Jay Leno is absolutely hilarious in this send-up of low-budget monster flicks from the 1950's. Made back in 1989 before Leno took over "The Tonight Show" from Johnny Carson, "What's Up, Hideous Sun Demon" (also known as "Revenge of the Sun Demon") deletes the original dialogue from "The Hideous Sun Demon" and adds voice-overs with funny dialogue.
The original movie was written and directed by Robert Clarke, who also gave us the notorious "Astounding She-Monster" (replete with a well-built alien babe in a skin-tight leotard). Appropriately, "What's Up" adds in some funny (and probably inappropriate) scenes with Robert's son Cameron (best known as the voice of Leonardo in "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles") as his father's scientist character. I can't specifically mention the scenes, but they do involves a quest for condoms and an over-sized sex toy.
There's also an inappropriate scene where voice-overs suggest that a 10-year old girl is a pothead with a blue streak a mile wide when she talks to her mom (Mom: Let me smell your breath. Have you been smoking grass again? Little Susie Peckerwood: Oh yeah. I got the munchies like a mo-fo).
Barbara Goodson (Rita Repulsa from the many reincarnations of "Power Rangers") covers the original role of Patricia Manning well and Susan Tyrell (Academy Award nominee in "Fat City") is hilarious filling in for Nan Peterson's well-endowed and ditsy nightclub girl. Bernard Behrens covers several male voices. All three get some good line, but, Jay Leno steals the show with material you definitely won't hear on "The Tonight Show."
Some of his classic lines: "Maybe it was the lizard sperm. On second thought, I think it was the plutonium."
"There was only one word to describe what I needed: Poontang!"
The spoof was written and directed by Craig Mitchell, a writer known mostly for the straight-to-video horror flick "Komodo." He enlisted close friends like Googy Gress, Mark Holton, Goodson, Tyrell and Behrens for the film, but apparently caught Leno in between comedy gigs. Maybe Leno needed the money while filling in as guest host for Carson. Maybe he missed some fine print. But, for some reason, Leno was never credited for his narration. You won't find his name anywhere in the credits or on the DVD cover. I'm not sure why. He occupies 75 percent of the movie and carries the whole film. You actually find yourself wanting to fast forward to get to his parts.
That aside, IMDb.com knows he's in the movie and that's all you need to know. Get this flick, if only to hear Leno's crazy, hilarious dialogue.
I'd have rated this 6-out-of-10, but had to knock off a point for the Susie Peckerwood scenes. They should have been left on the cutting room floor or, at least, rewritten.
