A family attends a live taping of the popular long-running children's variety show "The Banana Splits." Things go nightmarishly awry when the animatronic robots who play the main characters on the show all blow a gasket and start killing folks in assorted brutal and gruesome ways.

Director Danishka Esterhazy relates the delightfully warped story at a brisk pace, ably crafts a sinister off-kilter atmosphere, delivers a handy helping of nasty gore, further spices things up with a wickedly funny sense of pitch-black humor, and pulls out the creepy stops for the spot-on macabre climax. Moreover, it's acted with zest by a game cast: Dani Kind as perky mom Beth, Steve Lund as jerky stepdad Mitch, Finlay Wojtak-Hissong as excitable little boy Haley, Celina Martin as the perky Poppy, Sara Canning as harried producer Rebecca, Romeo Carere as rebellious teen Austin, Maria Nash as the sweet Zoe, Naledi Majola as enthusiastic page Paige, Richard White as alcoholic series regular Stevie, and Kiroshan Naidoo as obnoxious fan Thadd. The filmmakers get extra points for using gnarly old school practical splatter f/x as well as for having the admirable audacity to put a deliciously dark horror spin on a beloved kiddie program with an avid cult following. A twisted treat.

Someone sold the rights to a childhood classic, not caring what happened, or what they'd do. And what we got was this mess. It's a joke, and not a funny one. The acting was bad and robotic, and that was the humans...Definately not worth watching, and if you've bought it, I feel sorry for you. It's just another example of people doing anything for money

Super adorable, creepy and disturbing fun! Unexpected how gory it is; I really like that! Poorly acted, but beautiful set design and entertaining. A lot of people didn't like The Banana Splits movie but I love it although I never saw the original show something like this is endearing morbid greatness, at least to me.