YMMV / Hobgoblins

• Angst? What Angst?: Nobody seems to mind when Nick is seemingly incinerated right in front of them.
  Mike: Now c'mon, Nick- oh yeah, he burned to death, oh well.
  Crow: Nick's a smoking husk right now, he won't mind if we take his van.
• Awesome Music: Ridiculously-hard-to-understand lyrics aside, "Kiss Kicker '99" is actually a really respectable example of '80s California punk.
• Big-Lipped Alligator Moment:
  • The rake battle. Frankly, it only served to prove just how much of a loser Kevin really is (and how much of a nag Amy is).
  • The band singing "Kiss Kicker 99" at Club Scum literally happens for no reason whatsoever, except maybe to give the guys doing the background music (California-based post-punk band the Fontanelles) more exposure.
• Designated Hero: Kevin's an ineffectual, whiny idiot, Amy spends the majority of her screentime complaining about Kevin's aforementioned uselessness, Daphne's a whore, Nick's a sex-obsessed Jerk Jock, and Kyle's a perv. And yes, they're our "heroes".
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Dennis and the Club Scum MC are probably the only likable and funny characters in the movie. In the case of Daran Norris, who played the MC, he gives an enjoyable performance because he honestly had a good time playing the part, and it shows.
• Fetish Retardant: The "fanservice" is more cringe-worthy than even remotely titillating.
  Daphne: Everybody have sex tonight.
  Servo: Everybody throw up tonight.
• Ham and Cheese: Daran Norris is about the only truly funny thing in the movie, due to his bizarre mannerisms as the Club Scum MC. Thankfully this movie didn't immediately kill his career, either. He went on to do a lot of voice acting roles afterwards.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: One MST3K fan wrote a one-act play about a supposed sequel, then a real sequel was made.
• Narm: Assuming the film was even meant to be taken seriously, the whole thing qualifies, but the moment that really stands out is the infamous rake fight.
  • The "Club Scum" scenes are filmed in a school cafeteria, which the film tries unsuccessfully to hide by keeping it really dark.
• Retroactive Recognition: This was his first film role ever, but Daran Norris would go on to achieve a successful career - becoming Cosmo, Dick Daring, J. Jonah Jameson, Knock Out, and many more.
• The Scrappy: Most of the cast, especially Kevin and his circle of friends. Kevin is essentially a Scrappy Hero with his constant mewling and whining. For his loser friends, Daphne and Kyle especially stand out for their Scrappiness.
• So Bad, It's Good: Given that it's essentially a 90-minute porn flick with no porn, this is about the best the movie can hope for.
• Special Effects Failure: The Hobgoblins were basically stuffed animals. Only one was an actual puppet that could have its mouth opened and closed with a hand inside it.
  Crow: Someone's rubbing puppets on us!
  Servo: If you just let go, they'll hit the floor.
  Mike: Ow, ow, big man, you strangled a plush toy.
• Squick: The hobgoblins apparently don't understand what humans find sexually appealing, because the displays of female sexuality in this movie are skin-crawling.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: The movie would have been much better if Dennis, the irreverent music lover, were the hero. No matter how stupid his friends are, there's no way they'd be as annoying as Kevin and his pals.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: If you go by McCreedy's description, the hobogblins should be much more subtle in their killings. According to him, the victims' deaths were mostly or entirely the fault of their (the victims') selfish goals being innately self-destructive. He even goes so far as to tell Kevin "I still don't know if they thought they were doing good for people or not." The hobgoblins' antics in the film are nothing like he describes. They're very Obviously Evil creatures and intentionally twist their victims' fantasies in ludicrous ways with the sole purpose of murdering people. At no point does anyone's fantasy seem to be something that person would actually want. To see the hobgoblins behave as McCreedy describes would have been difficult to pull off, but also potentially very interesting.
• Ugly Cute: The Hobgoblins themselves.
  Tom: Meet the hobgoblins: Frankie, Sniffles, Bounce-Bounce, and The Claw!.

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