Taboo (2002)

For many millennials, the late 1990s and early 2000s were their formative years. Some were starting grade school at the turn of the millennium. Others were finishing high school. No matter what the case, those years were when they grew into the people they would be. They loved. They lost. They found what they liked and disliked. Millennials became adults and joined the working world. The movies of the time found new life with the growth of that generation.

Some of the most popular movies and television shows of that era involved teenage characters and early 20-something adults. Slasher movies and teen horror/thrillers made a huge comeback in that era, utilizing big stars and creating others. Sex comedies pushed their way to the top again. Romantic comedies involving high school and college students had their place as well. The millennial demographic was brought into the audience by seeing millennial characters on the screen. It was a big time for that age group.

One of the forgotten entries in that era was Taboo. Elizabeth (January Jones) was at a party with her friends when she came up with a game. They would anonymously answer yes or no questions about moral taboos just to see what the answers would be. One year later, Elizabeth was now engaged to Christian (Nick Stahl) and they invited those same friends over for New Year’s Eve. Partway through the reunion, it was revealed that someone knew about the taboos and what each of them said they would do. They had sent an envelope with slips of paper containing one word each that described the people who answered the questions. That person was playing a deadly game with the people who broke the moral taboos.

Taboo took many elements from other movies of the time. None were more apparent than the cast. Each of the actors was chosen for their connection to other, popular millennial properties. Amber Benson was chosen to play Piper, the drunk who was in love with Christian, because of her three seasons on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Eddie Kay Thomas was brought in for the role of Adam because he was one of the guys from the American Pie movies. Nick Stahl was coming off movies like Disturbing Behavior, Sunset Strip, and Bully, each filled with many of the popular “millennial” actors of the time.

The story of Taboo felt like it was an amalgamation of different stories told through that era of films. The initial idea of everything coming from a simple game where people anonymously shared their taboos felt like the killer in Urban Legend pulling from urban legends whenever they killed someone. The people being stalked through descriptions based on what their taboo answers were, and the year difference in time felt like the time jump and letter stalking in I Know What You Did Last Summer. Then there were the twists and turns that ended up being a puppet mastery sort of thing that felt very much influenced by the way Cruel Intentions twisted and turned. It even had every character be unlikable. Each element of Taboo seemed to be pulled from other, earlier teen movies of that era.

That Frankenstein’s monster of a movie never gelled together in the way that writer Chris Fisher and director Max Makowski probably wished it had. The New Year’s Eve setting didn’t add anything to the story outside of giving a specific date to when the events unfolded. There were no thematic elements that came from it and no visuals it provided. The acting brought nothing to the movie outside of recognizable faces. There were no standout performances. There was nothing memorable in what the actors were doing. Then there were the twists and turns throughout Taboo that were predictable from the start.

During the initial game in the opening scene, they answered the questions anonymously. Yet the characters made it blatantly obvious which question they got. One question was about whether someone would have sex with a minor. One of the characters mentioned that they had sex when they were fourteen, so they didn’t see what the big deal was. There was a question about getting paid to have sex, to which another character responded that she shouldn’t be shamed for liking sex. Things like that made it obvious who was being described by each word later in the film. When “rapist” was seen as one of the words, it was clear that the guy who defended having sex with a minor would be the one who had been caught sleeping with an underage girl. Though there were supposed to be surprise revelations about which person each word described, it was all clear from the start who was what.

There was another twist about halfway through the movie that pretty much reset everything. Taboo was a part of the millennial trend of the late 1990s and early 2000s. Since slashers were one of the biggest subgenres in that era, it tried to fit into that same container. The characters were killed off one-by-one as their unsurprising taboo secrets were revealed. The problem was that there were only six people in the movie. There needed to be more deaths. The twist was that the four people who died weren’t actually dead. They faked their deaths to get the mastermind to reveal their blackmailing plan from the initial game of taboo. Then they got killed all over again. Twice the kills without twice the cast. All because of a faked death twist.

