Repossessed - Mediabook Cover C (German Import)

Comedy is tough. Parody and spoof comedy is hard to do right. For every hilarious Airplane! there’s a painfully unfunny Scary Movie 4. Sometimes parody and spoofing is an art with films like This is Spinal Tap or Blazing Saddles. Sometimes it’s just a cheap cash-in like Meet the Spartans. Taking a piece of popular culture and making a creative spin is an art form that requires balance and a deft touch. By 1990 The Exorcist franchise had already run off the rails with a third film on the horizon, so Bob Logan and team got to work on Repossessed. Bringing in Leslie Nielson and throwing Linda Blair back into mix, the film deftly skewers bad sequels and possession knock-offs, but also brilliantly satirizes the televangelist scandals of the late 80s. Some gags are an undercooked miss, but most of the time this film’s comedy spaghetti sticks for an often devilishly hilarious flick. 

After saving the life of young Nancy (Linda Blair - Regan, Nancy, get it?), Father Jebedaiah Mayii (Leslie Nielsen) barely survived. But now fully grown into a wife and mother of two, Nancy has become REPOSSED… conveniently while watching The Earnest and Fanny Miracle Hour. More than ever she needs Father Mayii’s help, but it’s going to take Father Luke Brophy (Anthony Starke) to convince the old priest to get back in shape before Earnest (Ned Beatty) and Fanny Ray Weller (Lana Schwab) can perform their own exorcism on live television and expose the entire world to the whims of the devil! 

The first time I caught Repossessed I couldn’t have been more than ten years old. My Dad rented it after spotting it at our local Mom & Pop rental shop not long after we’d gotten into Nielsen’s The Naked Gun but had no idea what this was about. At this point, I hadn’t yet seen The Exorcist. At that age, there were very few R-rated movies my folks shielded me from beyond Silence of the Lambs but The Exorcist was one. So watching Repossessed back then, I didn’t get a lot of the jokes but the vomit humor was funny and Nielson’s antics were comedy gold. By the time I actually did see The Exorcist for real, I’d all but forgotten this movie and didn’t even make the Linda Blair connection. It wasn't until college I found Repossessed again and could appreciate that weird tangential circle of entertainment. 

Because of its rather limited or obscure life on home video, I think I have seen this film all of three times before this review. Going in I was worried Repossessed would have been a tired humorless revisit. Thankfully it was the opposite. So many years removed from my last viewing, all the gags (the ones that worked anyway) felt fresh and hilarious. In the wake of Evangelical resurgence and the current “prosperity gospel”, the knocks on the scandalous Bret and Tammy Fay Baker felt weirdly fresh and hilarious 33 years later. As expected, virtually every Nielsen gag landed as he leaned into a faux European accent to highlight his Father Mayii. Linda Bliar even delivers some excellent and well-timed lines as her repossessed demon persona. Thankfully the film isn’t there to poke fun at her or the volatility of her career at the time. Her return to the green makeup, green vomit, and bed straps skewers the hypocrisy of televangelism and selling out the Prophets for a profit. 

Now, not every gag sticks. Some decidedly late 80s hits on the rise of rap and metal music haven’t aged well. Part of the issue was the studio wanted reshoots while Bob Logan didn’t, so he left the project and the studio did what they wanted to do. And you can feel that difference. While I found it pretty funny in context, some of Repossessed’s abundant sexism may rankle newcomers and others for just being simple-minded. A few sight gags felt forced and a number of the one-liners just did not stick. And you could feel those punchlines coming well off. At a barely 80-minute runtime, Repossessed is a lot of comedy spaghetti. A lot of the jokes are well cooked and stick their punchlines, others feel like filler gags that elicit only the wimpiest of giggles, or worse just feel like dead weight. But then the film moves so fast those dud jokes are quickly forgotten in favor of some damned funny set pieces and dialog exchanges. 

