One of the funniest films ever made This Is Spinal Tap is almost certainly the greatest mockumentary in existence. The film follows the band Spinal Tap on tour and the absolute ludicrousness that comes with it. Brilliant joke is followed by brilliant joke followed by brilliant joke followed by being second on the bill to a puppet show. While not the first mockumentary it is the film that cemented the idea of what a mockumentary is.

What We Do In The Shadows

A mockumentary that shines a light on the vampire community of New Zealand and discovers that as well as being terrifying monsters they can also be quite difficult housemates. The four vampire housemates live a life in the shadows, using human familiars, or rather, familiar, to handle their everyday needs and to lure people to their deaths.

The Rutles

The Rutles is a mockumentary about a band that in many ways bears a striking resemblance to The Beatles and the film charts their successes and failures. As is appropriate for a film made by Eric Idle it is incredibly silly and has a very Monty Python feel to it, the narrator is very much lifted straight out of Monty Python. The four Rutles are Dirk McQuickly, Ron Nasty, Barry Wom and Stig O’Hara, and those are by no means the best name with Leggy Mountbatten, a Brian Epstein parody, taking that prize.

The Nowhere Inn

Perhaps the oddest entry on this list – The Nowhere Inn, is a truly bizarre mockumentary, pop star St Vincent (or rather Annie Clark) asks a filmmaker friend to make a documentary/concert film. But the friend some realises that while St Vincent is an unconventional rock star weirdo the real Annie is not as compelling. So the friend asks Annie to make it more interesting and she agrees to be effectively become St Vincent 24/7. Which it turns out can have some negative consequences. The film plays with the idea of identity and reality and not just in terms of making films and documentaries.

I Blame Society

After another rejected project filmmaker Gillian has a new idea for a film – a documentary of her following the steps taken by serial killers as they lead up to their first kill. One of the first scenes is Gillian asking her friends to repeat a comment they had made about her – that she would be a good serial killer. She chooses a victim, does recon on their house, does research on murder…at some point it becomes clear that this is no longer someone simply staging this for an interesting documentary but something much darker.

District 9

By no means a mockumentary all the way through parts of the movie are made in this exact style,making a documentary of the arrival of the alien spaceship, how they are treated by people, “interviews” with academics and experts. It also has moments of fly-on-the-wall mockumentary as a film crew goes to follow Wikus as he issues the eviction notices to the aliens.

Documentary Now!

A mockumentary tv show created by Saturday Night Live legends Bill Hader and Fred Armisen that developed out of SNL sketches. Each episode is it’s own mockumentary on a different subject – such as the career of soft rock band The Blue Jean Committee and door to door globe salesmen. The first episode, Sandy Passage, is a parody of cult documentary Grey Gardens; the real documentary detailing the lives of two reclusive, upper-class women lives in poverty in a crumbling mansion, and the mockumentary captures the oddness of the original and makes it even funnier.

For Your Consideration

Another mockumentary from the team behind This Is Spinal Tap this time focused on Hollywood and “Oscar-buzz”. A documentary is being made of the making on a film called Home For Purim, a low budget drama about a Jewish family and in the convuluted way these rumours start one person suggests there’s talk of Oscars and that snowballs. With that information out there the actors, writers etc all obsess about the possibility of them getting an Oscar. The highlight of the film is the portrayals of Hollywood news programmes where Jane Lynch and Fred Willard play obnoxious and idiotic “journalists” with Fred Willard (in the 70s at this point) trying to look like he’s in his 20s.

Ghostwatch

One of the oddest things ever to appear on the BBC Ghostwatch was supposed to be a live broadcast paranormal investigation, utilising a range of real television presenters to play themselves, such as Michael Parkinson and Sarah Greene. Parkinson stays in the studio while Greene visits a house that the residents claim to be haunted. It is a curious item of television history as it is not terribly convincing but was quite original at the time (I watched it as a child and was terrified).

Rec

The line between mockumentary and found footage genres can be a little muddled at times, but as Rec is construed as a documentary for Spanish television it counts. Angela is a reporter doing a documentary on local firefighters, going with them on calls, they arrive at an apartment building where it is believed a resident has fallen ill but is locked inside their apartment. When they get inside they are attacked by what can only be described as a zombie. They then quickly realise that the building has been quarantined by the authorities and any attempt to leave will have severe consequences.