Taboo tried to be clever with its twists, but the fact that the entire movie felt like an amalgamation of other, better movies made every reveal fall flat. The lacklustre acting didn’t help. There was nothing to make Taboo stand out among everything else that was released at the time. It came out as the surge of new teen-oriented movies were waning. There was an attempt made to have it fit among the others, yet it wasn’t good enough to stand on its own. It was a piece of the whole, but the whole was fine without it. It was disposable.

The late 1990s and early 2000s saw a boom in movies geared towards millennials about millennial-aged characters. Millennials were going to theaters and seeing people their age on screen. They were relating to the characters because the characters were like them. Even if the characters were being killed or being horrible people, they felt like people the audience knew because they were the same age. They were experiencing similar friendships, school lives, and low-level jobs. Millennials were able to better connect with the characters because they related to the characters’ experiences, even if things got a little fantastical on screen.

Many millennials hit their formative years in the late 1990s and early 2000s. They were growing from children to adults and joining the workforce. They related to characters onscreen who were trying to do the same thing. It was a time when the films and the audiences came together and grew together. A multitude of genres. Movies that were good, movies that were bad, and movies that were entirely forgettable. A time in film that will never be forgotten.

Hopefully. these notes will be more memorable:

• Some of the other movies covered in Sunday “Bad” Movies posts to be a part of that late 1990s, early 2000s, millennial era of movies were April Fools (week 18), Dorm Daze (week 40), Leprechaun Back 2 Tha Hood (week 120), Chasing Liberty (week 155), 54 (week 266), From Justin to Kelly (week 325), On the Line (week 342), Wing Commander (week 394), Tammy and the T-Rex (week 408), and Halloween: Resurrection (week 413).
• Have you seen Taboo? What did you think of it? What did you think about this entire era of movies? Tell me all about it in the comments or on Twitter.
• If you go over to Twitter or scroll down to the comments, you can leave me suggestions about what movies I should be watching for future Sunday “Bad” Movies posts. I’m open to any suggestions and will usually plug most of them into the schedule as soon as I can.
• Make sure to check out Sunday “Bad” Movies on Instagram for plenty of bad movie fun.
• Next week will be the new year. With that, a whole new batch of movies will be ready for watching. The first movie that will get a post in 2021 will be none other than the 1991 flick Stone Cold. That’s right, ladies and gents. Brian Bosworth will be coming to Sunday “Bad” Movies next week. I, for one, am excited. I’ll see you then.

Holly's Holiday (2012) and It Was All a Dream

There are three parts to any story. The beginning sets up the characters and puts them on the path to the journey that will unfold. The middle showcases the journey and the obstacles that the characters must overcome to complete the journey. The ending wraps up the journey in a way that will hopefully satisfy viewers and make them appreciate what they just experienced. Each part of the story plays an important role in how people connect with it, but the ending might be the most important.

A tarnished ending could have serious effects on how people view a movie. The ending is the last thing they see before stepping away. If the ending is underwhelming, the audience could walk away feeling that the entire movie was underwhelming because it ended on an underwhelming note. That is why twist endings can be so divisive. If a twist ending is a shock and makes the audience see the story in a whole new light, the movie could become a beloved classic. If it fails to live up to that standard, it can fall completely flat.

One twist ending trope that tends to fall flat is the trope of everything being a dream. It is a twist ending with a major problem that enters the picture simply because the twist ending exists at all. In almost every use of the “it was all a dream” twist ending, the bulk of the story that unfolded becomes negated. It never happened. The only reason that any of it played out is that the person was asleep. It didn’t change their life. It didn’t change their character. They dreamed it and that was all.

The “it was all a dream” trope has been a part of movies and television for generations. It’s not something new that recently started popping up in stories. It has been around nearly as long as film itself. One of the most famous instances of the trope came in 1939 through a little film called The Wizard of Oz. In that flick, Dorothy awoke after her adventure through the magical land of Oz and noticed she was back in Kansas. She told everyone about her dream and how they were all there. The many-years-later sequel would question whether it was a dream at all, but for the sake of that first film, Dorothy dreamt the entire story.

