar faces that includes Jon Gries, Joe Don Baker, and John Diehl. That’s the best thing about this hilarious production. The script is a blast and I enjoyed the last arcade battle during the finale. It just plays for pure entertaining and so much fun to watch, there’s strong replay value here. It’s a real good one to enjoy with some friends. RECOMMENDED!!!! Let’s discuss this high definition presentation and special features from the MVD Rewind Collection! This 1080p (1.78:1) transfer from 35mm film elements is still a huge upgrade compared to the older home video releases from back in the day. It appears to be the same 2015 restoration from Scorpion Releasing which always did great work for their titles. It has an English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track from that same previous out of print blu ray. All of the dialogue is crisp, the chaos is elevated, and the music/soundtrack has a nice boost to it. It actually has English subtitles that weren’t available on the other HD release. It has a brand new and exclusive “Fan Commentary” with MVD Rewind Collection’s own Eric D. Wilkinson, Cereal at Midnight’s Heath Holland and Diabolik DVD’s Jesse Nelson. The trio of superfans just has fun on this track revisiting Joysticks. They share their own experiences and drop some knowledge about it plus other similar movies that were made during the same time. There’s a hilarious moment when Eric somehow gets muted and loses track of where everyone’s at during the movie. There’s an ironic part where they all joke about throwing away copies of this but unfortunately the original batch had audio issues so they actually had to do that which is wild. It’s just interesting listen with all kinds of random stuff included. It has an archival “Audio Commentary” with director Greydon Clark. The filmmaker provides all kinds of information and stories about the 80’s production. If you want to learn more about Joysticks, this is the track to dig into because Clark shares whatever he can here about the comedy. It has an almost 18 minute archival “Interview” with director Greydon Clark. He says he got the idea after promoting his movie Wacko and seeing what arcades were doing at the time for big business. He chats about the success of Joysticks during it’s original release. He proudly shares his box office numbers here. He talks about some other films that he worked on after this. He brings up his working relationship with character actor Joe Don Baker. It has the brand new and exclusive almost 3 minute “Coin Slots”. It’s a faux trailer short written and directed by Newt Wallen (Bigfoot Exorcist, Midnight Show, and Debbie Does Demons). It stars Mister Lobo (The Ranger and The Barn Part II) & MVD’s Eric D. Wilkinson (The Violence Movie) plus some actresses. It’s pretty cool, it basically plays out as a little reboot or remake to the original. It has a “Trailer” for Joysticks. It has a variety of related MVD Rewind “Trailers’. It comes with a fantastic retro style slipcover that video game lovers will truly appreciate, reversible artwork, and a mini poster. I appreciate that MVD Rewind added a few exclusives to this re-release. It’s been out of print and very expensive for a long time now before this reissue. It’s available everywhere in a few weeks, CHECK IT OUT!!!!