Paramount Finally Put ‘Kids in the Hall: Brain Candy’ on Streaming
Despite the fact that it was ripped apart by critics, tanked at the box office and was pretty much a misery to make for all involved, Kids in the Hall: Brain Candy is still one of the funniest movies ever made. I mean, name one other movie that contains conversations about toast-fucking and a villain who’s basically Big Pharma Lorne Michaels.
But unless you bought a physical copy of Brain Candy, it’s been pretty tough to watch since it wasn’t available on streaming. But now, finally, Paramount has announced that the movie is available to rent or buy on digital. Or you could just buy the Blu-ray since physical media is arguably better anyway.
According to Paramount’s Todd Sokolove, the holdup was related to some of the film’s music rights. Brain Candy is full of licensed music and original compositions, such as “I’m Gay.”
Regardless of what kept it off of streaming for so long, the issues have been resolved, and members of the group are rejoicing. Like Scott Thompson, who thanked Paramount for giving people a chance to “finally see what almost killed us.”
Per Thompson, Brain Candy was a “nightmare” to make. The movie, all about the fallacy of human happiness, was “fraught with fighting” between the Kids, several of whom were going through breakups and divorces at the time. If that wasn’t upsetting enough, tragically, multiple members of the group had loved ones commit suicide before filming. Kevin McDonald theorized that there was “some kind of Brain Candy curse.”
Meanwhile, the studio was expecting some kind of wacky farce, and not, as director Kelly put it, “a dark comedy about Prozac.” Still, Paramount’s only major sticking point was the controversial “Cancer Boy” scene, which the studio reportedly begged the group to cut out of the finished film. They refused, and Paramount “pulled all of their publicity money,”
As a result, Brain Candy made just over $2.6 million at the box office — something a promo spot for the VHS release heralded as a massive success, conveniently ignoring the fact that the movie cost $8 million to make. The ad also utilized a pull quote from The Philadelphia Inquirer proclaiming Brain Candy as a “surefire cure for depression,” which is a weird way to sell a movie that’s all about the dangers of peddling a surefire cure for depression.
Amazon’s recent Kids in the Hall reboot began with someone purchasing a copy of Brain Candy — which was either “dry-heaved into existence because of a dark deal with the devil” or created purely to launder “coke money” — at a garage sale for $1, thus earning its money back and breaking the curse.
Who knows, now that it’s on streaming, Brain Candy may actually become profitable.
Paramount is at least leaving money on the table by not taking on Hallmark by marketing it as a modern Christmas classic.
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