Television wasn’t going to take the backseat when it came to the “it was all a dream” trope, either. Dallas was one of the most popular shows of the late 1970s and 1980s. The ninth season saw the departure of one of the show’s stars, Patrick Duffy. His character was killed at the end of season 8. There had also been a major overhaul behind the scenes. Season 9 saw the ratings take a hit. Patrick Duffy also wanted to return to the show, even though his character was dead. Rather than continue down the path they were going, Dallas hit the reset button with the dream, negating the entire Bobby-less season. It didn’t really help the ratings. It was a bold move that didn’t pay off.

Now, with those two examples, you have an idea of what the “it was all a dream” trope is about. It brings characters back to their previous reality after a fantastical story, without having to follow through on any of the consequences the story provided. In the case of The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy didn’t have to worry about the characters she had met on her journey, or fret over the evil witches she murdered. In the case of Dallas, any of the story elements that the producers didn’t like from season 9 could be dropped with zero consequence. It was an easy way out that meant the characters would be safe to live on.

This same sort of thinking was used when it came to Hallmark’s television Christmas movie, Holly’s Holiday. Holly Maddux (Claire Coffee) was an advertising executive in New York City. She was one of the few people in her office not in a relationship, which was why she got tasked with a new ad campaign during the holidays. She was paired with Milo Aimes (Jeff Ward), a photographer at the agency who was interested in her. While their relationship was about to blossom, Holly fell in love with Bo (Ryan McPartlin), who just happened to be a perfect mannequin brought to life. Wacky antics and mannequin jokes came in rapid-fire succession.

The plot of Holly’s Holiday involved a woman dating a man who used to be a mannequin. She didn’t realize that throughout much of the film. She might not have realized that at all. All she knew was that she slipped on her way to work, bumped her head, and woke up to the sight of a perfect man. She fell in love instantly, and they began a relationship. However, Bo wanted to move too quickly. He wanted Holly to meet his parents less than a week into their relationship. He was already thinking about marriage, children, and their future together. Holly wasn’t into that and broke it off in the end. If you caught the bit where she slipped and bumped her head, that will come back in a few minutes.

Aside from the speedy relationship, Bo was constantly hinting at his life as a mannequin. He needed his surroundings to be picture perfect, like those of a window display at a fashion store. When he brought his parents over to Holly’s apartment, he and his dad moved the couch to make for a more aesthetically pleasing arrangement. Then he started organizing Holly’s books. Bo mentioned that he used to be a model, showing off surfboards, back-to-school, vitamins, and even slacks. His past relationship didn’t work out because his head “wasn’t screwed on right.” Everything he was saying about his past was some sort of joke dialogue about being a mannequin. Holly never caught on.

The people that Bo brought into Holly’s life were also former mannequins who constantly hinted at their former lives. Bo’s parents showed off their old modeling techniques, highlighting their poses from the different seasons they would model for. Each pose was stiff and the exact same, as they would be for a mannequin. Bo’s father had a constant, goofy smile on, as though designed by someone trying to convey an emotion through something non-living. Bo’s ex-girlfriend even got in on the action, leaving the display she had been in with Bo so that she could seek revenge on Holly. The girlfriend mentioned how she and Bo had stood by each other’s sides for many years. They were all constantly referencing being mannequins.

Back to Bo, though. The relationship between Bo and Holly was destroying the life that Holly built for herself. When she was given the new assignment for the holidays, she was excited to create the perfect ad campaign. Everything was going to be a romantic fantasy. Living through her own fantasy with Bo was teaching her that perfection wasn’t everything. As her work partner Milo had told her near the start of the film, imperfection was better. It was real. People connected more with imperfection than the fantasy.

Bo’s striving for perfection both visually and in his relationship with Holly wasn’t the only problem. He was also trying to drive perfection into other parts of Holly’s life. She and Milo set up their shoot for the new advertising project. Bo went ahead and cancelled it, setting up a new one. He got the right photographer, found the right setting, and ended up having the right models in himself and Holly. Everything was going perfect. But Bo’s ex-girlfriend got in the way and ruined it. Bo didn’t apologize for it. He ruined Holly’s work life and was refusing blame for it.

