The Surf Reality Movie of the Month Club Collection Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		4.0
Overall		3.5

The Surf Reality Movie of the Month Club Collection Blu-ray Movie Review

"More than a venue. It was a movement..."

Reviewed by Kenneth Brown January 23, 2024

Art Label is the new outlet for envelope-pushing arthouse and experimental cinema. Growing from previous work under the Verboden Video and Culture Shock Releasing banners, Art Label is focusing on films that challenge traditional rules of form and content. Art Label is broadening its roots in horror and exploitation, reaching into other dimensions of expression to give new kicks to a well-versed audience of cinematic thrill seekers. Even the most hardened moviegoers will find stimulation in Art Label's releases.

"The atmosphere [at Surf Reality] is more party than performance. The audience, many of whom will perform, bring beer from the local delis. Typical hallway conversation runs like this: I’ll go on for three minutes, then you break in with this poem, [and so on]. All performers get a care package, which tonight included a condom, a lollipop, and a mint."

Synopsis: The New York underground performance art scene in the late 80's was teeming with unique talents. Enter Robert Prichard and Jennifer Babtist (both of Class of Nuke 'Em High), who decided that the madness happening nightly needed to be preserved on videotape, under the moniker of Surf Reality. At the same time, genre favorite Matt Mitler (The Mutilator, Deadtime Stories) was challenged to improvise a feature film in a single day. Prichard and Mitler, who were friends since high school, joined forces to shoot a series of one-day features on video, and so the Movie of the Month Club was born. This 2-disc collection features all of the tantalizing, gonzo Movie of the Month Club videos of Kid Scarface, Manic A Go Go, Dick and Jane Drop Acid and Die, I Was a Teenage Bride of Christ, Thrill Kill Video Club, Alien Sex Phone Psycho, and Les Enfants Miserables, as well as the previously unfinished Turf of Savage Homicides and the home video version of Matt Mitler's popular play, Macbeth, King of Scoutland, which wittily (and often irreverently) transplants Shakespeare's tragedy from Scotland to a scout camp.

While more than likely a release that will only reach and attract the True Faithful, The Surf Reality Movie of the Month Club Collection offers little context for those who dive right in. The supplemental package on disc 2 is a treasure trove of background info, but next to nothing is presented up-front about the wacky origins of the MMC. So, a crash course. Surf Reality was actually "Surf Reality's House of Urban Savages", a 65-seat performance theater that grew an audience and fostered alt-comedians on the Lower East Side of Manhattan throughout the late '90s into the early noughts. Everything from throwback vaudeville and burlesque to modern performance art graced the stage, all of which spilled over into the lowest of low budget filmmaking. Literally a monthly movie production, the MMC was a word-of-mouth treat for fans and locals itching for more of what their favorite black-box comedians and performers had baking in their brain pans. To add to its exclusive flair (perhaps an in-joke, perhaps a serious bit of overreach), audience members had to be buzzed in through a scrap-metal door to reach the second floor theater.

The MMC films included in this 2-disc collection are... something. A product of yesteryear alt-comedy, they're decidedly hit or miss, and all kinds of delirious. Too long, too bargain basement, sure, but there are some solid laughs to be had, particularly as you grow more and more fond of the actors giving their all to movies that are, essentially, a weekend project amongst friends. You can feel where each flick would have been a real bonus find for fans of the theater; those who attended live performances, got to know the actors after a night's acts wrapped, and who delighted in the troupe's blend of surreal and silly. Experiencing it all in the '90s certainly would've helped. In 2024, it's... something. (Deja vu.) An indescribable time capsule of home video fun, it's filmmaking for the joy of filmmaking, and much of my respect for what it produced boils down to that. These are the purist of comedy fans, etching out a living doing comedy (for most of them while working other day jobs) simply because it was in their blood and bones. It's that love of the art that bleeds through here, and it's that same infectious love that allows modern viewers to grasp just how special a moment in time the MMC came to be. YouTube comedy before there was YouTube, it's one of the last vestiges of truly "have you seen it" performance art, from a time before everyone with a talent could create an entire channel of content for the world to find and enjoy.

