The Party Animal is an independently produced comedy written and directed by David Beaird released in1984 across the United States where despite mainstream critical derision, due to its anti-establishment, rebellious and politically incorrect spirit, the movie did respectably well at the box office and has since become an underground cult classic. An over-the-top slapstick mockumentary-style comedy with a punk rock twist, The Party Animal was reacting to and spoofing the college campus sexploitation genre popularised by mainstream studio box office hits such as 'Animal House' and 'Porkys'. Made on a shoestring budget, it "took the piss" out of the formulaic Hollywood college campus romps and marched to its own anarchic drum. Considered to be one of the funniest and most irreverent comedies of the 80s with one of the best punk soundtracks featuring 'The Buzzcocks,'The Untouchables', The Fleshtones', 'The Convertables' and 'Chelsea'. The theme song for The Party Animal was 'Why can't I touch it'. The film's most famous scenes were considered politically incorrect even for the 80's but its campness and surrealism along with its distinctly punk attitude has ensured that it stood the test of time.
Plot
The film begins with the strains of 'Why can't I touch it' by the Buzzcocks' as camera pans across a rural landscape to the face of a beautiful teenage girl who is atop a hill surveying the road below. An open-ended truck rolls into view bearing a young man lying on a pile of turnips. This is Pondo Sinatra, the star of the story, a 22-year-old virgin burdened with raging hormones, no sex appeal or social skills. He is on his way to his first day at college. Upon arrival, Pondo cannot help but notice that the university is full of attractive and scantily clad females but try as he might he is of no interest to them. The good looking and popular 'Studly' soon takes him under his wing, as best friend and tries to teach him the ways of seduction but Pondo is without a clue and tries ever more bizarre schemes failing spectacularly with hilarious consequences. Even the local whore house won't help him. Desperate to break what seems to be a curse, Pondo descends into suicidal depression at which point the college's wise janitor named Elbow steps in and gives Pondo some advice in one of the film's most famous scenes. This and a few of the other main scenes are so politically incorrect they would not be allowed in today's more careful cinematic climate. The attempts include a try at poetic seduction. Studley tells Pondo what to say to his vivacious date Natasha via a remote microphone; sending Pondo to buy elegant new clothes ; taking massive quantities of drugs. After one of these dating debacles, Pondo frightens Studley by shouting: I'd sell my soul for a piece of Asse! Meanwhile, the lovely Miranda,, a mysterious girl with supernatural powers who has been observing Pondo's struggles for some time, hears his cry and cryptically acknowledges it. Some time afterward, Pondo accidentally creates a chemical compound that makes him irresistible to women. At first he revels in his new "party animal" prowess; later, exhausted and terrified, he takes to barricading himself in his room to escape the mobs of obsessed women who pursue him everywhere. "I have been greedy," he confesses despairingly to Studley; "I am like King Midas; everything I touch turns to poontang!" The end of the film is tragic-comic with a metaphysical twist concerning the fate of those ruled by lust. The movie is composed of a series of outrageous skits, each one building upon the last in outrageousness. It's an audacious laugh out loud film experience. Available through MGM Home entertainment on a limited edition series of 80's comedies.