In the end, Holly’s relationship with Bo had destroyed her career and her relationships with other people. He seemed like the perfect man. Everything was going swimmingly until it wasn’t. Holly broke up with Bo and chased down Milo in the street to confess that she loved his imperfection and wanted to be with him. Then she tripped and hit the ground again. She woke up in the hospital.

That was where the trope came in. When Holly woke in the hospital bed, she discovered that everything after she hit her head on the way to work had been a dream. Her entire relationship with Bo had been a dream. The ruined career was a dream. Meeting Bo’s parents was a dream. Every single thing that had happened after Holly fell down had been a dream. None of it had happened. Her life was back to where it was at the beginning of the film, only with a minor concussion that had kept her unconscious for two days. It was all a dream.

Holly’s Holiday didn’t only use the Dallas style of “it was all a dream.” It wasn’t simply erasing things to reset the story back to a point before the events that unfolded. The trope was also used in the way The Wizard of Oz used it, which was to have the character learn an important lesson. In The Wizard of Oz, that lesson was that there was no place like home. Holly’s Holiday featured a lesson about there being perfection in imperfection. Holly learned that things were better when they were imperfect because they felt realer. She was able to use what she learned in her dream to better her life, her friends’ lives, and her career. The plot of the dream might not have mattered, but the lessons learned certainly did.

“It was all a dream” has become one of the most cliché story endings. People cite it all the time when they bring up endings that they dislike. They feel as though the story that played out was pointless to watch because everything got reset to earlier. That is a fair interpretation in some cases. But in the case of movies like The Wizard of Oz and Holly’s Holiday, the dream situation allowed for a fantastical story that could teach the main character the lessons that they needed to learn. The twist to the fantasy helped to change the reality. It wasn’t all that bad a twist.

When it comes to telling a story, the three important parts are the beginning, the middle, and the end. When one of them puts another in jeopardy, the whole story could fall apart. If the beginning doesn’t set up the characters and situations properly, audiences won’t care what the characters overcome in the middle and the end. If the middle doesn’t raise the stakes and provide compelling obstacles, audiences won’t believe the struggle and character arc from beginning to end. If the ending doesn’t resolve things, people might feel cheated out of a solid story. “It was all a dream” might feel like an ending that cheats viewers out of a story but, when used right, it can be just the twist to teach the main character an important lesson. That’s not all that bad, really.

Now for a few notes to finish this off:

• Roy Jenkins was in both Movie 43 (week 243) and Holly’s Holiday.
• Finally, Holly’s Holiday featured Bill J. Stevens from Spawn of the Slithis (week 257).
• Have you seen Holly’s Holiday? What did you think? What do you think of the “it was all a dream” trope? Let me know in the comments or on Twitter.
• If you go to my Twitter, you can also suggest movies that I should be checking out for Sunday “Bad” Movies. You can drop those suggestions in the comments, too. Tell me what to watch.
• Go check out Sunday “Bad” Movies on Instagram. I’ll be putting stuff up there again soon.
• And now I must discuss next week’s movie. With Christmas coming up this week, I’ll be switching to a New Year’s movie for next week’s post. That movie will be a 2002 flick called Taboo, which I don’t know a whole lot about other than it being set on New Year’s Eve. So, yeah, that’s the movie. I’ll see you next week for the post.

Santa Buddies (2009), The Search for Santa Paws (2010), and Santa Paws 2: The Santa Pups (2012)

Sequels, reboots, and remakes are all the rage in the film world. Each is a way to continue an intellectual property while, hopefully, getting an audience to stick around. If audiences were engaged with a character’s story the first time, they should be interested in the continued tales of that character. At least, that’s how studios see it. They continue to turn out these movies in the hopes that their line of thinking is true. In many cases, it is. That’s franchise filmmaking in a nutshell.