Also Read: Director Deep Dive: Neill Blomkamp

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As I imagine is true for many people of my generation my introduction to legendary British rockers Spinal Tap was via The Simpsons where they featured as the first band Bart went to see in concert. Unsurprisingly the gig goes terribly. It was years later that I watched the film and understood who these people who had benefitted more than anyone from the collapse of communism really were.

“I believe virtually everything I read, and I think that is what makes me more of a selective human than someone who doesn’t believe anything.”

The film was directed by Rob Reiner as part of a streak of films that contained Misery, The Princess Bride and When Harry Met Sally and written by Christopher Guest, Harry Shearer and Michael McKean, who play the central characters. The three stars have collaborated on many other films like Waiting for Guffman, A Mighty Wind and more. The three main actors have done went on to do a huge variety of things- Christopher Guest has made a series of films with a similar mockumentary style, played the six-fingered Count Rugen in The Princess Bride and is in actual fact the 5th Baron Hadon-Guest of Great Saling and would regularly attend the House of Lords. Michael McKean has been a very successful comedic and dramatic actor, most recently appearing in Better Call Saul as Chuck McGill and even more spectacularly as Grandpa Lou Pickles in the relaunched Rugrats. Harry Shearer has had an incredibly diverse career including voicing dozens of characters on The Simpsons including Mr. Burns, Ned Flanders and Principal Skinner, like his colleagues he has been a successful actor but also written several books, released five solo comedy albums and been involved in many projects.

Looking at the rest of the cast of This Is Spinal Tap reveals an impressive array of talent with Ed Begley Jr, Fran Drescher, Dana Carvey, Billy Crystal, Anjelica Huston and Fred Willard all appearing.

“Whether or not he knows the difference between feet and inches is not my problem.”

This Is Spinal Tap tells the story of the band Spinal Tap, a British heavy metal group, and is told via the medium of a mockumentary with Reiner playing the director, Marty DiBergi. The band have clearly peaked some time in the past and play to ever-smaller audiences. They have some of the worst album reviews of all time, one review of their Shark Sandwich album was simply two words: Shit Sandwich. The band’s core members are Nigel Tufnel (Guest), David St. Hubbins (McKean) and Derek Smalls (Shearer), with a rotating number of other musicians. Famously they have had a huge number of drummers – potentially eighteen according to wikipedia – who are all dead, presumed dead or playing jazz, which amounts to the same thing. These spectacular deaths include spontaneous combustion, choking on vomit (but not their own vomit), and a bizarre gardening accident the authorities didn’t want to investigate. The film chronicles their latest tour in which just about everything goes wrong.

It is hard to explain just how funny this film is. The preening self-importance of the band is constantly punctured by reality, or Marty, is glorious. Their stupidity and inability to grasp simple concepts is almost profound – the best example being Tufnel repeating “these go to 11” and failing to understand what the numbers represent. There is the embarrassment of being lower on the bill than a puppet show or the genuinely tragic scene of visiting Elvis’ grave to try and get inspiration and perspective.

“They’ve earned themselves a distinguished place in rock history as one of Britain’s loudest bands.”

Despite all of their personal and professional problems you can’t help but find them endearing in their own odd way and wanting them to succeed. Who knows how the past forty years have treated Spinal Tap and if they have performed more jazz odysseys or spent decades wandering around concert venues unable to find the stage, they will remain the only band who can go to 11.

Also Read: The Ingredients Of A Cult Classic

The post The Spinal Tap Comeback Tour: The 40 Year Wait For A Sequel appeared first on Big Picture Film Club.

This Is Spinal Tap

This is not only one of the funniest films ever made it also invented the “mockumentary”. Directed by Rob Reiner as part of his legendary run of films including When Harry Met Sally and Stand By Me the film follows the ludicrously over the top band Spinal Tap on a less than successful tour. Eternally quotable for it’s discussions around amplifier volume and the colour black it’s also has a who’s who cast of American comedy.

Best Line – the two-word review of Spinal Tap’s album Shark Sandwich “Shit Sandwich”.

