Movies to Watch After You See ‘The Happytime Murders’

With a cringe-worthy trailer and a 22% Rotten Tomatoes score, I don’t suppose a ton of people are seeing The Happytime Murders, which parodies children’s shows with its raunchy murder-mystery story and Sesame Street-inspired characters. But whether you are or aren’t interested in this R-rated take on the Muppets — which was actually originally set up at The Jim Henson Company and is directed by Jim Henson’s son — there’s a history of similar and mostly better entertainment out there deserving your recognition. Below is a list of 12 animated and puppet movies (apologies to TV series such as Wonder Showzen and the Muppet Show pilot special “Sex and Violence”), most of which aren’t at all for kids even if they look like they are.

Eveready Harton in Buried Treasure (1929)

While early animation was often meant more for adults rather than children, this silent short film was definitely not suited for anyone under a certain age. Considered the first pornographic work of animation, Buried Treasure (also known as Pecker Island) showcases its main character, the very well-endowed Eveready Harton, in his sexual pursuits with women and donkeys while also having accidental relations with a man and a cow. There’s also a montage of various animals having sex plus a woman masturbating. All apparently done in service (partly out of the country due to its content) for a party in honor of Windsor McKay and involving three animation studios and the talents of such legends as Max Fleischer, Paul Terry, and Walter Lantz.

Who Killed Cock Robin? (1935)

An entry in Walt Disney’s Silly Symphonies series, this animated short adapts the classic nursery rhyme of the same name. Obviously, because it’s based on story for children, the cartoon is also meant for kids. Right? Yeah, well children weren’t so protected back then, as the Oscar-nominated film (similar to the original poem) deals with the title character being killed. Then we see the murder investigation and trial — of course, there is some of that expected 1930s racist personification on display — but going off book, the short does have a happier ending. If your kids recognize caricatures of old Hollywood icons such as Mae West, Harpo Marx, and others, they’ll appreciate this film even more.

Mickey Mouse in Vietnam (1968)

While The Happytime Murders doesn’t feature any specific Muppets in its spoof of the Henson brand of puppetry, there is an obvious implication of their being like Sesame Street characters — plus there was a marketing issue that led to the PBS show filing suit against the movie. Similar to the more famous Bambi Meets Godzilla, this very short animated short by Lee Savage and Milton Glaser explicitly takes an iconic and beloved children’s character and kills him, her with a bullet in the head in Vietnam as an anti-war gesture. Disney almost took legal action against the film, but due to it being so underground and profitless, there was no good reason for a lawsuit. The short was even “lost” for almost 50 years, finally resurfacing on YouTube in 2013.

Fritz the Cat (1972) and Heavy Traffic (1973)

Like Happytime Murders director Brian Henson, king of X-rated animation Ralph Bakshi started his career working on genuine kiddy fare. When it came time for him to go out on his own and make animated features for adults, he began with back-to-back films that look like grittier versions of children’s entertainment. First, he adapted Robert Crumb’s anthropomorphic animal comic strip “Fritz the Cat” as a movie that might have been mistaken for Disney had it not capitalized on its X rating for its marketing. Bakshi’s better follow-up, Heavy Traffic, is a hybrid animated crime film inspired by The Godfather that has been likened to a pornographic version of School House Rock meets Mean Streets.

Let My Puppets Come (1976)

The only movie on this list to be considered an actual porno due to its inclusion of genuine, non-simulated explicit human sexual activity (in addition to puppet sex), Let My Puppets Come long preceded the more infamous raunchy puppet movie on this list made by a now more famous filmmaker. This feature film, originally planned as a short, is directed by Gerard Damiano of Deep Throat and The Devil in Miss Jones fame and stars porn publisher Al Goldstein (and maybe some future Jim Henson puppeteers early in their career?). The plot is simple — it’s centered on the making of a porno — and features some spoofing of television that is sort of like X-rated Sesame Street material. Supposedly (but unlikely), it was marketed in its time as “a sexy muppet movie.”

The post Movies to Watch After You See ‘The Happytime Murders’ appeared first on Film School Rejects.