Another way that an intellectual property could continue, and one that might technically be the spawning of a new intellectual property, is the spin-off. This concept is much more prevalent in television than in film. A character gets introduced in one show before getting their own show where they are the star. Sometimes, that could be a character who was on the show for a long time, such as Frasier Crane being on Cheers for nine seasons before becoming the star of his own eleven season show. Or there could be a backdoor pilot, where characters are introduced in one television show for an episode or two before beginning their own stories on their own show. CSI: Crime Scene Investigation did this with characters who would be the stars of CSI: Miami and CSI: Miami did this with characters who would be the stars of CSI: New York.

Spin-offs aren’t as common in films, though there have been some prominent examples. Get Him to the Greek was a spin-off from Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Annabelle and The Nun were spin-offs of The Conjuring. The Scorpion King was a spin-off of The Mummy. Some spin-offs create franchises in themselves. The Scorpion King had four sequels in the eighteen years since it was released. And then there is the rare occasion where a spin-off could lead to another spin-off. That is where this week’s three movies come into play.

A little background must be given first. That background began with America’s Funniest Home Videos in the 1990s. One of the videos featured in the show had a dog named Air Buddy who could play basketball by bouncing the ball off his nose. The dog then went on to be featured on The Late Show with David Letterman multiple times before a movie was made. Air Buddy played himself, now part of a children’s basketball team.

The movie was a success and spawned a five-film franchise where the lead character dog played a bunch of different sports. Air Buddy passed before the sequels were made, however, and other dogs stepped in to take on the role. The character played football, soccer, baseball, and volleyball before retiring from sports. Why did Buddy retire? He was going to usher in a spin-off franchise that followed his puppies.

Air Buddies was the sixth film in the franchise, and the first of the spin-off Buddies series of films. The dogs could now talk. The movies followed a litter of five puppies that Buddy fathered. Each puppy had a distinct personality, and they went on wacky adventures. Through the first three films, they found the children they would grow up with, they helped a child win a dog sledding competition, and they went into outer space. That was a lot for five puppies to do. They weren’t done there.

The fourth film in the series was Santa Buddies. Budderball (Josh Flitter), Rosebud (Liliana Mumy), Mudbud (Ty Panitz), Buddha (Field Cate), and B-Dawg (Skyler Gisondo) were back for another adventure. It was the Christmas season, and the Buddies were disillusioned about the idea of Santa Claus and his workshop at The North Pole. Their thoughts would shift after meeting Puppy Paws (Zachary Gordon), the son of Santa’s dog and Christmas partner, Santa Paws (Tom Bosley). The Buddies worked together to protect Puppy Paws and bring about the Christmas spirit that would keep Christmas from disappearing forever.

Santa Buddies was essentially the film version of a backdoor pilot. It brought in a whole new film universe in The North Pole. Santa Claus (George Wendt) was worried about the Christmas icicle, a magical icicle that was melting because people and dogs were not believing in Christmas as much as they used to. He was always around Santa Paws. He had two head elves, a human named Eli (Danny Woodburn) and a Jack Russell Terrier named Eddy (Richard Kind). These characters and the newly introduced North Pole location would set the stage for a spin-off of the Buddies franchise, which was already a spin-off.

The Buddies were around through the events of Santa Buddies simply because it was a Buddies movie. It wasn’t their story, though. They just happened to be along for the ride. The story was about Puppy Paws learning to be one with Christmas. He had been fighting against the tradition of The North Pole. His trip to Fernfield to see the Buddies taught Puppy Paws that he shouldn’t be pushing Christmas away. He should be celebrating the spirit of Christmas and inspiring others to do the same. He should be following in his father’s footsteps to keep Christmas alive for another generation.

