aka National Lampoon Presents The Beach Party at the Threshold of Hell
USA. 2006
Crew
Directors – Jonny Gillette & Kevin Wheatley, Screenplay – Kevin Wheatley, Producer – Jamie Bullock, Photography – Cameron Pearce, Music – Russ Howard III, Pen & Ink Animation – Project 450 (Senior Animation Director – Steve Valdez), Makeup Effects – Michael Deweese, Production Design – Scott Wheatley. Production Company – Threshold Productions/Strategic Film Partners/International Danger Alliance.
Cast
Kevin Wheatley (Tex Kennedy), Jamie Bullock (Cannibal Sue), Paul Whitty (Quincy the Robot), Chandler Parker (Yul the Robot), Lea Coco (Mr. Jackle), Ted Schneider (Marcellus St. Joan), Bill English (Benny Remington), Alex Reznik (Yorick Schlatz), Stewart Carrico (Zack & Thorn Jefferson), Jonathan L. Davidson (Javier Castro), Richard Riehle (Narrator), Daniel Baldwin (Clark Remington), Jane Seymour (President Lauren Coffey), Tony Hale (Remington Biographer)
Plot
It is the year 2097. New America has formed in the ruins of the old world. After twenty years in a bunker, Tex Kennedy is awakened by Yul and Quincy, the two robots that guard him. Tex now sets out across the wasteland to the The Threshold of Hell in the hopes of bringing the country together again.
The Beach Party at the Threshold of Hell immediately catches you with a great title that suggests all manner of possibilities. It features people wandering the landscape of New America, including co-director Kevin Wheatley as the descendant of the president, accompanied by two Androids and a cannibalistic girlfriend, to arrive at said beach party, which is presided over by The Devil.
It is also a film made with a massive ineptitude that approaches as much in the way of near total amateurism as I have ever seen in my years of film viewing. It is the sort of thing that a group of student filmmakers might put together imagining they are being edgy and political, while having complete lack of skill when it comes to things like plotting, drama or staging action.
The Beach at the Threshold of Hell
There is no plot whatsoever to The Beach Party at the Threshold of Hell. You often get the impression that said student filmmakers turned up either having drunk a lot of beers or stoned and went out into the desert and filmed whatever they felt like with whomever turned up on the day. There is a complete randomness to the entire film. So much so that any scene in the film could have been edited together in random order and make no difference. Characters turn up and are introduced – there are even scenes with one or two mildly known names like Jane Seymour, Daniel Baldwin, Richard Riehle and the subsequently known Tony Hale – and then forgotten altogether a couple of scenes later.
The end credits ominously note ‘End of Part One’ but thankfully this appears to be an unfulfilled promise as no ‘Part Two’ has been forthcoming.
The film was a directorial debut for both Jonny Gillette and Kevin Wheatley, although is the only work that either have directed. Wheatley has had some credits since as an actor but neither have done much again.
The film was released under the banner of National Lampoon Presents The Beach Party at the Threshold of Hell, although such title does not appear on the film’s credits. The other National Lampoon films are:- National Lampoon’s Animal House (1978), National Lampoon’s Class Reunion (1982), National Lampoon’s Movie Madness (1983), National Lampoon’s Vacation (1983), National Lampoon’s European Vacation (1985), National Lampoon’s Class of 86 (1986), National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (1989), National Lampoon’s True Facts (1992), National Lampoon’s Loaded Weapon I (1993), National Lampoon’s Attack of the 5’2″ Woman (1994), National Lampoon’s Last Resort (1994), National Lampoon’s Favorite Deadly Sins (1995), National Lampoon’s Senior Trip (1995), National Lampoon’s The Guys (1996), National Lampoon’s Dad’s Week Off (1997), National Lampoon’s The Don’s Analyst (1997), National Lampoon’s Vegas Vacation (1997), National Lampoon’s Golf Punks (1998), National Lampoon’s Men in White (1998), National Lampoon’s American Adventure (2000), National Lampoon Presents Repli-Kate (2002), National Lampoon’s Van Wilder (2002), National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation 2: Cousin Eddie’s Island Adventure (2003), National Lampoon Presents Dorm Daze (2003), National Lampoon’s Lady Killers (2003), National Lampoon’s Thanksgiving Family Reunion (2003), National Lampoon’s Greek Games (2003), National Lampoon’s Going the Distance (2004), National Lampoon’s Lost Reality (2004), National Lampoon’s Adam and Eve (2005), National Lampoon’s Cattle Call (2005), National Lampoon’s Lost Reality 2: More of the Worst (2005), National Lampoon’s Pledge This (2005), National Lampoon’s Teed Off (2005), National Lampoon’s The Trouble with Frank (2005), National Lampoon’s Dorm Daze 2 (2006), National Lampoon’s Pucked (2006), National Lampoon’s TV: The Movie (2006), National Lampoon’s Bag Boy (2007), National Lampoon’s Spring Break (2007), National Lampoon’s The Stoned Age (2007), National Lampoon’s College Road Trip (2008), National Lampoon’s Ratko: The Dictator’s Son (2009), National Lampoon: When Old People Attack (2009), National Lampoon’s 301 (2011), National Lampoon’s Dirty Movie (2011), National Lampoon’s Snatched (2011) and National Lampoon’s Surf Party (2013).
