The 1980s gave us an entire slate of movies that seemed to exist just to have as much teenage T&A as possible. Porky's made gratuitous shower scenes a must-have, and producers began working in topless scenes left and right. But nobody thought of joining the teensploitation and science fiction genres until Zapped! came along. This Scott Baio / Willie Aames movie about a nerd who gets telekinesis from a science experiment culminates in an orgy-tastic scene right out of Carrie where Baio makes everyone's clothes fly off. We've got the NSFW video and a triviagasm for you down below.
- Originally titled The Wiz Kid, this 1982 movie was meant to be a parody of Carrie. They both end at a dance, although Carrie's ending was quite a bit darker.
- The plot of Zapped! is pretty simple: Science student Barney is working on a experiment, and through a series of events that he isn't aware of, other things (like whiskey) get added to his formula, and eventually this leads to a lab explosion. However, as a result both Barney and his lab rat (who we never see again) have developed telekinesis. Barney uses his powers to make Heather Thomas' shirt pop open, helps buddy Peyton (Willie Aames) woo Heather, makes his baseball team win, and finally lands a girlfriend. However, his girlfriend doesn't think he should use his powers for "evil", and this leads to a rift between Peyton and Barney. All is patched up in the end, however, and there's a huge naked scene to top it all off, as seen above.
- Scott Baio played the lead character Barney Springboro, although the role of the rich boy best friend Peyton was supposed to be played by Greg Bradford. The producers decided to cast Willie Aames instead, hoping for a little more star power (Aames had just come off of Eight is Enough, and was also cast in Paradise with Phoebe Cates... a sort of Blue Lagoon ripoff with more T&A and Willie's willy). Bradford apparently held a grudge against the producers for this.
- Baio and Aames would go on to star together in Charles in Charge, and Aames would also go on to appear as... Bibleman.
- Heather Thomas was cast as snooty cheerleader Jane Mitchell, but she was never into the nudity in the film. In fact, she had the producers put a line in the credits stating that they used a body double for her topless scenes. That wasn't enough, however, and she later sued them, stating that no one reads the credits anyway, and people would assume those were her breasts on screen. Um, duh?
- To that end, Thomas wears a body stocking in the famous scene at the end where Baio makes her dress fly off. Thanks the the wonders of DVD (which this film just appeared on for the first time in February), you can see this pretty clearly.
- Even more bizarre was the fact that when an advertisement came out in the Los Angeles Times, readers complained that the characters in the poster could see up the girl's skirt. Now mind you, the advertisement didn't show that, and the complaints were based on the point of view of the painted versions of Scott Baio and Willie Aames. As a result, the artist had to go back and extend the skirt, so even Baio and Aames can't quite see up it. Stupid, but true. See the main image up above for the modified artwork, then weep for humanity.
- The film has a couple of scifi cameos, including Merrick Buttrick who went on to play Captain Kirk's son David in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, and Eddie Deezen who would later be ubernerd (the only role he played) Malvin in WarGames.
- There's also an entire Star Trek parody scene in the movie when Barney comes home after the lab explosion and his parents think he's on drugs. He gets grounded in his room, and uses his new powers to make a model spaceship fly, apparently through an aquarium, and into his dog's mouth.
- The most bizarre role in the film probably belongs to Scatman Crothers, who had worked on The Shining just a year or two before. Imagine going from working with Stanley Kubrick to playing a pot-smoking baseball coach. There's a truly bizarre scene where he gets high and imagines he's with Albert Einstein and fleeing from his wife, who is chasing after them with a salami-firing bazooka. Strange, but true.
- There's a whole fan club devoted to Zapped! at MSN Groups, and they feature things like in-depth analysis photos of all the different versions of the movie. Particularly whenever Jane's clothes pop open.
- Oddly enough, Zapped! spawned a sequel in 1990, Zapped Again!. In this update, a student finds Barney's old formula hidden in a wall, and uses it to more naked abandon. Linda Blair stars as a fairly hot teacher, and the only cast member to return was was Sue Ane Langdon, who played randy teacher Rose Burnhart.
- The Onion covered it best when they published this image from their Alternate History newspaper:















Comments
Baio's finest moment.
I now prefer this to Carrie
I love George Washington's expression in the promo art.
BOOBIES!!!!
Got to love The Scatman
I want Charles in Charge of me!!!
Or at least to hang out with him so I can see lots of live boobs.
Bob Loblaw: Beyond Thunderdome
I saw this movie 3 times in the theaters when it was first released...and I loved every minute of it. You have to remember that 'Zapped', 'My Tutor', Private Lessons', etc. were as close to internet porn as there was. My friend made me see 'Space Camp' twice because he was so in love with Kelly Preston.
haha the space ship is a kitbash of the Star Wars Falcon kit and the nacelles of the refit Enterprise.
It's Aunt Ester from Sanford and Son as Scatmans wife. For some reason I swore Lou Gosset Jr. was in this movie.
@BullfightsOnAcid: Sadly I had a thing for Jinx.
@Falconfire: So it was a bastardized Enterprise flying to a bastardized version of John Williams score flown by guys wearing Nike Swoops on their bastardized Star Fleet uniforms. Bastards.
@Git Em SteveDave: "Max and Jinx... Friends... For-e-ver."
Somehow, I ended up seeing this movie, in the theater, as a pre-teen, because it was on a double bill with Time Bandits (of all things), and I think our parents had no idea that this other movie on the bill, Zapped!, was anything other than another scifi movie. Let's just say I was quite surprised as well.
Awesome. That is probably the absolute entirety of what I would do with super powers, expose boobies....
That's some seriously bad acting.
Don't forget that Eddie Deezen had another sci-fi role. Well, that is if fantasy counts as sci-fi. And if being a Kellogg's Rice Krispies elf counts as fantasy.
It's like that movie Patrick Stewart talks about in that episode of "Extras"...
"In my film I play a man who controls the world with his mind. For instance, I'm walking along, and I see this beautiful girl and I'd like to see her naked, so all her clothes fall off."
I saw this shit whilst living in a third world country. I remember thinking that Star Trek scene was the shiz. I miss the 80's.
Anything with the Scatman is gold! GOLD I TELLS YA!!
Hong Kong Phooey FTW!
The shining with tits
@bluewyvern:
"and she tries to cover herself, but it's too late 'cause I've already seen everything."
Classic.
I remember renting this a lot as a young man. It was for the plot, as I recall.
@Falconfire: Kinda scary how much that ship looks like the Enterprise NX from "Enterprise".
This movie is primarily responsible for catapulting me into puberty. Biology was a distant second.
Ranking right up there with "Ginger or Maryanne":
Thomas or Locklear?
@Katana_Mind: Patrick Stewart: And I do other stuff, like I go to the World Cup final, and it's Germany versus England, and I wish that I were playing, and suddenly I am, and I score the winning goal, and they carry me into the dressing room and there's Roony and Beckham and then Posh Spice walks in and ...
Andy Millman: Her clothes fall off?
Patrick Stewart: Instantly.
Almost as funny as this skit are the Special Features on the DVD where they show Patrick Stewart and Ricky Gervais busting up as they try to get through their lines.
How about the fact that they are all real boobies? Adds an extra bit of zest and nostalgia to the whole thing, I say. Plus, isn't that Aunt Esther with Scatman?
It's still no Hot Dog. Though the Gene Simmons thing kind of ruined Shannon Tweed for me.
Scot Baio's eyes seem to be wandering in several different directions, and not in tandem with each other. Weird
this is so bad...
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