In the world of parody and spoof comedy, Repossessed isn’t the best nor is it the worst. While a bit uneven at times, more often than not it’s a damned funny flick. When it’s razor-sharp with a wry wit, it’s at its best. When it’s struggling to find a laugh you can feel it. Having just seen The Exorcist: Believer for myself at a Thursday night preview IMAX screening, I needed a good laugh (an intentional one) and I was delighted to see Repossessed still had some comedic moxy that wasn’t all nostalgia but genuinely funny.  

Vital Disc Stats: The Blu-ray
The power of imports compels you! German label Turbine Medien delivers the world’s first Blu-ray release of 1990’s devilish spoof fest Repossessed. A two-disc Blu-ray + DVD set, the Blu-ray is pressed on a Region Free BD-50 disc (tested on multiple setups without issue). The discs are housed in a lovely Mediabook case with a booklet offering up essays (in German) and behind-the-scenes photos. I haven’t read the essays yet but for past Turbine releases I just used the Google Translate app on my phone and it worked pretty well.

As I said earlier, Repossessed hasn’t exactly enjoyed a lively home video life. The film had a pretty rough DVD release and since then the only streaming option was a pretty dreadful SD transfer. So I’m pleased to say that this first 1080p outing is quite impressive. It has some visual effects limitations with optical effects offering some slightly rough patches with extra speckling, but those moments are relatively few. Details are nice and crisp with clean lines and a healthy cinematic grain structure without any signs of overt edge enhancement or excessive smoothing. I also didn’t spot any banding or compression issues. Colors are bold, especially with that vivid garish late 80s tableau of hot pinks and blues. Father Mayii’s training montages are a fine example of that. Black levels are overall strong with good shadows, but the film isn’t exactly the most extravagant or creatively shot film. For a comedy that hasn’t ever looked good on home video, this is a clear and winning transfer to Blu-ray. Also included is a full-screen SD "Retro Version" so you really can see how far this transfer has come. 

On the audio side, Repossessed conjures up DTS-HD MA 2.0 and 5.1 audio tracks in English and German. Both the 2.0 and 5.1 are solid so depending on how you choose to roll you’ve got options. For most of my viewing time I ran the 5.1 mix and was quite pleased. The surround presence may not be the most aggressive mix, a lot of the track is fairly Front/Center focused, but for key sequences like the training montage or the big televised exorcism, there was plenty of surround activity to make that a worthwhile listening experience. With that, I went back in and checked out some of those same sequences in 2.0 and thought that was also very effective. The extra spacing and atmospherics might not translate the same but it’s still very good.

On the bonus features front, Turbine offers up a pretty staked slate of cast and crew interviews as well as a very interesting audio commentary with Bob Logan. The commentary was an especially good listen detailing working into the comedy and spoof but also working out the inspiration for various set pieces. Most interesting was Bob’s battle with studios about the final edit and reshoots, namely the reshoots with Nielson addressing a classroom to “narrate” or structure the film. Next, the cast and crew interviews are also great additions with each member bringing interesting memories and trivia to the conversation.

• Retroversion (SD 1.33:1 1:24:13)
• Audio Commentary featuring Bob Logan
• Interview with Bob Logan (HD 37:30)
• Interview with Jeff Freeman (HD 16:28)
• Interview with Anthony Starke (HD 18:36)
• Interview with Benji Thall (HD 19:44)
• Interview with Dove Dellos (HD 15:24)
• German Trailer (HD 2:03)
• English Trailer (HD 1:15)

Repossessed certainly isn’t the greatest spoof of all time, but it’s a damn funny one. As is the case with so many films, a lot of the issues faulting this flick stem from behind-the-scenes studio chicanery. Where things just aren’t funny, safe bet it’s a studio-ordered reshoot director Bob Logan had no involvement with. Making its first appearance on Blu-ray, Turbine Medien delivers a heck of a release. With a terrific transfer, great audio, and hours of bonus features, fans of this overlooked or forgotten spoof can revisit it in style. And with a new less-than-impressive Exorcist film in theaters, this is the perfect time to check out Repossessed. ReRecommended  

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