The Meateater (1979)
I've seen some stinkers in my day, but this one takes the hotdog.
Shoe salesman Mitford Webster, unhappy with his mediocre life decides to buy an abandoned movie theater (it's what he's always wanted) and moves his family to the small community where the theater is located, the realtor Mr. Knuckle informs him the former theater owner only showed.....PORNOGRAPHY!....Pornography?
His wife Jan Webster wasn't too keen on the idea from the start, there was some security in being a shoe salesman, his two brats, Ricky Webster the albino skateboarder, and daughter Jeannie Webster who looks a bit like classic film actress Jean Harlow are employed at the family business against their will.
What they didn't know was the theater came with an unwanted guest, a crazy old projectionist named Ben (the Meateater) who looks a lot like Riff Raff and was half burned decades earlier from a theater fire, he now lives in the theater creeping around like a phantom, living off dead rats and popcorn, and spends his spare time killing the patrons and new employees and watching old movies starring his love-obsession Jean Harlow...aaaah the plot thickens.
Ben has a stuttering twin brother Noah who lives in the crack-house across the street, who often tries to warn the family of the unwanted guest, but to no avail until it's too late, daughter Jeannie is kidnapped by the delusional old coot who thinks she's Jean Harlow come back from the dead, his stuttering brother confronts him only to get pushed off the rafters to his splattery death below. (Jeannie then purposely puts her hands in the brain goop, then freaks out about it).
Oh well, back to selling shoes, I was pretty good at it.
Everyone is either talking about beef by-products or eating them, (everyone but the Meat-eater that is), whether it's hotdogs, beef-sticks, sausage and the like, even some corporate name dropping and advertising, like Jimmy Dean, McDonald's & Oscar Mayer.
The best characters in the film is the uncouth Lt. Wombat who points a lot when he talks, constantly chowing on slim-jim's and shaves his mustache off halfway through the film (?)
Youtube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvFQTtgh28w
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Barry Goubler commented
I remember seeing it on Elvira in the mid 80s, and had to Google the plot; I forgot the title and thought I halucinated it. It's in public domain so it would be easy for them to riff.
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Anonymous commented
I bought this back in the 80s having never heard of it before. I guess I was expecting a slasher film along the lines of Halloween or something. What I got was something... well I can't put into words. In my mind I replaced the family in the film with the Bundys from Married With Children and enjoyed it even more. Just a real "what did I just watch?" film. The type that was made for riffing.