MANT!

Joe Dante's homage to his childhood features John Goodman as the cigar-chomping master of horror hype, Lawrence Woolsey. The character is patterned after the late William Castle and Goodman nails the role.

MATINEE is set in Key West, Florida during the "atom age", that is the days when it was thought a nuke might strike at anytime, and kids were sent flying under their desks once or twice a month in drills anticipating the disaster -- like your school desk would help against radiation.

Having spent some time many years ago living on the Florida Keys (and loving it!), I was, of course, thrilled to see that the movie was set in Key West. Released in 1993, it is currently available on DVD (no Blu-ray yet) and providers like Netflix Instant Play.

The film contains a hilarious "movie-within-a movie", starring a half-man, half-ant mutation called "Mant". Dante spoofs the genre, but does so respectfully instead of letting it slip into the realms of the ridiculous like so many others do.

Presented here in two parts is MANT! and a trailer for MATINEE.