Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze is perhaps the quintessential cult-classic film which focuses on Turtle People. A story of four brothers cast away from a society disgusted by their otherness who must, nonetheless, fight for safety of their oppressors, this flick is peak Ninja Turtles. Right before the series became so-bad-it’s-not-even-enjoyable with 1993’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III, and right after the not-bad-enough first film in the series. In fact, this film came out around the same time as the Coming Out of Their Shells tour, a live tour of insipid Ninja Turtles music performed by costumed performers and sponsored by Pizza Hut, which proves America was either in the midst of a Turtle-mania or some drug-addled obsession.
And for one night only (at midnight!), you have a chance to see this rarity. What might be the only Ninja Turtles film to double down on the inherent absurdity of four mutated siblings who are ninjas trained by a giant rat and still be enjoyable. Don’t miss your chance!
(Pictured: Proof of a real musical tour that actually happened.)
And lest you think I jest, listen up: TMNT II is the kind of movie you have to see at midnight. It is a screening where you must gorge yourself (drunkenly?) on pizza. A screening where you will chortle with your fellow (inebriated?) friends and cinephile peers. A screening where you just might leave, pizza stuffed in your pockets, halfway through (the hangover already setting in?) only to get lost on your journey home. To wit: the film is an experience. And even if your experience doesn’t match those of myself during the last time Coolidge screened this film, you will, undoubtedly, see something you wont likely forget. At the very least, something more enjoyable than the most recent Michael Bay-produced Ninja Turtles flick, which somehow managed to be more incoherent than this one.
But think about it: Mutated creatures! Implied human-animal relations! A Vanilla Ice cameo! Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze has it all. Truly a film sure to resonate with all weirdos harboring nostalgia for early 90s camp, kung-fu, and puppetry. Check it out!
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze
1991
dir. Michael Pressman
90 min.
Screens Saturday, 8/13 @Coolidge Corner Theatre – midnight!
