Creating Rem Lezar (1989 Video) User Reviews

Insidious

[BandSAboutMovies · 5/10 · 2 April 2023]

Rem Lazar is not a comic book but man, he's a hero and one that has obsessed me since I first saw him as part of the Found Footage Festival.

Director and writer Scott Zakarin may have gone on to create one of the first web series called The Spot, but I always thought that Rem Lazar was either a Christian kid video or something from one of those alien planets that was sent to our world and would always seem like we would never understand it. You know, like it was from Canada.

Ashley (Courtney Kernaghan) and Zack (Jonathan Goch) have the same imaginary friend, superhero Rem Lazar and they paint a mannequin to look just like him. And by just look like him, it looks like the deranged dreams of children left alone for too long.

Those fantasies come true and Rem Lazar (Jack Mulcahy, who was Frank in the first two Porky's movies) comes to magical life - no hat like Frosty needed - and he'll go away in a day unless they find his Quixotic Medallion. This will involve battling the frightening CGI video effect known as Vorock, who is played by Zakarin. Yet all they must do to best him is tell him how much they love him. Also: they must sing. Sing a lot.

This was also part of a list of movies that the essential Scarecrow Video was attempting to keep alive after the death of VHS. Nick Prueher of the Found Footage Festival said, "We first saw Creating Rem Lezar on VHS in a stranger's living room in Denver at about 3 in the morning - ideal viewing conditions for this wonderfully strange artifact from the 80s. We thought it was religious at first - either that or Canadian - because something just seemed off. But it turns out it's neither! It's just a wholly original kids movie with catchy songs that are still in our heads years later."

Now the Found Footage guys are part of re-releasing this movie in high definition for its 35th anniversary. It also has a 30-minute documentary on the making of this oddity with interviews from Mulcahy, Zakarin and composer Mark Mulé. It's exclusively available on the Found Footage Festival web store.

If I am left to my own devices for long enough, I end up singing songs from this movie. After all, "When I'm dreaming, I'm dreaming of a dream." You can't argue with that kind of thinking.

This was a thing i watched.

[cjkbuchanan · 5/10 · 24 February 2019]

This movie would be the perfect tool to use during interrogations at gitmo. I would honestly rather 9/11 happen every 4 years like the Olympics then ever watch this film again. Rem Lezar will haunt my nightmares for the rest of my life and perhaps after because that is the power of Rem Lazar.

the most amazing movie experience of all time

[sirensosallow · 1/10 · 14 August 2005]

I've seen Creating Rem Lezar 50 times & it still never fails to astound. Ridiculously long sing-along sequences with thoughtful lines including "When I'm dreaming, I'm dreaming of a dream" & "Rem Lezar...slip into the night" (with the visual assistance of floating clip art-like illustrations of princess hats and skulls) are inserted at near random. A particularly memorable medley includes a frightening group of dancing a cappella greasers, an MC Hammeresque rapper with knee socks, and a manic violinist with floppy hair.

Rem himself is a pleasant blue-haired man in a spandex suit and gaudy gold gloves who succeeds in averting suspicion as he guides two young children through Central Park in broad daylight and screams at a pulsing blob in the sky named Vorock. Along the way we, along with our quixotic young friends Zack and Ashlee learn that friendship and love are good, as is running away from home to build your imaginary friend into a life-sized doll and to sleep with him in an abandoned shack all night.

A touching children's fantasy. Or is it a "touching children" fantasy?

[EyeAskance · 14 August 2011]

Two especially irritating children meet in school and find that they share a peculiar mutuality...they both have the same imaginary friend, some dude named Rem Lezar. Rem is a robust fellow with a butch lesbian haircut, clad in skintight blue spandex with a cape and headband. He loves children(!), and sings with impassioned old-Broadway urgency.

The kids manage to bring him to life with mannequin parts and the power of believing, but his time with them is limited to a single day because a gold chest medallion crucial to his existence has been hidden away by an evil and powerful entity(a cheap pixillating digital face in the sky). Rem Lezar and the children embark on a search for said medallion(even stopping by the World Trade Center in one scene), and as is often the case in kiddie films, love saves the day and everything's ducky in the end.

This brain-mulching travesty replaces THE APPLE as the worst musical I have ever seen. The songs(oh, Sweet Jesus...there are a LOT of them) are so stentoriously racking and saccharine-sweetly twee that it feels like someone is jamming Pixie Stix into your ear canals(the diabetic stroke inducing synth-and-vocals lullaby "When I'm Dreaming, I'm Dreaming Of a Dream" will make your sphincter tighten and your toes curl). Also in the mix are a few numbers which woefully attempt to "rock out", among them a cacophonic fifties-style doo-wop ditty by a group of effete boys in the throes of Sha-Na-Na-gasm, as well as what is possibly the least urban rap tune in the history of music. What makes REM LEZAR so memorably cringe, however, is the salient pedophiliac streak which runs through it...disturbing, indeed, but not enough to counter the sheer hilarity of this utterly bughouse juvenile jumble.

