One thing that will never leave the minds of Hollywood is
the word “Franchise.” A franchise can
mean big bucks for studios who want nothing more than Scrooge McDuck amounts of
money. Bringing new life to something
that people like and will pay to see is sure to get a big box office
return. That’s why every weekend sees a
reboot, sequel, or adaptation coming to theaters. The next Marvel film or the new Mission: Impossible entry will bring
audiences into theater seats because the last one they saw got them hooked for
more.
Something that needs to happen with every installment in a
franchise, however, is something new.
There needs to be something brought into every movie that will keep it
fresh. In the case of the Marvel movies,
there are more heroes and more stories to be told. In the case of Mission: Impossible, there are crazier stunts to be filmed. Audiences love watching Tom Cruise put his
life on the line for their entertainment.
Other franchises need to try different things to keep themselves going. These other things can get weird.
One example of a strange turn in a franchise came in the
form of Transylmania. It was the third movie in the Dorm Daze franchise, following National Lampoon’s Dorm Daze, and Dorm Daze 2: College @ Sea. This installment saw the remains of the gang
from the previous two travelling to Romania for a semester abroad. Newmar (Tony Denman) was now dating Lynne
(Jennifer Lyons). Pete (Patrick
Cavanaugh) and Wang (Paul H. Kim) were getting high and hanging out with the twins
Lia (Natalie Garza) and Danni (Nicole Garza).
Brady (Worm Miller) was still hanging around with the people who were in
his dorm building. Cliff (James DeBello)
got himself into some shady dealings, and Rusty (Oren Skoog) was preparing to
meet his online girlfriend. When they
got to Romania, there was a misunderstanding with a vampire who looked like
Rusty, and a bunch of strange hijinks involving vampire hunter Teodora van
Sloan (Musetta Vander) and a mad scientist head of the college, Dean Flora (David
Steinberg) followed.
All of the elements of the previous two Dorm Daze movies were present throughout Transylmania. There were a
bunch of characters going about their life at school without really doing any
schoolwork. In the first, they were in
their dorm. The second saw them on a
ship when they were on a semester cruise.
This one put them into a castle abroad.
They were there for school, but it was their life outside of class that
became the focus. There was one scene
where the characters were in class. It
was played for laughs, though, and their learning didn’t really come into the
picture. The intertwining storylines
were there. Newmar and Lynne had their
story about Newmar thinking he wasn’t good enough. It crossed with the vampire lookalike
storyline, which crossed with Rusty’s storyline, and his online girlfriend
storyline ended up crossing over with what the twins were up to. Everything intertwined while still being its
own story.
Yet Transylmania
managed to fall prey to something that hurts many franchises more than two
movies in. Though many of the same
qualities of its predecessor were still apparent throughout the movie, there
were added elements that changed things.
They changed the universe that had been built up by that point. The third movie in the franchise changed what
the franchise was, while still trying to stay within the franchise. There were vampires and mad scientist doctor
people. Heads and bodies were being
switched. Someone was possessed. All of these things were new to a series of
movies that had been grounded in a comedic reality.
Franchises frequently try to change things as they go on in
order to keep things fresh. No franchise
wants to stay the same forever.
Sometimes that change comes in the form of location. Look at Dorm
Daze and Dorm Daze 2. The location was switched from the residence
at a college to a cruise ship that the students were studying on. That was the big change. But when a franchise gets past the point of
changing the setting, they look at changing actual elements of the
storytelling. That’s how the
supernatural elements ended up in Transylmania.
This wasn’t the only franchise to do this sort of
retooling. Many franchises before and
after have tried to alter themselves in varyingly successful ways. Some of them succeed and become the biggest
franchises to exist. Look at the Fast and Furious movies. The first was a Point Break rip-off about street racing, that just so happened to
have an undercover cop trying to take down a thief. It was grounded in a semi-reality. By the time Fast Five and Fast &
Furious 6 rolled around, the characters were superheroes and the movies
were no longer about racing. They
transformed into big, action filled spy movies where the tools of the trade were
cars. It was as if someone watched Armageddon and translated the oil
drillers as astronauts into street racers as spies. Audiences ate the movies up, creating a
juggernaut of a franchise that few can match in terms of fanbase and box office
returns.
Then there are the less successful franchises. Air Bud
was a movie about a boy befriending a dog, and that dog helping the boy get
over the loss of his father through basketball.
After five movies of a dog playing sports, the franchise shifted into
the Air Buddies movies. Though they were successful in terms of
longevity, there hasn’t been much critical praise for them. The Buddies
movies have more installments than the parent series had, but their quality
is of a lower standard. The dogs became
the main characters instead of the catalyst for the child’s growth. Character work took a back seat for the
antics of the puppies. Aside from Snow Buddies, which harkened back to the
good old Air Bud days, the movies
became dumb comedies for parents to plop their children in front of. There wasn’t much to learn. It was a weaker franchise after the change.
All of this is to say that franchises grow. They change.
Sometimes the change works, and sometimes it doesn’t. In the case of the Dorm Daze movies, the addition of the supernatural elements felt a
little out of place after two movies grounded in reality. It was an unnecessary way to change up the
franchise. It didn’t completely fail to
deliver, though. The possession and body
switching led to some funny moments. The
vampires were a fun group to have around, delivering some of the best
laughs. It might not have ended up being
a comedy classic, but Transylmania
was a decent enough watch.
Now that the post is done, let’s get to the notes:
- The Air Buddies movies were mentioned in this post. Air Buddies (week 270), Snow Buddies (week 270), and Space Buddies (week 270) were featured in the Sunday "Bad" Movies.
- The directors of Transylmania were the Hillenbrands, who directed both Dorm Daze (week 40) and Dorm Daze 2: College @ Sea (week 40).
- Five actors were in Dorm Daze (week 40), Dorm Daze 2: College @ Sea (week 40), and Transylmania. They were Patrick Casey, Patrick Cavanaugh, James DeBello, Tony Denman, and Josh Miller.
- Two more actors were in all three movies, as well as Jack Frost 2: Revenge of the Mutant Killer Snowman (week 159). They were Paul Hansen Kim and Jennifer Lyons.
- Transylmania featured Oren Skoog and Scott Brandon, who had previously been in Dorm Daze 2: College @ Sea (week 40).
- Musetta Vander was in Transylmania. She was also in last week’s movie, Wild Wild West (week 296), and Mortal Kombat: Annihilation (week 140).
- Bonnie Morgan and Claudiu Trandafir were in Transylmania. They both made their Sunday “Bad” Movies debuts in The Devil Inside (week 13).
- Jessica Mei Gershon returned to the Sunday “Bad” Movies with Transylmania, after previously appearing in Bratz: The Movie (week 63).
- Finally, Paul Zies made his second Sunday “Bad” Movies showing in Transylmania. He first showed up in Jonah Hex (week 249).
- Have you seen Transylmania? What are some of your favourite sequels that changed up the franchise? Let me know about these things in the comments.
- The comments are also a good place to let me know about any suggestions you might have for future Sunday “Bad” Movies weeks. I’m always looking for movies I might not have otherwise known about. Twitter is another place where you can find me.
- Sometimes, I’ll watch bad movies and share clips of them on Snapchat. Add me (jurassicgriffin) if that’s the kind of thing you want to see.
- Next week will have some more spooky stuff. There won’t be vampire, but there will be zombies. There will be teenage zombies. Teenage Zombies, from 1959, will be up next week. Join me and read what I write about that next week. See you then.
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