The vitals:
7:00 ~ Doors
7:30 ~ Discovery Zone: MEET THE APPLEGATES

DISCOVERY ZONE: Every Monday. Underseen gems we think you’ll love.

If you made the generationally defining ’80s film Heathers, what would you do next? Michael Lehmann inexplicably chose Meet the Applegates,  a film like A Bug's Life if Pixar hated you, and  The ‘Burbs meets Serial Mom. In it, giant Brazilian bugs disguise themselves as a suburban Ohio family to blow up a nuclear power plant and wipe out humanity for the sake of the planet.  The family quickly falls prey to credit card debt, marijuana, teen pregnancy, adultery, and the Discovery Channel. It’s not totally dissimilar to Heathers though, as both have that uniquely Midwestern take on American wholesomeness gone putrid. It stars Ed Begley Jr. (Tim and Eric, Arrested Development, Better Call Saul, every Christopher Guest film) as the patriarch, Stockard Channing (Grease, Practical Magic, The West Wing) as a credit card obsessed housewife, and Dabney Coleman in drag as the bug-queen Aunt Bea. Filmed in Wisconsin in 1988, the movie sat on a shelf for two years because the production company, New World Pictures, imploded financially. It was finally released in 1991 to near-total indifference. And now, we are resurrecting this forgotten piece of eco-terrorist cinema for the discerning audience of Hyperreal Film Club. —Brad Abrahams

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