Brendon Small Top 10

Brendon Small is writer, producer, composer, actor, stand-up comedian, a jack of all trades. He began his career after graduating from Berklee College of Music. While studying at Berklee, Brendon concurrently studied television/comedy writing at Emerson College. Small was performing stand-up comedy at The Comedy Studio in Harvard Square when he met Loren Bouchard who was then producing the animated series DR. KATZ.

Together they created the animated comedy HOME MOVIES. Small wrote the script, the music, and voiced an 8-year-old auteur version of his namesake that first aired on UPN; the show was later revived on Cartoon Network’s adult swim program.

Following four seasons of HOME MOVIES, Small began his next project, concentrating on a larger-than-life extreme metal band known as DETHKLOK. The animated series METALOCALYPSE would use Small as an executive-producer, writer, composer, and voice actor for multiple characters. The music would grow a life of its own as full-length albums known as The Dethalbums, which went on to become Billboard's highest charting Death Metal albums of all time.

Shortly after HOME MOVIES concluded, Shout! Factory began production for the DVDs of the series. Small became an immediate fan of our wide library of eclectic titles.

Shout is very happy to continue building an ongoing partnership with Brendon. All episodes of HOME MOVIES are available to purchase at our store in a complete series set! Plus, not only can fans watch all 52 episodes, but loads of bonus content featuring interviews and commentaries that are also included in the set! Brendon is a huge fan of all of our platforms at Shout! Factory, and we are huge fans of Brendon Small!

BRENDON SMALL TOP TEN

Years ago, shortly after the end of HOME MOVIES, we we’re blindsided to know that this new company, Shout! Factory, was actually interested in producing and distributing DVDs of our show. One quick glance at their passionately curated catalogue and I knew we were in great hands. I am a huge fan of Shout! Factory’s care, curation, and craftsmanship of Movies and TV. Below you’ll see the breadth of their interests and how often theirs and mine cross over—I REALLY love me some Shout (and yes SCREAM and Select) Factory!

1. Off The Charts

(I believe this is Out of Print - but worth tracking down.) This is a fantastic creative/musical documentary that nobody knows about detailing “Song Sharking” wherein regular folks send in their poems while talented studio musicians put them to music - the results are quite surprising in that the music is bizarre, funny, ridiculous, and sometimes romantic and sweet. I have shown or gifted this thing to lots of my music friends who also fall in love. (My hope is for a Blu-ray release someday.) All in all a Shout classic and a truly fantastic DOC made with care.

2. Candyman

This is quintessential horror for me, Brendon. The collaboration between Bernard Rose, Clive Barker, Phillip Glass, Tony Todd, and Virginia Madsen results in a powerful story of a tortured villain and moreso introduces a new urban legend to the world. The cubic ton of special features shine a light on everything I wanted to know about everything that went into the making of this thing. This is a must have for horror fans.

3. Message From Space

This is a bonkers ’70s post-STAR WARS Japanese/Italian co-production littered with practical FX. There’s a lot to look at here, particularly in-camera SPACE SHIP races with practical fx models. It should be known that I don’t think this is a great movie but there’s some fun time-capsule goodness deep inside. It’s a real deep cut for y’all.

4. SCTV - any or all volumes

I love sketch comedy and I love movies and SCTV was a group of wildly talented writer/actors whose love for movies would often creep into their sketches. These people are comedy mofos, and this is where they all started- had they all not gone onto wonderful careers this would be enough to deem them gods.

5. It's Garry Shandling's Show

To me, perhaps the finest moments of unique TV comedy only beaten by himself with THE LARRY SANDERS SHOW. I remember seeing episode ONE during original airing on TV and bursting into laughter at the META comedy in the theme song alone, holy shit I couldn’t believe all of that self reference was even possible. Therefore I have been obsessed with this show for decades. Garry Shandling is a BIG reason why I’m here today. I really thought this was the first META, self referential, breaking the fourth wall comedy show - but I’d learn I was naive because later I’d see...

6. The Jack Benny Program

This show, holy shit. TV, in its infancy, was already taken to hyper-META extremes (Note - also see Shout’s BURNS & ALLEN SHOW - same deal: amazing. Great comedy tends to be great regardless of era). Also, Benny’s complicated vain cheapo would go on to influence modern comedy as we know it. This dude makes me laugh. Much love to this one.

7. Obsession

De Palma, Schrader, and Bernard Herrmann together at last. Is this Brian De Palma’s overlooked masterpiece? Definitely a masterpiece for Bernard Herrmann who’s score I think might be in his top three. This movie starts with notes of VERTIGO and goes somewhere new and furthers the conversation. This movie drips with masterful De Palma melodrama and I say that as a gigantic compliment. De Palma is a cinematic mofo.

8. The Funhouse

This is the movie right before POLTERGEIST in the Tobe Hooper canon and I really see connective tissue. I love TOBE HOOPER and miss his magic every day (see, also, LIFEFORCE - highly recommended). Beyond that, this is a tactical, textured, and grotesque slasher with its very own family protectionist carnie personality. I love this movie. If you haven’t seen it, you’re in for a treat - the sequence establishing the Carnival to me is some of the best wonderfully moody film making ever.

9. Wild At Heart

David Lynch is the king and this violent, dreamy fairy tale continues to surprise me with each viewing. There’s even some nice violent heavy metal score snuck in by Angelo Badalamenti. It’s fantastically grotesque and the moments of Lynchian dream logic are both repugnant and beautiful. Is there nothing more sickening and compelling than the scene with Laura Dern and Willem Dafoe? I love the repugnant world that Lynch is unafraid to dwell in - oh, and the fire in the opening sequence is coooool bros…

10a. The Thing

Mentioning a movie like this seems like a forgone conclusion but all the same this is a movie that is a masterpiece that keeps getting better every time I watch it. Therefore I recommend the THING as a blanket recommendation for ALL JOHN CARPENTER in the Shout catalogue (and even Carpenter derivatives - hello Halloween III). But Shout has quintessential titles - ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13, THE FOG, ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK, THEY LIVE, SOMEONE'S WATCHING ME, I’ll stop - you get the idea. Carpenter is a hero and always up my alley. From the get-go of his career, Carpenter has the goods as both and artist and as a craftsman.

10b. Mac And Me

If, for some reason you missed this fever dream of E.T. rip offs, New Coke, & other corporate sponsorships, you are in for a bazonkoids wonderfully crappy and entertaining time. This movie is undeniable. Also be prepared for true top notch Alan Silvestri score - but seriously I have watched this movie more than I care to admit.

Honorable Mentions

Just a couple honorable mentions on my mind right now:

10 to Midnight

Cobra

The Manitou

The Entity

Brainscan

From Beyond

The Garbage Pail Kids Movie

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)

Nightmares

Look - I REALLY, REALLY could go on, but at some point I’ve got to get some work done. Basically, Shout is my desert island dream Blu-ray/DVD company - I hope everybody appreciates them as much as I do!!