The popularity of Santa Buddies led to a spin-off series focused on characters from The North Pole. The Search for Santa Paws was a prequel about the origin of the Santa Paws character and his connection to Santa Claus. Eli (Danny Woodburn) and Eddy (Richard Kind) took a stuffed dog to the Christmas icicle, bringing it to life to be best friends with Santa Claus (Richard Riehle). Santa loved his new friend, who he called Paws (Zachary Gordon). They did everything together. When they travelled to New York after the death of Mr. Hucklebuckle, a Santa ambassador, Santa was hit by a car and lost his memory. Paws was lost in New York. Only through his new friendship with a young girl named Quinn (Kaitlyn Maher) and another girl in her orphanage, Will (Madison Pettis), Paws was able to find Santa Claus and ensure that Christmas would happen.

This second spin-off series built upon what was set up in Santa Buddies. It kept many of the same characters and concepts that had been introduced. Santa Paws, Santa Claus, Eli, and Eddie were all back. The reindeer returned. The North Pole, the workshop, the magic car, and the icicle were all there again. But the movie took the main action out of Fernfield. It was no longer about the world of the Buddies. It was about the world of Santa Claus and Santa Paws. The Search for Santa Paws opened a whole new story world, rather than tying into the movies that it spun off from.

The Search for Santa Paws had a standard story, with a large part of it becoming the blueprint for future Air Bud Entertainment film Russell Madness. That part was about a couple who inherited a toy store and had to run it for one Christmas season before they could sell it. The rest of the movie was filled with Christmas hallmarks such as people falling in love with a store Santa (who just happened to be the real Santa with amnesia), a bunch of orphans looking for new families, and Christmas magic. It was at the same time a part of the Air Bud/Buddies franchise while also becoming its own talking animal thing outside of those series.

That continued in Santa Paws 2: The Santa Pups, though the sequel took a much bigger cue from the Buddies movies. One of the most Christmas friendly towns in the world, Pineville, USA, lost a Santa ambassador in the days leading up to Christmas. Without intervention from The North Pole, a new ambassador might not be found, and the Christmas spirit would disappear from the town. Mrs. Claus (Cheryl Ladd) took a trip to Pineville to find a new person to take up the mantle. Noble (Aidan Gemme), Hope (Tatiana Gudegast), Charity (G. Hannelius), and Jingle (Marlowe Peyton), the four puppies of Santa Paws (Tom Everett Scott), sneaked along to prove they were ready to serve the Christmas spirit and inadvertently almost ruined Christmas for the world.

Santa Paws 2: The Santa Pups was a continuation of the Santa Paws series of movies, though it harkened back to the Buddies movies in a big way. There was still a story about someone finding the Christmas spirit. In Santa Buddies, that was Puppy Paws. In The Search for Santa Paws, that was Santa Claus himself, after suffering from amnesia. This installment was about a town rediscovering its Christmas spirit after a group of puppies (much like the Buddies!) accidentally conjured it away.

The main problem with Santa Paws 2: The Santa Pups was that it paid no attention to the mythology of the films that led into it. Santa Buddies saw Santa Paws as a fully grown dog with one puppy named Puppy Paws. The Search for Santa Paws was a prequel about how Santa Paws became Santa Paws. Santa Paws 2: The Santa Pups featured Santa Paws with a litter of puppies with no mention of Puppy Paws. If Puppy Paws were born after and Santa Paws 2: The Santa Pups took place before Santa Buddies, there would be no dire need for him to take over for his father. Four other puppies would already be filling that position. If Santa Paws 2: The Santa Pups took place after Santa Buddies, then there should have been a mention of Puppy Paws. There wasn’t. The only way it could have worked was if the Santa Paws of Santa Paws 2: The Santa Pups was the Puppy Paws of Santa Buddies, making the Santa Pups the third generation. But, again, there was nothing to hint at that.

The Santa Paws spin-off series fizzled out after the second film, with the Buddies franchise finishing up only a year later. The second and third series from a franchise helped pushed the franchise to a seventeen-year span, a longer life than most dogs. That was a formidable span for a franchise that started because one dog could bounce a basketball into a net. Nobody could have ever expected that to happen. Seventeen years, two spin-offs, and a total of fourteen movies.

