Over the years there have been a wide variety of strange kids programming but one of my favorites and likely out there was The Banana Splits that ran from 1968-1982. The show followed a pop group consisting of four anthropomorphic animals host a variety of cartoons, songs, and skits. Through the years they have popped up in tons of pop culture references including a TV movie in 1972 and series revival in 2008. Now they are back for an all-new film but this time with a horror twist, but could this strange twist to a strange kids show work or should it have stayed off the air?

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​The Banana Splits Movie follows a boy named Harley and his family (brother Austin, mother Beth, and father Mitch) who attends a taping of The Banana Splits TV show, which is supposed to be a fun-filled birthday for young Harley and business as usual for Rebecca, the producer of the series. But things take an unexpected turn -- and the body count quickly rises. Can Harley, his mom and their new pals safely escape? One of the first things that hit me here was the different looks of the Splits which I thought was going to bother me, but it actually still works and doesn’t distract at all from the ridiculous fun.

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This is one of those movies that for me was like Killer Klowns From Outer Space that is so bad it’s great. Sure there are so many different things I would have done for this film, but I give them props for going all in with it all. This is a full on slasher flick complete with blood splattering and guts falling out. I was a little disappointed with how they handled the Splits themselves making them animatronics instead of people in suits, but at the same time it does give them more of their own personalities to work from and clearly more options for things to go wrong. It’s not just some clichéd malfunction either which I kind of expected once I realized they were not people.

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They do a good job of connecting it to the original series while bringing it into the modern day. I had a ton of fun here and with the ending hope this isn’t the last time we see this dark side of the Banana Splits. Whether you know anything about the Banana Splits or not this film will work and is a fun addition to the bizarre slasher genre. IT’s full on cheese, bizarre, fun and bad all at once in the best way possible and honestly it wasn’t hard to make you believe these characters would go on a killing spree.

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​This release will not only include the film but bonus content including featurettes taking you behind making this classic children’s series into a horror film. Join in on the bloody fun with The Banana Splits Movie available now on digital, Blu-ray and DVD from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment.