Meet the Applegates
Encyclopedia
Meet the Applegates is a 1990
American black comedy
film directed by Michael Lehmann
. It was filmed in 1989, but not released until 1991. The movie takes a dark, satirical look at the end of the world, nuclear holocausts, alienism and terrorism. Meet the Applegates was filmed in Oshkosh
and Neenah
, Wisconsin
. The movie has gained a cult following.
. It then moves to a typical-looking family moving into a well-off suburban Ohio
neighborhood. The family are the insects that were seen earlier in the film, after they took on human form and met every "normality" standard from the magazine Family Bazaar. They moved to the suburbs after the husband Dick got a job at a nuclear power
plant; he works there to one day cause an explosion that would rid the world of humans and let bugs be. But after a while the family drifts from its normalities — the son, a straight-laced A student, begins listening to heavy metal
and becomes a junkie; the husband and wife drift away from each other, the husband having an affair at work and the wife becoming attached to her credit card; lastly the pretty, smart and nice daughter becomes a pregnant lesbian
after being raped by a jock from the high school.
They each show their true bug form at least once in the film—the son does while smoking marijuana with his metalhead buddies, the daughter while being raped by the jock, the husband at the very last battle and the wife. As they drift away from normality (and nearly been found out by the neighbors) their aunt is sent to help. She becomes a nuisance and they decide she should be taken care of. The husband (Dick) decides to not blow up the plant, and kills the aunt instead. At the end of the movie they return to their lives in Brazil, and are visited by the townspeople that grew to love them, although the plant did not blow, enough radiation was released to remove the hair from much of the population of the town.
/Fox TV
in the United States
and in Canada
by Nova Home Video. The movie has never been released on DVD
.
1990 in film
The year 1990 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* CGI technique is expanded with motion capture for CGI characters, used in Total Recall .* The first digitally-manipulated matte painting is used, in Die Hard 2....
American black comedy
Black comedy
A black comedy, or dark comedy, is a comic work that employs black humor or gallows humor. The definition of black humor is problematic; it has been argued that it corresponds to the earlier concept of gallows humor; and that, as humor has been defined since Freud as a comedic act that anesthetizes...
film directed by Michael Lehmann
Michael Lehmann
Michael Stephen Lehmann is an American film and television director.Lehmann attended Columbia University. His first job in the film industry was answering phones at Francis Ford Coppola's American Zoetrope film company. Later he supervised cameras on films that included 1983's The Outsiders...
. It was filmed in 1989, but not released until 1991. The movie takes a dark, satirical look at the end of the world, nuclear holocausts, alienism and terrorism. Meet the Applegates was filmed in Oshkosh
Oshkosh, Wisconsin
As of the census of 2000, there were 62,916 people, 24,082 households, and 13,654 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,662.2 people per square mile . There were 25,420 housing units at an average density of 1,075.6 per square mile...
and Neenah
Neenah, Wisconsin
Neenah is a city on Lake Winnebago in Winnebago County, Wisconsin, United States. Its population was 24,507 at the 2000 census. The city is bordered by, but is politically independent of, the Town of Neenah. Neenah is the southwestern-most of the Fox Cities of Northeast Wisconsin...
, Wisconsin
Wisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
. The movie has gained a cult following.
Plot
The movie starts off in a forest with a family being attacked by a family of huge Brazilian CocoradaMantis
Mantis is the common name of any insect in the order Mantodea, also commonly known as praying mantises. The word itself means "prophet" in Latin and Greek...
. It then moves to a typical-looking family moving into a well-off suburban Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
neighborhood. The family are the insects that were seen earlier in the film, after they took on human form and met every "normality" standard from the magazine Family Bazaar. They moved to the suburbs after the husband Dick got a job at a nuclear power
Nuclear power
Nuclear power is the use of sustained nuclear fission to generate heat and electricity. Nuclear power plants provide about 6% of the world's energy and 13–14% of the world's electricity, with the U.S., France, and Japan together accounting for about 50% of nuclear generated electricity...
plant; he works there to one day cause an explosion that would rid the world of humans and let bugs be. But after a while the family drifts from its normalities — the son, a straight-laced A student, begins listening to heavy metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
and becomes a junkie; the husband and wife drift away from each other, the husband having an affair at work and the wife becoming attached to her credit card; lastly the pretty, smart and nice daughter becomes a pregnant lesbian
Lesbian
Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...
after being raped by a jock from the high school.
They each show their true bug form at least once in the film—the son does while smoking marijuana with his metalhead buddies, the daughter while being raped by the jock, the husband at the very last battle and the wife. As they drift away from normality (and nearly been found out by the neighbors) their aunt is sent to help. She becomes a nuisance and they decide she should be taken care of. The husband (Dick) decides to not blow up the plant, and kills the aunt instead. At the end of the movie they return to their lives in Brazil, and are visited by the townspeople that grew to love them, although the plant did not blow, enough radiation was released to remove the hair from much of the population of the town.
Availability
Sometime after its theatrical run, the movie was released on videocassette by Media Home Entertainment and CBSCBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
/Fox TV
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
by Nova Home Video. The movie has never been released on DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
.
Cast
- Ed Begley, Jr.Ed Begley, Jr.Edward James "Ed" Begley, Jr. is an American actor and environmentalist. Begley has appeared in hundreds of films, television shows, and stage performances. He is best known for his role as Dr. Victor Ehrlich, on the television series St...
as Richard P. Applegate - Stockard ChanningStockard ChanningStockard Channing is an American stage, film and television actress. She is known for her portrayal of First Lady Abbey Bartlet in the NBC television series The West Wing; for playing Betty Rizzo in the film Grease; and for her role as Ouisa Kittredge in the play Six Degrees of Separation and its...
as Jane Applegate - Dabney ColemanDabney ColemanDabney Wharton Coleman is an American actor, best known for his roles in 9 to 5, WarGames, You've Got Mail, Sworn to Silence, The Beverly Hillbillies and as the voice of Principal Peter Prickly in Recess and Recess: School's Out.-Early life:Coleman was born in Austin, Texas, the son of Mary...
as Aunt Bea - Robert JayneRobert JayneRobert Jayne , sometimes credited as Bobby Jacoby, is an American actor.Starting his career as a child, he has appeared in many television series. His credits include: Knots Landing, The Greatest American Hero, St. Elsewhere, Manimal, The Love Boat, Highway to Heaven, Murder, She Wrote, Diff'rent...
as Johnny Applegate - Camille Cooper as Sally Applegate
- Glenn ShadixGlenn ShadixWilliam Glenn Shadix Scott , born William Glenn Shadix, was an American actor, known for his role as Otho Fenlock in Tim Burton's horror/comedy film Beetlejuice and the voice of the Mayor of Halloween Town in The Nightmare Before Christmas.-Early life and education:Shadix was born in Bessemer,...
as Greg Samson - Susan Barnes as Opal Withers
- Roger Aaron BrownRoger Aaron BrownRoger Aaron Brown is an American character actor known for his role as Deputy Chief Joe Noland on the hit CBS drama television series The District from 2000 to 2004, and for his minor role in the 1988 science fiction film Alien Nation as Det. Bill "Tug" Tuggle, the partner and friend of Matthew...
as Sheriff Heidegger - Lee GarlingtonLee GarlingtonAnn Leslie "Lee" Garlington is an American actress.Garlington was born in Teaneck, New Jersey. She has guest starred in a number of notable television series, including The West Wing, 7th Heaven, 8 Simple Rules, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Judging Amy, L.A...
as Nita Samson