When a movie becomes popular, there are a few ways that it can continue so that a studio can get more money. Remakes, reboots, and sequels are the most common. The spin-off shouldn’t be ruled out, though. It can be as profitable as those other methods. It might be the more unexpected, unlikely scenario, but television has proven how well it can work. Some movies have tried to replicate that success, and a few of them have found it. It’s only a matter of time until the next great spin-off film happens.

Now for a whole bunch of notes:

• Russell Madness (week 382) was mentioned in this post.
• Robert Vince directed all three movies that were the subject of this week’s post. He also directed Air Buddies (week 270), Snow Buddies (week 270), Space Buddies (week 270), and Russell Madness (week 382).
• Danny Woodburn was in all three of this week’s movies. That made him an eight-time Sunday “Bad” Movies actor. His other movies were 30 Nights of Paranormal Activity with the Devil Inside the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (week 10), Jingle All the Way (week 160), Lavalantula (week 290), 2 Lava 2 Lantula (week 290), and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (week 310).
• Michael Teigen was in Santa Buddies and Santa Paws 2: The Santa Pups. They were his sixth and seventh Sunday “Bad” Movies. His other five were In the Name of the King: Two Worlds (week 220), Snow Buddies (week 270), Space Buddies (week 270), Far Cry (week 364), and Russell Madness (week 382).
• Josh Flitter was in all three of this week’s movies, plus all three of the previous Air Buddies movies (week 270).
• Christopher Lloyd appeared as a villain in Santa Buddies. He was previously in The Oogieloves in the Big Balloon Adventure (week 39), Baby Geniuses (week 50), Foodfight! (week 143), and Dead Before Dawn 3D (week 149). Welcome to the five-timers’ club!
• Another five-timer was Reese Alexander, who appeared in The Search for Santa Paws after showing up in The Marine 3: Homefront (week 30), In the Name of the King: Two Worlds (week 220), Cop and a Half: New Recruit (week 340), and Far Cry (week 364).
• Jay Brazeau joined the five-timers’ club with Santa Paws 2: The Santa Pups. He had already appeared in House of the Dead (week 59), Warriors of Virtue (week 88), Snow Dogs (week 322), and Far Cry (week 364).
• Kaitlyn Maher was featured in all of this week’s movies, as well as Free Birds (week 209) and Russell Madness (week 382), putting her in the five-timers’ club.
• The final five-timers’ club inductee was Chris Coppola, who appeared in all three of this week’s movies, Far Cry (week 364), and Russell Madness (week 382).
• C. Ernst Harth has fairly quickly moved up in the Sunday “Bad” Movies recurring actor ranks. His first appearance was in Space Buddies (week 270), and he has since been seen in Dudley Do-Right (week 336), Scooby-Doo! The Mystery Begins (week 390), and now The Search for Santa Paws.
• Diedrich Bader voiced Comet in both The Search for Santa Paws and Santa Paws 2: The Santa Pups. He was previously in Space Buddies (week 270) and Balls of Fury (week 349).
• Richard Kind voiced Eddy in all three of this week’s movies. He was seen in Sharknado 2: The Second One (week 190).
• Tom Everett Scott was the voice of Santa Paws in Santa Paws 2: The Santa Pups. He was also in Parental Guidance (week 27) and voiced Buddy in Air Buddies (week 270) and Snow Buddies (week 270).
• Paul Rae appeared in Air Buddies (week 270), Snow Buddies (week 270), Santa Buddies, and Santa Paws 2: The Santa Pups.
• Skyler Gisondo and Gig Morton worked on the first three Air Buddies movies (week 270) and Santa Buddies.
• Richard Riehle played Santa Claus in The Search for Santa Paws. He was previously seen in Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo (week 20) and Dorm Daze 2: College @ Sea (week 40).
• Kathryn Kirkpatrick returned to Sunday “Bad” Movies after Stan Helsing (week 64) and Santa’s Little Helper (week 315).
