HAIR HIGH (2004)
Label: Deaf Crocodile
Region Code: A
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 77 Minutes 2 Seconds
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 2.0 Stereo with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.66:1)
Director: Bill Plymptom
Cast: Sarah Silverman, Dermot Mulroney, Eric Gilliland, Martha Plimpton, Beverly D'Angelo, Keith Carradine, David Carradine, Justin Long, Tom Noonan, Ed Begley Jr., Matt Groening
Animation icon Bill Plympton (Mutant Aliens) sends-up 50's highschool culture and sci-fi/horror films with this delightfully demented horny homage, a randy tribute to 1950s teen romance flicks with Plympton's typically offbeat colored pencil animation style. The animated flick opens with flies having sex, then revealing the larger scene of a soda shop inside a diner, where young teens, Wally (Michael Showalter, Wet Hot American Summer) and Buttercup (Hayley DuMond), are on a date before attending the prom dance. While there the diner’s owner Jojo (Keith Carradine, The Duellists) shares with the teen couple the story of unlikely teen lovers Spud (Eric Gilliland, Shortbus) and Cherri (Sarah Silverman, Wreck-It Ralph), she was the super-popular head cheerleader at Echo Lake High, who was dating stud-jock Rod (Dermot Mulroney, Career Opportunities), they were the perfect couple, that it until the new scooter-riding geek at school, Spud, unexpectedly steals her heart, and she dumps jocko Rod for geeky Spud, leading to some major jealousy, and the death of the new couple. However, their love is so strong that not even death could prevent them from attending the prom together!
So yeah, this is a terrific vehicle for Plympton's wild imagination and colored pencil animation style, we get wildly re-animated frog, tonsil hockey body-horror, wildly exaggerated hair-dos and coifs, and the Fighting Cocks horny school mascot with an unstoppable erection - it's every bit as demented and horny as you would expect from Mr. Plympton, and maybe even a little bit extras, plus we get some tasty sci-fi/horror riffs, including brain eating slugs from outer space!
Another area which this entry excels is the voicecast, thanks to Plympton meeting actress Martha Plympton (The Goonies) he was able to score some major talent, we have David Carradine (Kill Bill) voicing a chain-smoking biology teacher who literally coughs up a lung, Beverly D'Angelo (National Lampoon's Vacation), Martha Plimpton (The Goonies), Tom Noonan (Manhunter), Justin Long (Drag Me To Hell), and Ed Begley Jr. (Transylvania 6-5000), and fellow animator Matt Groening (Futurama), with a wonderful score by Plympton longtime musical collaborators Maureen McElheron, Hank Bones and Corey Allen Jackson that does terrific work capturing the essence of the era with some humor, but not too jokey, they hit all the right notes.
Audio/Video: Hair High (2004) arrives on Blu-ray from deaf Crocodile in 1080p HD framed in 1.66:1 widescreen, the film was animated using hand drawn cel animation, one of the last to do so, then photographed on 35mm. It looks terrific, the natural film grain look wonderful, the colors look amazing, and the textures of the cel animation and backgrounds like pencil and brush strokes are untouched and look terrific. Audio comes by way of English DTS-HD MA stereo with optional English subtitles. The track is clean and well-balanced, dialogue and offbeat happening onscreen have some nice panning stereo effects, and the songs and score by Hank Bones, Corey Allen Jackson, and Maureen McElheron sound great.
Onto extras, we start of with a New Audio Commentary track by animation producer and podcaster Adam Rackoff, podcaster and film critic James Hancock, and filmmaker and podcaster Martin Kessler, plus the 2004 Audio Commentary Track by Bill Plympton from the original DVD release.
Then onto Two Bill Plympton Animated Shorts, first up is the 5-min “Horn Dog” (2009) and then the 7-min “Shuteye Hotel”. Horn Dog is a classic, though I was slightly less enamored with Shuteye Hotel, but the noir murder-mystery at a hotel grows on me with each subsequent viewing.
We also get a 58-min New Video Interview with Bill Plympton and composer Maureen McElheron, moderated by Dennis Bartok of Deaf Crocodile, they talk a ton about their long running musical collaboration, and the inspiration for the animated film. There is also a 11-min Visual essay “Horny High: Sex, Identity and Animated Anarchy in Hair High” by film critic Celeste de la Cabra that breaks down the horny highschooler film while also talking about Plympton's adult animation style and themes.
Other archival video extras include the 2-min Scene Breakdown with the late David Carradine running his lines for the biology teacher/frog dissection scenes, plus we get a 7-min Voiceover Session with Ed Begley Jr., and a 3-min Voiceover Session with Sarah Silverman, both in the sound booth recording their dialogue, Silverman is doing run throughs of the "You're ruining my nails" sequence. The 7-min Anicam offers a cool timelapse of Plympton animating the film, and we get a 13-min Film Premiere in Portland featuring Plympton alongside the cast and crew at the Crystal Ballroom premiere of Hair High in Portland.
The single-disc release arrives in a clear, oversized Scanavo keepcase with a 2-sided non-reversible wrap, both sides adorned with Plympton's artwork.
Special Features:
- New Audio Commentary track by animation producer and podcaster Adam Rackoff, podcaster and film critic James Hancock, and filmmaker and podcaster Martin Kessler.
- 2004 Commentary Track by Bill Plympton
- Two Bill Plympton animated shorts: “Horn Dog” (2009, 4:46) and “Shuteye Hotel” (2007, 7:24)
- New video interview with Bill Plympton and composer Maureen McElheron (THE TUNE, I MARRIED A STRANGE PERSON!), moderated by Dennis Bartok of Deaf Crocodile. (58:10)
- New visual essay “Horny High: Sex, Identity and Animated Anarchy in Hair High” by film critic Celeste de la Cabra (10:45)
- Scene Breakdown (1:58)
- Anicam (6:49)
- Film Premiere in Portland (13:11)
- Voiceover Session with Ed Begley Jr. (6:34)
- Voiceover Session with Sarah Silverman (3:04)
- Blu-ray authoring by David Mackenzie of Fidelity In Motion.
Screenshots from the Deaf Crocodile Blu-ray:
Extras:
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