All products featured on WIRED are independently selected by our editors. However, we may receive compensation from retailers and/or from purchases of products through these links.
With a title like Computer Beach Party, you'd think this 1985 gem couldn't get more wondrously cheesy. But there's so much more in store. As the back of the VHS box says, "Toss around the floppy disc, open a bag of micro chips, and interface with a sexy comedy that will light up your terminal." Directed by Gary A. Troy, who never appeared in Hollywood again, it stars a cast of bouncy unknowns – including a spandexy LA metal band that plays an entire hair-flinging set at the eponymous beach party.
Made in the days when BBSes were the shit and the webotubes were just a twinkle in Tim Berners Lee's eye, it's hard to tell if Computer Beach Party is science fiction or simply clueless about how computer technology works. I'm a generous soul, so I'll go with science fiction.
The central struggle in this epic teen tale comes when pals Andy and Dennis find out that their favorite beach for "skurfing" – a never-heard-from-again sport that involves a stripped-down soap-box racer, a surfboard, and a big sail zooming along the sand – is about to be eminent-domained away from them by "uncool Mayor Dawes."
So they decide to use their leet haX0r skillz to get revenge by, um,
throwing a beach party. How do computers fit into this, you may ask?
Well, it turns out that in the parallel universe of Computer Beach Party,
you can go into a special place on "the network" and order up a heavymetal band, kegs of beer, and lots of friends. Wow! Andy and Dennishave traveled through time and discovered Tribe.net!
As the box copy for this "user-friendly comedy" explains: "Usingtheir hardware to attract software, they have created a whole newversion of The Data Game!" And somehow, in the 1980s universe of Computer Beach Party,
you can defeat the bad guy just by playing with a PC and listening tometal. Skurf, don't walk, to pick up a copy of this flick about thetubular things those crazy Reagan-era kids did with computers.
Note to anal film geeks like myself: Most websites identify Computer Beach Party
as being from 1988. This is the date it was available on video. Theoriginal release date on film was 1985. Think about that: this moviewas released on film, in theaters. Those were the days.
Computer Beach Party [Amazon.com]
