Revenge of the Nerds: Panty Raid Edition (DVD)

Believe it or not I had never seen Revenge of the Nerds. Of course I had heard of the classic line, “I want some bush,” as this was the movie to sneak passed your parents when you were as young as I was when this film came out. However, sneaking a film with tits, ass and bush passed my mother was not easy. Therefore, 23 years later I manage to catch it for the first time.

Revenge of the Nerds, after Animal House, obviously inspired so many films and it doesn’t take long to realize that as two socially-challenged kids played by Robert Carradine and Anthony Edwards head off to Adams College for their freshman year. After a fire claims the frat house of campus jocks the freshman dorms are taken over and the unwanted group that is left are forced to either continue living in the gym or find a place of their own. So the nerds get together and rent a house and form their own fraternity, but becoming one of Greek row’s frats will prove harder than they may have expected.

This film has plenty of recognizable names mixed in with those that were never really heard from again. Robert Carradine is perfect as Louis Skolnick, he wears the horn-rimmed glasses perfectly and his honking laugh is known by everyone, whether you have seen the movie or not. Anthony Edwards went on to play several roles including Goose in Top Gun and, of course, Dr. Green on “ER”. On the side of the baddies is Ted McGinley who I know primarily as Jefferson D’Arcy from “Married with Children” and then one thing I learned are that “West Wing” alum Timothy Busfield was Poindexter. Busfield played Danny Concannon on “West Wing” and once I knew who he was it made it even better.

Oddly, this film is not laugh-out-loud hilarious, but I still enjoyed it and to call this the “Panty Raid Edition” is perfect considering the panty raid in the film is easily the best and funniest moment of the entire picture. When Louis catches Betty Childs naked in her room and chases after her smiling and laughing it is simply classic.

As for special features this disc has quite a few, and most are worth the watch. The making-of featurette is absolutely great as it includes Carradine, Busfield, Curtis Armstrong (“Booger”), Julia Montgomery (Betty Childs), director Jeff Kanew and others. It is fun hearing about the wild times on set and how all three (Carradine, Busfield, Armstrong) did not want to do this movie. There are a few deleted scenes, the theatrical trailer, a disjointed commentary that isn’t really all that good and a look at the “Revenge of the Nerds” television pilot which is HORRIBLE. Honestly, this pilot is like a “Saved by the Bell” that I could have made in a matter of an hour with a couple friends.

I am not sure if Revenge of the Nerds has ever been available on DVD before now so if you don’t own this and are a fan of such films as Old School, American Pie, Animal House, etc. you may want to add this one to your collection. Trust me, you should enjoy it.