Take everything you ever knew about The Muppets and toss it out the window because this film aims to shine a new light on the muppet genre. Written by Todd Berger, The Happytime Murders is a refreshing concept that takes place in a world where puppets co-exist with humans as second rate citizens. Ex-cop and private eye, Phil Phillips, is a puppet who is hot on the heels of a serial killer who murdered his brother and is now after the cast of the famous 80′s television show, “The Happytime Gang.”
The early concept art of this project and plot suggests that this film is going for a classic noir vibe. That right there is enough to sell this project to me. I’m a huge fan of the old 1950′s noir films like The Maltese Falcon, but instead of Humphrey Bogart in a fedora, The Happytime Murders gives us puppet who smokes like a chimney. I’m in.
The crime scene photo is pretty awesome and I really like how they used stuffing from the puppet to represent blood, very cool. And remember, this is only concept art which explains why the puppets don’t look like puppets. I’m going to go ahead and just bust out some detective skills of my own and take a deeper look into this photo. This is definitely a porn shop. The sign on wall explains it all, “Vinny’s Puppet Pleasureland.” We got two dead puppets, one at the center of the picture and another behind the register.
I’m assuming the cause of death isn’t because they got into a deadly fight over the latest issue of, “Furry Fists.”
No sir. This has to be the work a serial killer. Who else would be twisted enough to throw the victims entrails around the room in a raging fit of joy? Clearly, this killer has issues.
I never got into shows like The Muppets when I was a kid, they just didn’t tickle my fancy. This, however, is totally different. I really like what they have shown so far and the story sounds hilariously promising. I’m a huge fan of taking a concept that has been around for ages and turning it upside down for a new look. Rarely does an original idea with a wacky premise like this get made, and for that, I can say that I am definitely looking forward to this one. And to top it all off, Jim Henson’s son, Brian Henson, is helming the project. It doesn’t get much better than that.
As always, thanks for reading.