A Fish Called Wanda

A classic crime-caper-comedy in which the best thing about this film is undoubtedly Kevin Kline in a singularly great comic performance that was rightly rewarded with an Oscar. Bear in mind this film also stars comedy geniuses John Cleese and Michael Palin who are always overshadowed by Kline. The film revolves an elaborate diamond heist and features too many double-crosses to mention. Kline plays Otto, crazed American assassin/thief who thinks he’s smart but isn’t and shines in every scene he is in, whether it’s dangling John Cleese out of a window or his general hatred towards British people.

Best Line – Otto “You pompous, stuck-up, snot-nosed, English, giant, twerp, scumbag, fuck-face, dickhead, asshole”.

Aliens

It’s important to say that as a work of cinema, Alien is the better film, but the one I enjoy watching more is Aliens. James Cameron’s follow-up might just be the best sequel ever made and an all-time classic of sci-fi action. Not only did it give us the best weapon in science fiction – the M41A Pulse Rifle, it further cemented Sigourney Weaver’s status as a first-rate action hero. Often the addition of a young child to a film is a disaster but the relationship between Ripley and Newt is one of the best things about the film, especially as we learn that Ripley’s own daughter died while she was in hibernation. For an explosive action film, it has some amazing lines of dialogue that are some of the most memorable quotations from the 1980s.

Best Line – Hudson “That’s it, man. Game over, man. Game over! What the fuck are we gonna do now? What are we gonna do?”

Beetlejuice

This is a film that gets just about everything right – it has a sensational cast where seemingly every actor is perfect, the soundtrack is spooky and fun, the costumes and set design tell you everything you need to know. The assorted ghosts, monsters etc all look perfect and the special effects have a very old-school feel to them. This is Tim Burton at the height of his creepy powers and you get all of this in ninety-two minutes.

Best moment – the possessed dinner party/dance party where they all start singing Day-o.

Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark

Indiana Jones is one of the great heroes of cinema, not only a tough adventurer but an intellectual professor who spends a lot of time punching Nazis. In a rare moment of clarity for The Academy, this film was even nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars. The film is non-stop brilliance, from the unforgettable opening scene in the tomb to Indy stealing the truck which contains the Ark, surely one of the best action set-pieces of all-time (and contains lots of Nazi punching). There is so much of this film that has passed into our cultural consciousness – the boulder chase, the snake-filled tomb, shooting the highly skilled swordsmen and even the very last of the warehouse seemingly full of dangerous treasures from around the world.

Best Line – Too many to choose – but Indy shooting the highly skilled swordsman is great.

Planes, Trains and Automobiles

It would be hard to talk about films in the 80s without mentioning John Hughes, who wrote and directed many of the decade’s most memorable films. Perhaps the best was Planes, Trains and Automobiles featuring a pair of comedy greats who normally warrant a single starring role. Often mistakenly remembered as being a Christmas film Steve Martin’s character is actually trying to get home for Thanksgiving. Due to poor weather, his originals travel plans are cancelled and he endeavours to get home however he can but is accompanied be talkative and good-natured Del Griffith. Not only is this a hilarious film but it has a lot of moments of genuine emotion and tragedy.

Best moment – The bit that will forever stick with me is when they nearly get crushed between two trucks and when Martin glances at Candy he has become the Devil.

The Princess Bride

Considering it has one of the worst trailers the world has ever seen The Princess Bride is an amazing film. Another film directed by Rob Reiner but this time written by screenwriting legend William Goldman, The Princess Bride is a story about love and adventure. It is a wonderful film starting with a grandfather reading a book to ill grandson and developing into an unforgettable story. It is surely one of the best scripts ever written with practically half the text remembered as quotable lines. It has what was billed to be the best swordfight in cinema history, a battle of wits over poisoned goblets and to top it all it has Andre the Giant in it. This is a film that works perfectly for both children and adults and due to its fantasy setting has barely aged at all (perhaps in a current telling of the story Princess Buttercup would be a bit more proactive).

Best Line – there are so many but – Westley – “Life is Pain. Anyone who says different is trying to sell you something.”

Also Read: 7 Reasons Characters Die In Horror Films

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