Need to identify this eighties/early nineties film.

for some reason this reminded me of the late-eighties amazing stores series produced by steven spielberg. i cross-referenced that with "typewriter" and found out there was an episode where a screenwriter finds out he is in possession of a magical screenplay-writing houseplant that feeds off the cathode rays emitted by his black-and-white television set. interesting, kinda, but unfortunately it does not solve this puzzle.

I don't think "Jason of Star Command" is it... The bad guy in the series I recall did have a similar cyborg eye as the guy in that pic, but otherwise it doesn't ring a bell. The plot summaries don't mention anything about a kid and his room flying into space.

Thanks for the link, Ben. I tried to check the movies suggested in that thread, but none of them sound like the real deal... Except maybe for Screamplay, which was mentioned in this thread too. But so far I haven't been able to find that movie online, or even a proper summary of its plot. If anyone happens to own a copy of Screamplay or knows more about it, let me know.

http://www.amazon.com/Screamplay/dp/B0010C54F8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=digital-video&qid=1267478899&sr=8-1

I tried that, but I get an error message saying that you can't watch the movie outside the US due to copyright.

Screamplay is on Netflix (US) - 2 stars.

Aspiring screenwriter Edgar Allen (Rufus B. Seder) works as a janitor for room and board at the Welcome Apartments, a run-down building filled with freaky characters and bizarre plot twists that wriggle their way into Edgar's horror movie script. Reality blurs with Edgar's vivid imagination, driving him into a state of creative madness. Katy Bolger and George Cordeiro costar. Extras include commentary by director Rufus B. Seder and much more.

http://cdn-7.nflximg.com/us/boxshots/large/70025317.jpg

no mention of rapping about ball scratching?

It's a Troma movie - there's a good chance that if any ball-scratch rap actually exists they were the perpetrators.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JaIGviRcodE

I didn't need to know that existed, but thanks!

The trailer to the Troma flick:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THhTkkWvhho

Yeah, I've watched the trailer, but it doesn't provide any hints whether this might be the right movie. And I'm not gonna pay to get it, if it turns out it's not the one. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to a proper plot summary of it anywhere on the net, and the few reviews I've found don't mention anything about sex change or rapping.

tuomas, have you tried submitting your question to the onion's av club staff? they take a while to get back to you, but they're usually otm.

they're gonna have a hard time finding a movie that TUOMAS MADE UP...(in his self conscious)

If you watch the trailer and it doesn't allow you to say yes or no I think this really is an imaginary amalgam of tons of things. There aren't that many movies drawing on German expressionism - I would think that visual style would be memorable, especially as a relative youngster.

Good luck, Tuomas Quixote.

Well, the thing is that I remember that the movie had a film noirish feel to it, but based on that trailer Screamplay feels kinda too over-the-top to be the movie I'm looking for. Then again, maybe they just put the most OTT bits in the trailer? I've been able to rule out almost all the other suggestions based on plot summaries or clips on Youtube, but so far Screamplay is the only movie I can't dismiss for certain. Like you said, rapping about not being able to stratch your balls is the sort of joke you'd expect to see in a Troma movie. Then again, 1985 feels a bit early for a movie to have rap jokes... Or is it?

white people were aware there was a form of music annoying them called rap in 1985

You say upthread you think it was in color, so I think you need to rule this out, too. I agree it seems slightly early for a rap joke, especially in a movie that appears to be an homage to an earlier era. Reading up on Screamplay it seems Troma released it but had nothing to do with it creatively, so that lowers the odds of a ball scratching gender-bender rap sequence even further.

screamplay is available for instant play on netflix, somebody watch it already

Thanks for volunteering!

i've seen 'screamplay' a couple of times (it's great!); it's not the film tuomas is thinking of.

Oh man the Water Babies! I saw that as a kid in the cinema and the drowning/going to the underwater world haunted me for years.

Yeah, that scene was memorably creepy for a kid, that's pretty much all I remember of Water Babies too.

Thanks for the information, CB! I guess I'll have to look for somewhere else then.

had no idea there had ever been a movie of Water Babies

http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/swann/waterbabies/images/05898us2.jpg

Tuomas made this movie up/dreamed it and I claim my $5

You'll have to share it with Ballistic...

they're gonna have a hard time finding a movie that TUOMAS MADE UP...(in his self conscious)

― Ballistic, Tuesday, March 2, 2010 6:16 AM

Huh it sounds like the movie was hardly anything to do with the book. Should read the book some time I guess.

SOMEONE NEEDS TO SOLVE TUOMAS'S MYSTERY TOO!

but did rap jokes exist in 1985???

this sounds like do the right thing.

lock thread

Tales from the Darkside, "The Word Processor of the Gods", based on a Stephen King story

maybe. i'm just looking up descriptions of horror anthology episodes and it seems to fit.

looked it up on youtube and it's not the one.

but

Similar Plotlines

A 1940 serialized novel by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, Typewriter in the Sky features the protagonist finding himself inside the story of his friend's book.

A 1960 episode of The Twilight Zone, "A World of His Own," features a dictation machine that can bring things into existence.

A 1991 episode of Are You Afraid of the Dark?, "The Tale of the Dream Machine", features a typewriter that brings dreams into existence.

A 1997 book in R. L. Stines' Goosebumps series, The Blob that Ate Everyone, has a typewriter that writes things into existence.

A 2006 film, Stranger than Fiction, has the main character's life directed by the manuscript of a novel as it is typed up.

A 2010 game, "Alan Wake", features a writer going on vacation, only to find out that the lake he lives near has the power to turn everything he writes into existence.

from "the wulf archives" (?): Gender Change Fiction List:

                         [ UNCONFIRMED MOVIES ]
unknown   ***  New Entree  ***
    A writer's characters came to life.  The villan steals the script
    and altered it which included the hero being turned into a woman
    for a short while. 

^ wonder where that came from?

Tales from the Darkside, "The Word Processor of the Gods", based on a Stephen King story

I skimmed through that episode, it's on Youtube, but it doesn't seem to have any gender change or rapping in it. It's not the Are You Afraid of the Dark? episode either, I've watched that one too.

The synopsis quoted by Contenderizer sounds exactly like that movie I saw, though! This is the first time I've seen any evidence that it actually exists. Too bad the title isn't mentioned.

*rimshot*

http://www.avmaniacs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=33311&page=1

The movie you want is 'Destiny to Order' 1989.

Here's the IMDB Page: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099412/

And here's a pic of the main character after changed into a woman along with Michael Ironside (The Bad Guy)

https://www.echobridgeentertainment.com/uploads/01675L.jpg

Enjoy.

lol, a canadian film also released in poland, finland and west germany

MUST SEE!

if Tuomas says this isn't the movie I'm going to write a very sad rap about the whole experience

Taglines:
As a writer, J.D. is his own worst critic... until his characters come to life

He's been waiting 5 years to find out, is he still alive?

Related:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6Z0jiLTIV0&feature=related

I forgot to ask: Do I win something for knowing this movie?

if Tuomas says this isn't the movie I'm going to write a very sad rap about the whole experience

― love in a grain elevator (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Saturday, July 2, 2011 6:14 AM (3 hours ago) Bookmark

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3-LxmrFm40

Written by Max Power

I'm on the edge of my seat....

Breath: Bated

goddammit where are you Tuomas, we NEED YOU

oh my god, this has to be it. This HAS to be it!!