Evil Bong 3: The Wrath of Bong (2011)

Charles Band is one of those iconic people in bad movie history that helped to shape the Sunday “Bad” Movies into what it is.  Not all of the movies produced through his various studios have been bad.  Some of them are good, some of them are solid B-movies, and others are bad.  They have influenced my schedule and what I write about, though.  His presence in the blog began with Robot Jox, which was released through Empire International Pictures.  It kicked off his history with the Sunday “Bad” Movies with a strong, fun entry about giant mechs that fought each other over land disputes.

Full Moon Features is the newest production company founded by Charles Band and one not known so much for quality work.  Many low budget horror franchises have come through Full Moon, including Puppet Master, Decadent Evil, The Gingerdead Man, and this week’s topic, Evil Bong.  Each of them have become a go to source for people who enjoy the work of Charles Band.  Even if he’s not the director, as was the case with Gingerdead Man 2: Passion of the Crust, there’s a certain vibe that the movies give off that can only be attributed to his work.

Evil Bong first came onto my radar in the first year of the Sunday “Bad” Movies.  I was looking through the many DVD packages I had.  You know the ones.  There are eight or ten lesser known movies that all get thrown together into one case.  One of them had a movie called Evil Bong.  The name intrigued me enough that it got me to schedule it for the week before the first anniversary.  A year later, I did the same thing with Evil Bong 2: King Bong.  It was in one of the packages, and got scheduled for the week before the second anniversary.  Then the franchise would disappear from the Sunday “Bad” Movies for a few years.

Now it’s back.  Evil Bong 3: The Wrath of Bong has come into the Sunday “Bad” Movies.  It saw many of the main characters return to the franchise once again.  Brett (Brian Lloyd) and Bachman (Mitch Eakins) owned a head shop, and were sold an alien bong by a man who found it outside.  They brought in Alistair (Peter Stickles) and Larnell (John Patrick Jordan) to help them figure out what it was, and subsequently defeat it.  Eventually, they realized they needed more help, so they called upon Gramps (Jacob Witkin) and Eebee (Michelle Mais) to take down the evil alien bong.

The fact that three different Evil Bong movies have been covered at three different times doesn’t mean that they’re great movies.  This is the Sunday “Bad” Movies after all.  Each of the three installments in the franchise have been bad.  There were different issues with each of them that brought them down.  The first one had the forced inclusion of different characters from different Full Moon Features productions.  Evil Bong 2: King Bong actually didn’t have anything too standout bad.  Its main fault was that it could have had production value.  Evil Bong 3: The Wrath of Bong had similar problems to both of the previous installments.

Evil Bong 3: The Wrath of Bong began with half an hour or more of just tossing older Evil Bong characters at the screen one-by-one.  Instead of telling the story, they were busy trying to bring back each character who had been featured previously.  Aside from the characters that were mentioned in the summary, Luann (Robin Sydney) and Rabbit (Sonny Carl Davis) were part of the one-by-one.  The characters could have been better tied into the story, having them naturally flow into it.  That’s not what happened.

The other major factor in Evil Bong 3: The Wrath of Bong being a bad movie was the set design.  The sets looked like student built sets in a studio.  That’s not to say that the sets were terrible.  I’ve seen some terrible student built sets through my schooling.  These were at least believable as rooms, which was something.  But the dressing of them was minimal, with furniture, plants, and pictures being a part of the plain coloured, flat as a board walls.  The plain colours weren’t even the normal colours that you would see on most house or shop walls.  They were solid greens and oranges, closer to the brighter side of the spectrum.  And when it came to the other world that the characters were sent to through the evil alien bong, the decoration was even sparser.  There were no walls.  There was blackness with some lights, and then bright slime green furniture sprinkled throughout the empty space.  It was as though they had an hour to throw together the sets and thought “These look fine.”

It might seem like I thought Evil Bong 3: The Wrath of Bong was a terrible movie.  It was bad, but there were some good things that kept it from being completely unwatchable.  The most apparent one was the cast.  They were having a good time throughout the movie.  The four main characters (Larnell, Alister, Brett, and Bachman) were portrayed with lots of glee.  The actors were clearly having a blast in the stupid movie about bongs that try to take over the world.  Their chemistry worked, making them feel like a group of mismatched friends who bonded over weed.  This one aspect kept the movie from falling completely flat.

Evil Bong 3: The Wrath of Bong was not a good movie.  The two that came before it weren’t either.  The cast was the sole thing that kept the franchise afloat for the first three installments.  There have been another four movies in the franchise after it, including a crossover with The Gingerdead Man.  They did enough to make for a long lasting franchise.  Even with the set and the lazy writing, the movies have outlasted other, more notable franchises.  It’s all thanks to the mind of Charles Band.  He brought these people together for these movies, giving me a reason to want to keep going back to them.  He gave me a reason to keep wanting to go back to his work.

Hopefully you’ll want to come back for the next post, or stick around for these notes:

• Evil Bong (week 52), Evil Bong 2: King Bong (week 104), Robot Jox (week 6), The Gingerdead Man (week 69), and Gingerdead Man 2: Passion of the Crust (week 252) were all mentioned in this post.
• Charles Band has directed all three Evil Bong films, as well as The Gingerdead Man (week 69).
• Jacob Witkin made his fifth Sunday “Bad” Movies appearance with Evil Bong 3: The Wrath of Bong.  He was in the first two Evil Bong movies, The Gingerdead Man 2: Passion of the Crust (week 252), and Showgirls (week 170).
• Evil Bong 3: The Wrath of Bong was Robin Sydney’s fourth appearance.  She was in Evil Bong (week 52), Evil Bong 2: King Bong (week 104), and The Gingerdead Man (week 69).
• Sonny Carl Davis, Mitch Eakins, John Patrick Jordan, Michelle Mais, and Brian Lloyd have each been in the first three Evil Bong movies.
• Peter Stickles was in Evil Bong 3: The Wrath of Bong.  He was also in a movie called Showgirls 2: Penny’s From Heaven (week 170).
• Finally, Amy Paffrath made her second Sunday “Bad” Movies appearance in Evil Bong 3: The Wrath of Bong.  Her introduction was in Evil Bong 2: King Bong (week 104).
• Have you seen Evil Bong 3: The Wrath of Bong?  Have you seen any of the Evil Bong movies?  Have you seen any Charles Band movies?  Let’s talk about them in the comments or on Twitter.
• The comments and my Twitter can also be used to let me know about the different movies that I should be checking out for the Sunday “Bad” Movies.  Suggestions are always welcome.
• Sometimes while I’m watching bad movies, I share clips of them on snapchat.  If you want to follow me (jurassicgriffin), feel free to do so.
• That brings this week’s post to an end.  What’s coming up next?  Nic and Tristan Go Mega Dega will be covered for the next Sunday “Bad” Movies post.  If you don’t know what it is, don’t worry.  I’m not too sure myself.  I’ll see you in a week with another post, though.  See you then.