Search - National Lampoon's Animal House

Director John Landis put himself on the map with this low-budget, fabulously successful comedy, which made a then-astounding 62 million dollars and started a slew of careers for its cast in the process. National Lampoon's Animal House is set in 1962 on the campus of Faber College in Faber, PA. The first glimpse we get of the campus is the statue of its founder Emil Faber, on the base of which is inscribed the motto, "Knowledge Is Good." Incoming freshmen Larry "Pinto" Kroger (Tom Hulce) and Kent "Flounder" Dorfman (Stephen Furst) find themselves rejected by the pretentious Omega fraternity, and instead pledge to Delta House. The Deltas are a motley fraternity of rejects and maladjusted undergraduates (some approaching their late twenties) whose main goal -- seemingly accomplished in part by their mere presence on campus -- is disrupting the staid, peaceful, rigidly orthodox, and totally hypocritical social order of the school, as represented by the Omegas and the college's dean, Vernon Wormer (John Vernon). Dean Wormer decides that this is the year he's going to get the Deltas expelled and their chapter decertified; he places the fraternity on "double secret probation" and, with help from Omega president Greg Marmalard (James Daughton) and hard-nosed member Doug Neidermeyer (Mark Metcalf), starts looking for any pretext on which to bring the members of the Delta fraternity up on charges.

The Deltas, oblivious to the danger they're in, are having a great time, steeped in irreverence, mild debauchery, and occasional drunkenness, led by seniors Otter (Tim Matheson), Hoover (James Widdoes), D-Day (Bruce McGill), Boon (Peter Riegert), and pledge master John "Bluto" Blutarsky (John Belushi). They're given enough rope to hang themselves, but even then manage to get into comical misadventures on a road trip (where they arrange an assignation with a group of young ladies from Emily Dickinson University). Finally, they are thrown out of school, and, as a result, stripped of their student deferments (and, thus, eligible for the draft). They decide to commit one last, utterly senseless (and screamingly funny) slapstick act of rebellion, making a shambles of the university's annual homecoming parade, and, in the process, getting revenge on the dean, the Omegas, and everyone else who has ever gone against them. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

John Belushi - John "Bluto" Blutarsky
Tim Matheson - Eric "Otter" Stratton
John Vernon - Dean Vernon Wormer
Verna Bloom - Marion Wormer
Tom Hulce - Larry "Pinto" Kroger
Stephen Furst - Kent "Flounder" Dorfman

The first DVD edition of Animal House offered little to shout about, and while a second "Collector's Edition" was released within eight months, this edition has remained extant and may, in fact, be somewhat more commonly available. The transfer is a full-screen pan-and-scan effort. This doesn't detract too much from the film, overall, as Animal House does not depend on widescreen visuals. The source print is fine, but the transfer itself is both a little soft and somewhat grainy, with a bit of blurring on movement. Colors are good, with strong black levels and good shadow detail, and fleshtones appear to be spot on (the characters are made up in various degrees of sallow, pasty, and rubbery looking). The Dolby 2.0 mono audio is adequate to the task with good bass, clear dialogue, and solid sound effects. There are subtitles in English, French, and Spanish. The disc extras consist of some production notes, cast and director information, and a somewhat battered and slightly faded trailer (also in full-screen). ~ Steven E. McDonald, All Movie Guide

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