''The Uh-Oh! Show'' is a 2009

comedy horror Comedy horror, also known as horror comedy, is a literary genre, literary, television genre, television, and film genre that combines elements of comedy and horror fiction. Comedy horror has been described as able to be categorized under three ty ...

splatter film A splatter film is a subgenre of horror films that deliberately focuses on graphic portrayals of gore and graphic violence. These films, usually through the use of special effects, display a fascination with the vulnerability of the human body a ...

, written and directed by

Herschell Gordon Lewis Herschell Gordon Lewis (June 15, 1926 – September 26, 2016) was an American filmmaker, best known for creating the " splatter" subgenre of horror films. He is often called the "Godfather of Gore" (a title also given to Lucio Fulci), though hi ...

. The film revolves around a

game show A game show is a genre of broadcast viewing entertainment (radio, television, internet, stage or other) where contestants compete for a reward. These programs can either be participatory or Let's Play, demonstrative and are typically directed b ...

, ''The Uh-Oh! Show'', where contestants play to win money by answering trivia questions, but appear to be dismembered for every wrong answer. Jill Porter (Nevada Caldwel), a reporter, suspects the gruesome attacks might not be fake.

Plot

A reporter named Jill Burton (Nevada Caldwell) is investigating a gruesome television game show called ''The Uh-Oh! Show'' where contestants literally "get rich or die trying". Fred Finagler ( Joel D. Wynkoop) is the creator of the show. While a few lucky contestants walk away with big money, most end up killed in gruesome ways. Meanwhile, Jill is suspicious about the supposedly fake deaths and becomes determined to find out if they are real or not.

Cast

Brooke McCarter Brooke McCarter (April 22, 1963 – December 22, 2015) was an American actor, producer, director, composer and musician. He is known for the role of Paul in the 1987 vampire horror comedy ''The Lost Boys''. Background McCarter was born in Bryn M ...

as Jackie * Nevada Caldwell as Jill Burton * Joel D. Wynkoop as Fred Finagler * Krista Grotte as "Champagne" * Lauren Schmier as Marie "Coco" Smith * Jack Amos as Dean * Kenny Rogers as Oscar * Bruce Blauer as Ray Hemming * Jarrett Ricker as Richard *

Lloyd Kaufman Stanley Lloyd Kaufman Jr. (born December 30, 1945) is an American film director, screenwriter, producer and actor. Alongside producer Michael Herz (producer), Michael Herz, he is the co-founder of Troma Entertainment film studio, and the director ...

as The Pimp * Trish Dempsey as Old Lady Blume * Kenny DeMello as The Puppet Killer *

as Uncle Herschell / The Narrator

Release

On 26 October 2009, Herschell premiered footage for ''The Uh! Oh! Show'' at the opening night of The Spooky Movie Film Festival at the AFI Silver Theatre outside of

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, following the 45th anniversary screening of ''

Two Thousand Maniacs! ''Two Thousand Maniacs!'' is a 1964 American horror film written and directed by Herschell Gordon Lewis and starring 1963 ''Playboy'' Playmate Connie Mason. It follows a group of Northern tourists who are savagely tortured and murdered during a ...

''. The film was planned to have had its world premiere at

Spooky Empire Spooky Empire is an American multigenre convention focused primarily on horror and science fiction, held bi-annually in Florida. The convention, which is billed as "the dark side of Comic-Con", features vendors, a film and tattoo festival, musi ...

's Weekend of Horror in

Orlando Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures rele ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

on 11 October; however, according to Herschell Gordon Lewis's introduction to the film at the

Abertoir Abertoir: The International Horror Festival of Wales is an annual horror and horror film festival held in the Aberystwyth Arts Centre in Aberystwyth, Ceredigion, Wales. History The festival began as a three-day event in 2006, expanding since to ...

Horror Festival in Aberystwyth, it wasn't ready by that time. The version shown at the

festival was the premiere but still an incomplete version of the film, lacking music, titles and some special effects. A more complete version of the film was screened at the Cinema Wasteland movie convention in

Strongsville Strongsville is a city in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, United States, and a suburb of Cleveland. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 44,750. The city's nickname 'Crossroads of the Nation,' originated from the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

in October 2010, with Mr. Lewis in attendance. He held a question and answer session with fans following the screening.

Reception

The film won the Audience Choice Award at

Texas Frightmare Weekend Texas Frightmare Weekend is a horror-oriented for-profit media event held annually in the Dallas, Texas, area. The weekend is a way for fans of the horror genre to connect with fellow horror lovers, meet guests that work in the genre, discover new ...

and Best Feature Horror Film at the Melbourne Independent Filmmakers Festival. In its review, film review site The Worldwide Celluloid Massacre describes the film as "the usual Lewis campy so-bad-its-good stuff" and reports that "the splatter is over-the-top and all in the name of silly, bad, cheaply provocative fun." Writing in the Underground Film Journal, critic Mike Everleth wrote that the film "has a strong — if loopy and nonsensical — premise" and that "none of it makes much sense, but the energy is high and although the violence is in the realm of the cartoonish, the actual effects are good and grotesque."

Home video

The film was released on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

on 30 August 2011.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Uh-Oh! Show, The 2009 comedy horror films 2009 films 2000s American films 2000s English-language films American comedy horror films American splatter films Films about quizzes and game shows Films about journalists Films directed by Herschell Gordon Lewis