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30 of 31 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Halloween Has Never Been So Funny, March 15, 2005
Forget decorating your neighbor's house with toilet paper or throwing eggs at passing cars. For a good laugh on Halloween, try picking up "Saturday Night Live - Halloween", a collection of some of the show's best Halloween - themed sketches, featuring classic charatcers and huge stars.
Usually, the "Saturday Night Live" dvds focus on the best work of a certain cast member (eg. Dana Carvey, Mike Myers, Jimmy Fallon etc.). But since "Halloween" features random castmembers in random sketches, my review will be structured differently than most of my "SNL" reviews. Here is an analysis of each sketch.
Land Shark - Chevy Chase's "Jaws" parody, in which an unlucky victim (Gilda Radner) falls victim to the shark's doorbell trickery. Great way to start things off. 10/10
Wayne's World - Wayne (Mike Myers) and Garth (Dana Carvey) give a brief introduction for the dvd and give a list of the sexiest Halloween costumes, including a cat and a nurse. This sketch is quite possibly the greatest and most popular "SNL" sketch ever (it appeared 18 times), and this is one of the funniest editions. 10/10
Gay Dracula - Two road - weary travellers (Kevin Nealon and Jeaneane Garrofollo) decide to spend the night at the home of the famous vampire (host John Travolta in surprisingly his only appearance on the show). They analyze some of the Count's traits (his clothes, his accent) and comes to the false conclusion that he's gay. He tries to convince them that he's not, a plan jeopardized by houseguest Renfield (Chris Elliot) and the Wolfman (Michael McKean), both of whom are gay. I loved this sketch when I first saw it, but now it doens't seem as funny. I still like it, though. 8/10
Martha Stewart Living - Martha (Ana Gasteyer) gives us several tips to put some spice into "all hallow's eve", including creative ways of toilet papering someone's house and leaving a flaming bag of poo out on your neighbor's doorsteps. Very funny. Laughed the whole way through. 10/10
Matt Foley, Motivational Speaker - The destrcutive self help specialist (Chris Farley) tries to helps a trio of rebellious teens (Christian Slater, Melanie Hutsell and David Spade) who wreak havoc on the neighborhood on Halloween, but winds up destroying most of the house and ranting about "living in a van down by the river". Hysterical, just another eason why we miss Chris Farley. 10/10
Spartan Cheerleaders - Craig (Will Ferrell) and Arianna (Cheri Oteri) crash her cousin Sydney's (Neve Campbell) Halloween party, much to the annoyance of her friends, who are bothered by their constant cheers. Eventually, Sydney sticks up for them by scaring her guests away with a "Scream" costume and joining Arianna and Craig in the perfect cheer. 10/10
Vampire Dating - Ugh. Awful. Dracula (played by convincingly by James Wood) is looking for clean blood in three lovely potential victims (Jan Hooks, Victoria Jackson, Nora Dunn) but is beaten by the sunlight. Terrible, but I'll give it points for the hilarious Keith Richards joke. 3/10
The Richmeister - Ah, my favorite sketch. Our favorite office pest Richard Laymer (Rob Schneider) annoys his coworkers (Chris Rock, Kevin Nealon, Phil Hartman, David Spade and Catherine O'Hara) only to get a visit from the Grim Reaper. Richard's cause of death: radiation, from the copy machine. Just when it looks like the end for good ol' Rich, he annoys Death away with his creative comments on his name. I laughed so hard I had stomach pains. 10/10
Twilight Zone - In this editin, Rod Serling (Norm MacDonald) narrates the story of a woman (Pamela Anderson) who undergoes plastic surgery to look hot. The surgery is a success, much to the joy of the male doctors, all of whom have pig faces. When the female pig - faced surgeoun (Molly Shannon) tries to convince the men that Anderson will be branded a freak because everyone in the world has a pig face, they tell her they don't care because she's hot. Very funny if a little absurd. 10/10
Consumer Probe - A vintage sketch from 1976. Joan Face (Jane Curtain) interviews cheapskate Irwin Mainway (Dan Akroyd), a toymaker who makes unsafe costumes for kids such as Invisble Pedestrian and Johnny Human Torch. The show at its satirical best. 10/10
Adam Sandler's Costume Suggestions - An annual Halloween treat on the show would be when Adam Sandler would come on "Weekend Update" and give cheap homemade costume suggestions. The tradition is kept alive and well with this one, especially when the great Sandu unleashes crazy pickle arm. 10/10
Return Of The Coneheads - Our favorite fake France natives (Dan Akroyd, Larraine Newman, Jane Curtain) anger neighbors (Gilda Radner, Bill Murray) with their politically incorrect goodies. Once again, the classics shine through. 10/10
Daily Affirmation With Stuart Smalley - The effeminite therapist (Al Franken) gives us a spooky Halloween story and a lecture in making ourselves feel good on Halloween. Great sketch, and sadly probably the only edition to be released on dvd (yeah, like they'll release "The Best Of Al Franken"). 10/10
Wayne's World Top 5 Worst Treats - Wayne and Garth close out the special with a list of the worst surprises to get in your goody bags, with the number one choice being mung. Like Wayne and Garth, I don't know what it is, but it sure sounds frightening. 10/10
This dvd isn't funny. I would have loved the Halloween edition of Hans and Franz for one, and although it's pictured on the back cover, there is no "Goth Talk" sketch. Still, what's here is hilarious (except for "Vampire Dating") and is worth the view.
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Could be longer, November 2, 2004
There are so many great SNL skits over the years, I'm surprised they barely filled an hour. A great one with Gilda and Martin Sheen isn't on here, and strangely, the "Goth" kids are advertised on the cover and intro but aren't actually on this DVD. Regardless, some really funny skits are on here, and it's a great addition to any collection. It will easily become a "must watch" for each halloween.
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4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great, Spooky Fun, July 11, 2004
"Saturday Night live - Halloween" was the first "SNL" dvd I bought not devoted to a cast member. While not as good as those retrospectives, this dvd captures the best "Halloween" - style moments on the show. Most of the skecthes here are just random "Halloween" sketches. "Gay Dracula" features a hilarious turn by John Travolta as the famed bloodsucking count. Kvein Nealon and Jeneane Garrofolo play road - weary travelers who think the count is gay. "Vampire Dating" is the worst sketch here. James Woods turns in accurate Dracula, but I just didn't get the plot of the sketch. "Consumer Probe" is the oldest sketch here, a satiical take on the many complaints of dangerous costumes. On this dvd, it's fun to see recurring sketches like "Matt Foley, Motivational Speaker", "Wayne's World", "The Richmeister", "Daily Affirmation With Stuart Smalley" and "Spartan Cheerleaders" put into a Halloween context, as it allows them to expand the realm of the ordinary, non - holiday sketch. Also, Adam Sandler's hilarious costume ideas ("Crazy Pickle Arm") ar here, as is Ana Gasteyrer's hilarious impersonation of Martha Stewart. This is a hilarious dvd recommended to anybody who enjoys "Saturday Night Live". Also pick up the 8 - pack dvd set.
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