• Zachary Gordon did voice work in both Santa Buddies and The Search for Santa Paws. He previously worked on Beverly Hills Chihuahua 2 (week 70).
• Jonathan Morgan Heit also worked on both Santa Buddies and The Search for Santa Paws. He was in Valentine’s Day (week 168), too.
• Ali Hillis was in Beverly Hills Chihuahua (week 70), Santa Buddies, and Santa Paws 2: The Santa Pups.
• Madison Pettis worked on Beverly Hills Chihuahua 2 (week 70) and Beverly Hills Chihuahua 3: Viva La Fiesta! (week 70) prior to The Search for Santa Paws.
• Bonnie Somerville returned this week in The Search for Santa Paws and Santa Paws 2: The Santa Pups after first appearing in 7 Below (week 137).
• Nick Novicki and Mikey Post were in all three of this week’s movies.
• Liliana Mumy voiced Rosebud in Snow Buddies (week 270), Space Buddies (week 270), and Santa Buddies.
• William Samples was in Snow Buddies (week 270) and Santa Buddies.
• Five actors were in both Space Buddies (week 270) and Santa Buddies. They were Field Cate, Nico Ghisi, Ellie Harvie, Quinn Lord, and Sophia Ludwig.
• Genevieve Hannelius, also known as G. Hannelius, was in both The Search for Santa Paws and Santa Paws 2: The Santa Pups.
• Santa Buddies saw the second appearance of Aramis Knight, who was in Valentine’s Day (week 168).
• George Wendt played Santa Claus in Santa Buddies. He was previously seen in Sandy Wexler (week 231).
• Craig Anton was in Nic and Tristan Go Mega Dega (week 272) and Santa Buddies.
• There was a quick turnaround for Charisse Baker, who appeared in Halloween: Resurrection (week 413) and Santa Buddies.
• Now onto The Search for Santa Paws with Bill Cobbs, who was also in Ed (week 11).
• Wendi-McLendon Covey was the villain of The Search for Santa Paws. She was also one of the moms in The Single Moms Club (week 179).
• Tom McBeath returned from Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. (week 284) to be in The Search for Santa Paws.
• Pete Gardner was in The Search for Santa Paws and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (week 310).
• Sunday “Bad” Movies has had a Eric Keenleyside double feature of Christmas movies with The Search for Santa Paws and Santa’s Little Helper (week 315).
• Another Christmas double feature happened with Peter New, who was in Black Christmas (week 368) and The Search for Santa Paws.
• Ameko Eks Mass Carroll and Alex Kliner were each in Russell Madness (week 382) and The Search for Santa Paws.
• Jason Connery was in The Search for Santa Paws after appearing in Wishmaster 3: Beyond the Gates of Hell (week 410).
• James Ram Jatten was featured in Santa Buddies and The Search for Santa Paws.
• The mayor of Pineville in Santa Paws 2: The Santa Pups was played by Obba Babatundé. He previously appeared in April Fools (week 18).
• George Newburn returned from Theodore Rex (week 223) to work on Santa Paws 2: The Santa Pups.
• Trevor Wright was in Air Buddies (week 270) and Pat Finn was in Space Buddies (week 270) before they both showed up in Santa Paws 2: The Santa Pups.
• Finally, Tatiana Gudegast had two roles in Santa Paws 2: The Santa Pups. She previously showed up in Russell Madness (week 382).
• Have you seen Santa Buddies or the Santa Paws spin-offs? What do you think of them? How do you feel about film spin-offs? Let me know your thoughts in the comments or on Twitter.
• If you want to suggest a movie for me to watch for a future week of Sunday “Bad” Movies, tell me on Twitter or in the comments. I’m always open to suggestions.
• As always, you can head on over to Instagram to check out Sunday “Bad” Movies. When I’m not as busy as I’ve been this past week, there’s some fun stuff that goes up over there.
• And now for next week. We should be back on schedule next week with the post instead of this releasing on Tuesday because I’ve been very busy stuff. The movie will be a Hallmark movie because of course I’m going to include something like that. Holly’s Holiday will be up next week. Come on back and enjoy whatever I write about that one.