Banana Splits (Tra-La-La Terror)

Banana Splits (Tra-la-la Terror) is a comedic horror film from 2019, based on the children's variety show, Banana Splits, from the late 1960s. Have you have ever wondered what a Hanna Barbara children's variety show from the late 60s would look like as an R rated gory horror film? Well if that is your thing then this is your film!

This movie is about a kid who is a huge fan of the Banana Splits, who's mom gets him and his family tickets for a live taping of the show. During the show it is discovered that the show was going to be cancelled after this episode, and one of the animatronic puppets, over heard this, and at the end of the taping of the show, they go on a murdering rage. This film is a low budget gore-fest, and it is everything that you would expect from such a ludicrous concept. I bought this film because of how bizarre it sounded, and the film did not let me down at all. It was a direct to DVD release, and later in 2019 was also aired on the Sy-fy channel as part of it's Halloween programming. It is bloody, it is over the top, and it delivers a surprisingly decent story.

The characters were wonderfully cast, and played their parts beautifully. They made the film a lot of fun to watch. The film also looks really good, it stayed pretty true to the look and the feel of the original Banana Splits, and featured heavily the shows iconic theme song. This film is everything that I wanted it to be, it was fun, it was gory, it was over the top, it was silly. The effects were done as much as possible as practical effects, and I think that helps it to be as good as it is. The effects look great and set the tone perfectly.

Surprisingly this film received generally positive reviews, which I am a bit surprised by, a lot of time low budget direct to video films get raked over the coals pretty bad by critics and are often times easily dismissed without having any real attention given to them. The film is also often compared to the video game series Five Nights At Freddy's, which is also supposed to be getting a movie soon, which will no doubt be very similar to this.

Would I recommend this film? Absolutely, however it depends on who I am recommending it to. If your tastes are bit more high brow and you don't appreciate the art of a good b-horror gore fest, then this is probably not your film. If you want a film that you can laugh to as it delivers very satisfying gory deaths, then this is your film. I am just curious how Hannah Barbara allowed this film to be made off of their intellectual property, but I am bloody glad that it was made. I have honestly wondered what those happy hippy animals would look like on a killing spree, and that dark fantasy was fulfilled right here! If you like low budget horror films, I highly recommend this. Also as a bonus to all of you mid 2000's emo kids, Patrick Stump of Fall Out Boy composed the score for this film as well as his version of the Banana Splits Theme Song, that is heard in the closing credits, and honestly he did a great job.