Rates 7.5/10 on the Schlockometer.

Sooo Bad I cried laughing.

[mooniteman · 1/10 · 25 May 2005]

There is nothing worse then a singing pedophile with a purple jumpsuit and matching mullet. This proves that there is either no God or he has a terrible sense of humor. The fact that someone would waste the energy to produce such a nugget of sheer turtle snot baffles me. Upon conceiving the Idea for Rem Lesar the creator should have been struck down and erased from history.

In Summary: Two slow, unappreciated children find that they both share the same disturbing dream of a man in tight purple spandex. They magically find a highly realistic mannequin parts, build a super hero outfit, complete with gold shoes, sleep with it and he comes alive. Now if I were a parent I would have my kid stop watching right about now (if I hadn't already smashed the tape to pieces). They sing a song that songs like tone deaf cows, screaming as their being forced threw a meat grinder. They then meet an obese disembodied teenager's head embodying their nightmares (and mine) that tells them have they to find the quixotic medallion or Rem Lesar will turn into a doll. (That doesn't sound too bad). This is when all hell breaks loose. They frolic through the woods. Sing songs you can't make out, fall into a lake, sing more songs, then they randomly appear in Central Park and sing a doo-wap song with a group of mildly homo-sexual crooners in tight tank tops and suspenders. They befriend the floating head, finding that he just needed a friend, *tear* and the movie ends, but not before another rousing song! Some other stuff happens, but I have wasted too much of my life on this movie already.

So in conclusion: if you're suicidal and need that extra push over the edge -Rem Lesar will do it!

We are all Rem Lezar

[Victor_Fallon · 10/10 · 17 June 2020]

When I first heard Rem's beautiful singing, I immediately knew that the dreams (and future) of all of the world's children was in some hands.

I have memorized all of the words and sing Rem's songs loudly and consistently at my children while they eat their breakfast. I have done this every morning since 1989 and my children, who still live with me, smile and smile and smile and smile. It has significantly transformed our lives.

I recommend you succumb to Rem Lezar. We should all give in.

Horrible low budget kiddie fare, that only the youngest of kids will enjoy.

[TOMNEL · 1/10 · 29 August 2009]

Children's movies are made for children, not for adults. That's quite obvious. So when making a kids movie, the director and writer's number one priority should be to entertain the children. But thanks to Pixar and some other fine children's films, we have learned that if a kiddie movie has good writing, and is clever, it can turn from a children's movie to a family film. This is low budget schlock and I'd be surprised if many kids even find this entertaining, it's so unintelligent and creepy, it seems like the only one's watching this would be people looking for bad cinema.

Zach (Jonathan Goch) is a lonely kid who, instead of doing schoolwork, imagines and draws up a superhero he's possibly created named Rem Lezar. Not only does he draw him, he also sings to him, and Rem sings back. Is this kid schizoid? No, he can't be, because a lonely little girl named Ashlee (Courtney Kernaghan) has the same character who she sings to. These two little misfits meet each other, and bond over a cruddy Barney the Dinosaur-esquire song on the playground. These kids decide to get a whole bunch of mannequin parts and make Rem Lezar from that. After singing to the dummy in a tool shed, Rem comes to life, and goes with the kids on an adventure through places that don't cost money to film at, like a park, and outside the Twin Towers. Rem, with the help of the crazy kids, must defeat the arch villain Vorock (played by writer/director Scott Zakarin).

Everything about this movie is horrible. The acting is downright ridiculous, and Rem Lezar is too creepy a character for children to find appealing. He'd be the guy snatching you from your house in your dreams. The villain Vorock is the dumbest looking thing ever. It's a floating pixelated head that has no eyes. It never threatens to hurt these kids or anything, so he's not a very menacing or evil villain.

The songs are way too frequent and horrible here. This thing is like fifty minutes and there must be over ten songs. You'd think this was a Broadway musical from the frequency of the songs, but once you hear the voices of the singers, you'll realize quickly this is not Broadway material. In one bizarre scene, a song switches from a 50s quartet sound, to a bad 80s sound, and then to the violin. What horrible combinations!

The ending to this film is quite strange. It was the kid's imagination, and they just both fell asleep and had the same dream. I suppose Rem Lezar was imaginary, but for some reason, the cop that finds these two kids looks exactly like Rem. And to go along with that, these kids have poorly made spray paint macaroni medals, and now everything is good, and Rem sings them to sleep...creepy! People who find bad movies funny, will definitely get a kick out of this. It's so unbelievably incompetent, bad and cheesy in every way, there's no way any adult can justify why this should have been made. As for kids, if they like it, more power to them. In a year or so they'll realize the error of their ways and start laughing at this unintentional comedy.