Performers who played at Surf Reality over the years include Jim Gaffigan, Marc Maron, Louis Black, Rick Shapiro, Jeff Ross, Judah Friedlander, Sarah Gold, Sonya Sohn, Michael Portnoy, John S Hall and King Missile, Kimya Dawson and Moldy Peaches, Seth Faergolzia, St. Rev. Jen Miller, Faceboy, Maggie Estep, Angelo Moore aka Dr. Mad Vibe from Fishbone, World Famous Bob, Michael Moschen, Matt Mitler, Glen Heroy, Ben Stiller, Trav SD, Irwin Smalls Trio, a comedy duo featuring Adam Felber (head writer for Bill Maher), Eric Drysdale (head writer for The Colbert Report), Tammy Faye Starlite, Premium Bob (an avant-garde comedy duo), Jay Martel, Steve Ratazzi, Todd Alcott, The Poster Boys, Mo B. Dick, Linda Hill, Mike Epps, Deb Margolin, James Godwin, Coo-Coo Handler, Tom Burnett, Akim Funk Buddha, Brad Prowley, Bob Greenberg, Dave Konig, Burn Manhattan, Colleen Werthman, Sloven & Allen, Randy and Jason Sklar, Amy Sohn, David Jenness, Victor Verhaeghe, Robert Sikoryak, Alien Comic (with Tom Murrin), Doug Skinner, Aaron Beale, Peter Pitofsky, and Zeroboy.

The Surf Reality Movie of the Month Club Collection Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

"Art Label is thrilled to bring the Movie of the Month features to disc for the first time, from the best surviving videotape elements of these ultra-rare pieces of alternative moviemaking."

With that, Art Label introduces its 1080p/AVC-encoded video transfer of the MMC films, an upscaled presentation created from 480i sources and one that looks every bit the part. It would be ridiculous to score the video any lower, as there's no method to "restore" or "remaster" much more than the small techniques that have been used to stabilize and clean up some of the more glaring issues that were surely present in the original elements. A few blips and oddities pop up throughout but, on the whole, this is as solid an image as you could conceivably expect. Of course, there's no sense chatting about things like detail, color accuracy, contrast or the like. These are the films as they were in their heyday, and there's a welcome relief to the faithfulness with which each is presented. Adjust your expectations accordingly and you'll be pleased with the results.

The Surf Reality Movie of the Month Club Collection Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The audio is a bigger nuisance unfortunately. Presented with a lossless DTS-HD Master Audio stereo track, it's also as good as one might expect. However, time hasn't been as kind to the original sound elements. Street and environmental noise, hiss, volume leveling inconsistencies and other issues abound. I have no doubt work was put into lessening some of the more glaring problems, but this is home video quality VHS audio and it fares as poorly as you might imagine. Again, difficult to punish Art Label with a score that could be misunderstood to reflect their efforts. But important to note how issue-riddled the audio is, lossless track or no.

The Surf Reality Movie of the Month Club Collection Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Interviews (HD, 124 minutes) - Over two hours of newly produced interviews are included with MMC staples Matt Mitler, Robert Prichard (sporting some serious HD nose hair), Jennifer Babtist, Chuck Montgomery, Jeff Eyres, Kiki Flynn, Jason Brill, Debra Kaplan, Dale Goodsen, Bob Sikoryak, Julia Martin, and Linda Hill.

• Turf of Savage Homicides (SD/HD, 35 minutes) - This newly completed, lost Movie of the Month Club feature, Turf of Savage Homicides, offers fans a previously unreleased glimpse into an abandoned project.

• Macbeth, King of Scoutland (SD/HD, 98 minutes) - The home video adaptation of Matt Mitler's twist on Shakespeare's tragedy, Macbeth, King of Scoutland, which is as bizarre and silly as what precedes it.

• Essay Reading (HD, 7 minutes) - Matt Mitler reads an excerpt of his essay about the Movie of the Month Club, "The Ten Commandments of Low Budget Production."

• Locations Tour (HD, 12 minutes) - A tour of the Movie of the Month Club shooting locations.

• Trailer (SD, 4 minutes) - A trailer for Matt Mitler's 16mm feature film, Cracking Up.

The Surf Reality Movie of the Month Club Collection Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I'm still not sure what I came away from Surf Reality thinking, or how I feel about the antiquated alt-comedy that, once upon a time, was bleeding edge but, now, seems quaint. Cute even. Still, time capsules of street-level productions like this don't drop on Blu-ray very often. Students of comedy, lovers of performance art, '90s nostalgia hounds and, of course, Surf Reality troupe fans will delight in all that's on tap here. Art Label's 2-disc Blu-ray release is packed with content, from the films themselves (presented with solid AV, despite all the VHS-era issues entailed) to two additional films (one making its debut after being "lost" for decades), nearly three hours of newly produced extras and interviews, and other extras. No need to recommend or warn anyone away. You already know if this one is for you. If it is, buy with confidence. If you're still scratching your head as to what Surf Reality is, well, proceed with caution and do some more research.