When people would ask me what titles I wanted on Blu-ray over the last decade, I would in all seriousness mention Hot Dog – The Movie, alongside other such wanted titles as Fassbinder’s In a Year of 13 Moons. It appears I am not the only one who wanted this 1980’s sex comedy classic on Blu-ray, as those fine folks over at Synapse Films earlier in 2020 decided to unleash this fine cinematic specimen on the world, using their finely honed restoration techniques on a film that has never ever been treated this well.

Hot Dog the Movie follows Harkin Banks, an Idaho farm boy, turned pro freestyle skiier, who is traveling to California to participate in a competition at a ski resort. He makes friends with Dan (David Naughton) and his gang the Rat Pack along the way, and enemies with Rudi and his Rudettes, as they prepare to compete against each other in the deadly Chinese Downhill!

I hate to use the term only could be made at a certain time. But Hot Dog the Movie is a film that could have only been made in the 80’s. This film is the sort of comedy trash, but sort of was made when video store was looking for product to fill shelf space and definitely falls in the category of post-Animal House trashy comedy.

This movie is filled to the brim with trash humor, racial stereotyping, over the top nudity, and minimal plotting to string it all together. And while some of those elements don’t stand well today, in the right frame of mind, this movie ends up being a truly hysterical fun time, and a flash back to a golden age of video store trash cinema.

Synapse Films presents Hot Dog the Movie in a simply stunning 1:78:1 1080p AVC encoded transfer that is absolutely mind-blowing. The transfer is very filmlike, with great detail and strong colors. Audio is given HD tracks in 5.1 and 2.0 in English and sound crisp and clear without issues. Synapse loads us up in the extras department as well with a 50 minute documentary on the film with most of the main players, a commentary with director Mike Marivin, trailers, TV spots, radio spots, and MORE. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Director – Mike Marvin

Cast – Patrick Houser, David Naughton

Country of Origin – U.S.

Discs – 1

Distributor – Synapse Films

Reviewer – Scott MacDonald