My rating: BOMB out of ****. 50 mins. Not rated.

rem lezar did 9/11

[rotch-64081 · 10/10 · 23 September 2019]

When i was a child, i was touched by rem lezar, and not just my heart, if you catch my drift

5.9, how the heck is the rating for this so high!

[Aaron1375 · 1/10 · 30 March 2024]

There are horror films I have seen that I have enjoyed that have lower scores than this. As are there action films, so many other films that are lower than this. How does kids singing so horribly that it will make your ears bleed, a creepy dude in a mock superhero outfit and a villain with an incomprehensible arc get such a high rating? Perhaps those who saw it were super high?

The story, two kids (a boy and girl) get in trouble because they both fantasize about Rem Lezar who sports a purple mullet and a creepy knack for appearing to the children in their bedrooms. Soon the boy and girl find there shared experience and make their own Rem with mannequin parts and he becomes real, or does he? Soon they must find his chest plate or he will disappear while singing constantly! Fun times... I mean, the Apple has a lower score than this and it is a masterpiece musical compared to this. We also have the villain who is about as threatening as an old time screen saver from the 90's....

The acting is obviously amateurish as the kids cannot sing or act, Rem's voice does not peel paint like their voices do when he sings and the villain is like a living migraine. Not sure what people saw to give this thing such a high score, even as a kid this thing would have had my eyes rolling.

So, you like your superhero's with mullets and whose only power is to constantly break out into song about stuff they are not even seeing (caves)? Well you will just love this! Want to hear two kids sing so horribly and off key that you will wish you could not hear anything? I am not sure why you would, but you are going to love this! Go on now, go create your own creepy child stalker to haunt your kids, create Rem Lezar...

Better than Citizen Kane

[slagathor-74886 · 10/10 · 23 February 2019]

You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll start feeling down right uncomfortable. 5 bags of popcorn and 2 towers

Rem Lazar has shown the true spirit of America

[agillette21 · 10/10 · 24 February 2014]

Rem Lazar has shown ed me that is i live like a windjammer i can only dream of his bluebell mullet. WHen i am dreaming of a dream i dreaming of the rem Lazar dreams. I want 2 Wake up next to rem. This movie is as true classic of the American dreams. I may b from other foreign but i stile love the rems. Now apparently this review calls for more than 10 lines, this is not what rem died for... he did not sacrifice his mullet for this. The manic violinist in the park also adds a nice touch to the spirit of this movie, I would also like to point out the black guy, first we land on the moon, now we finally get black people in movies?! Wow take that racism. In conclusion i am done

fantasy, my little ones!

[pull_my_daisy79 · 10/10 · 11 August 2006]

I was never sure what to say when people asked me what my favorite movie was, I mean there were lots of films I liked, but I always felt incomplete , different from the others because i had missed out on some major cinematic experience or something , that is until I popped in the tape and was introduced to my new best friend, and hero, Rem.

The movie has it all, action, adventure, mullets, singing, dancing, a scary floating head, a creepy shack in the woods, unfit parents, sexual tension, and even a black guy.

I am proud that this movie is not only a part of my collection, but rarely leaves the VCR itself. Its a great movie to watch on your own or with your friends, but if you watch it a lot on your own you may not have that many friends anyways. Thank you Phil W, for bringing such a wonderful gift into my life no i never had a friend like you!

Me personally, I loved this film.

[acw-59934 · 9/10 · 23 February 2019]

Eat your heart out, Marvel, Rem Lezar is here! This is the best superhero film of all time. Safe for the kiddos AND entertaining for us adults. Catchy tunes, a journey to the Twin Towers and a lifelike dummy built by children. Marvel should look into rebooting Rem Lezar starring Kevin Spacey.

Rem Lezar is the key to all of this.

[stormharvester · 10/10 · 30 November 2021]

Sure, this may seem like nothing but a bizarrely written, poorly acted (and sung) and lazily produced attempt at a kids show about an imaginary friend who comes across more as a pervert than a super hero, but it's stylistically designed to be that way, and you can't undo that!

Rem Lezar teaches many life lessons....

[jperona-1 · 10/10 · 12 April 2022]

I don't know why this film didn't get more publicity...I would like to see Netflix or Amazon Prime offer it...Finding the music CD is almost impossible but Apple Music does offer some of the hits from the film. I have watched this film several times and each time I walk away with new enlightened wisdom.... The adversity we face in life is there as Vorock the villain...The quest we go on in life and so much more.... I would like to see a part 2 made with a wide theatrical release with possible rock versions of the many hits.... Especially Zak's "dreaming of a dream" song... I would personally play this film at work functions to promote the lessons of team building and goal setting...