Nostalgia Kinky

Ever since its 2017 launch with a splendid special edition Blu-ray of Lech Kowalski’s D.O.A.: A Right Of Passage, the MVD Rewind Collection has been one of my favorite ongoing home video series. Always unpredictable, MVD’s Rewind Collection line has released some of the suprising and welcome special editions around. Personal favorites from the Rewind Collection include Tamra Davis’ Guncrazy, Steve Kloves’ The Fabulous Baker Boys and Michal Cimino’s The Desperate Hours. On top of bona-fide masterpieces and cult-classics, The MVD Rewind Collection has also given quality releases to often derided films, offering them up as worthy of a new look. That is certainly the case with the new slipcover edition of release #72 in the MVD Rewind Collection.

When I was kindly sent a copy of Meatballs 4 to review, I struggled knowing how exactly I wanted to approach what I knew was going to be a very silly film at best. Then I watched the accompaning video interview with writer/director Bob Clark. You see, the funny thing about the notorious and much-maligned Meatballs 4: To The Rescue is that Meatballs 4 doesn’t actually exist. Director Logan notes on the absolutely awesome near hour long interview on MVD’s new Blu-ray that he was halfway through shooting his low-budget film Happy Campers when one of the film’s producer came up to him saying they’d bought the rights to the Meatballs name and, oh, by the way, this film is now called Meatballs 4.

For any not in the know, Meatballs is a 1979 Ivan Reitman and Harold Ramis film starring a young Bill Murray. Set in a summer-camp, this goofy romp made a shitbox of cash launching the careers of three dudes I just mentioned. Even though as certified Gen-Xer I never much cared for the film. Don’t like Ghostbusters much either but whatever, Meatballs was unavoidable in the eighties and it launched a couple of loosely connected sequels, all made with none of the original heavy hitters involved. These films are what they are, gross-out sex-comedies with enough hijinks and nudity to outdo Porkys.

And then we have Happy Campers.

Writer and director Bob Logan is an old-school guy. Comic-old school, wrote for greats like Rodney Dangerfield and Joan Rivers. That’s the quality stuff. Turned-on by the rising home video market of the eighties, Logan creates a hit VHS title Life in the Bowling Lane, a comedy title influenced by Tim Conway’s Dorf VHS releases. Logan’s a likable guy who knows everyone, which helps him land a feature film deal by the late eighties with Up Your Alley (1989) resulting.

Up Your Alley wasn’t a big hit but it introduced Logan to actress Linda Blair, who starred in the film. A year after they go on to make Logan’s most well-known film, Repossessed (1999), an Exorcist parody starring Blair and a very hot Leslie Nielson. The film again failed, although has garnered some cult recognition. In the wake of Repossessed not turning the heads of much of anyone, Logan gets a call offering him a summer-camp themed R-rated comedy. Only catch was he’d have to write it and have it completed within a couple of months with barely any money.
Sound good?
What could go wrong?

Interviewed by MVD, Logan humorously remembers how quickly he had to dash out the Happy Campers script. With it quickly on page, locations for the film were chosen at Bass Lake, California. Known cinematically as the location for the beloved The Great Outdoors, so perhaps the lake was lucky for another hit? Not so much it turns out but complaints about Logan’s film rarely center around its picturesque location.

Cast-wise, Logan’s two big-gets were David Lynch legend Jack Nance and Superman’s Ursa herself, Sarah Douglas. Other parts were filled out by models, pets, playmates, and aspiring young actors. Happy Campers is packed with a, “Hey, did you know I was in a movie once?” ensemble and they all do just fine, whether nude in a shower or popping off one of Logan’s OG one-liners.

The eighties were crammed with sex-filled comedies that were essentially updates of sixties Beach pictures and Elvis movies. This is certainly true of Happy Campers, as Logan’s script really does play out like an updated version of one of the sillier titles the King made in the sixties. Only problem is Logan didn’t have an Elvis. Hell, he didn’t have the money for a good Elvis impersonator for Happy Campers.
What was he to do?

By 1992, Corey Feldman was, at just 21, an already washed-up actor. Several years had passed since his last hit minor hit Dream a Little Dream (1989) closed out the eighties and his once promising career. By the early nineties, the star of films like Stand By Me, The Goonies and The Lost Boys was more known for his notorious personal issues rather than films like Rock ‘n Roll High School (1991). By 1992, he was ready for a comeback and it signaled that Corey Feldman was to remain an odd ongoing presence in the American entertainment industry. Feldman’s tenacious refusal to go away has led to one of the strangest, funniest, and most baffling careers in all of modern entertainment. Dude lingers, and the lingering has been both annoying and entertaining.

If the idea of a 21-year-old mullet-flying Corey Feldman playing an Elvis-like role in a sixties-style summer film with boobs doesn’t appeal to you then stay far away from Meatballs 4. Logan’s script might have been goofy and lightweight to begin with but once Feldman signed on, the film entered into a different realm of heavy, gooey CHEESE. And you know what? It kind of works. Playing the smooth-talking, smooth-criminal dancing Ricky Wade, Feldman gives one of his most endearing goofball performances. In fact, there is a moment in this where Logan allows Feldman the chance to do one of his MJ inspired dances, giving us a glance into his future persona as touring rock-god extraordinaire. Go for it, indeed.

Happy Campers lost all chance at being a sleeper indie hit once its named was changed to Meatballs 4: To the Rescue. There was no recovery and Logan knew it. While the title guranteed the film a healthy home video release, placing it in a diminishing franchise was a dreadful mistake in then long run. After opening in a handful of theaters with little critical reaction, with the little being negative, Meatballs 4 made it to the place the producer’s wanted it, VHS. Meatballs 4 haunted many a video store in the nineties, including the Lexington one I managed back in the day. Like Feldman, the film has lingered, tied forever to a series it has nothing to do with.

MVD’s new HD presentation of Meatballs 4 doesn’t pull off any miracles but the film looks quite nice on this new Blu-ray edition. Stylistically, there is nothing at all that memorable here but cinematographer Vance Burberry does a nice job making the cool late fall lakeside location look like early summer throughout. With a newly commissioned slipcover, reversible sleeve and a poster, this Meatballs 4 Blu-ray looks quite nice. Extras include just a trailer and an interview with Logan, but man, what an interview it is.

The lengthy new interview with Bob Logan is in fact the big selling point of this new MVD Blu-ray. Funny and entertaining with one memorable story after another, Logan talks about his career and the making of Happy Campers with great infectious energy. You can tell this guy wrote the GOAT, Dangerfield. This is a really great chat and the story Logan shares about star Jack Nance is devastating. Who’d ever think I’d cry during the Meatballs 4 Blu-ray but there you go.

Anyone watching a film called Meatballs 4 knows what to expect and this 1992 goof-off, about a camp and former counselor, trying to get their mojo back mostly gets the job done. Living in a period currently drowning in the deep end, it is comforting looking back at something floating along cluelessly happy in the shallow area.

-Jeremy Richey, May 2026-

Enjoy this small selection of further clippings I dicovered related to Meatballs 4, which is now available at MVD.