This week our video is not safe for work or sheltered young ‘uns.  There are some topless womenfolk wearing masks in a few of the early scenes, so if the human body unadorned offends you, you might want to skip this one.

Tonight we have an art film made in 1991 and released five years later. Shakespeare’s Plan 12 From Outer Space is described the the director, Charles Montgomery “Spike” Stewart thusly: “William Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night”, re-imagined in a child’s vision of Hell.  Shakespeare’s Plan 12 from Outer Space is a festive yarn, comprised of the most homely and vulgar materials, while shamelessly thwarted buy the Bard’s coarsest of jokes and grossest buffoonery.”

This film is a delight for fans of Eraserhead, The Residents, twisted Shakespeare, New Wave Theater or just cool weird stuff in general. Frank Doubleday (Assault on Precinct 13, Escape from New York, Network) stars as Malvolio. Among its mish-mash of disturbing imagery and low-fi video, you’ll find brief appearances by Kay Lenz, Buck Henry, Grant Loud and Mark Mothersbaugh, along with many stalwarts of the Los Angeles underground performance art scene.

According to the info at YouTube, this film “was photographed utilizing the ‘Fischer-Price PXL 2000’ toy camera as the ‘anchor medium’. The film also collages additional film and video formats available at the time, including 35mm,16mm, Beta Cam, U-Matic, Hi-8 and VHS. There’s nothing quite like it. The adaption was inspired and owes it’s somewhat obtuse perspective to Isaac Asimov’s political dissertation on the original First Folio manuscript. This, the last of the Shakespeare Comedy’s, is a Real Tragedy! -and a lot of FUN!”