"Homo erectus" becomes "National Lampoon's Stoned Age" on DVD

I commented on the movie version of the play, "Homo erectus," when I heard about it a couple of years ago, in a timeless post, titled "[Tom] Arnold will play Rog, a gay caveman."

Well, as might have been expected from a kooky caveman comedy featuring Gary Busey and porn star Ron Jeremy, "Homo erectus" failed to find an audience.

But not all the news is bad. Now the movie has been picked up by the masters of comedic judgment:

It’s hard to believe it’s been almost two years since we interviewed Adam Rifkin about his film Homo Erectus. Unfortunately, the caveman comedy never got a wide release, but there is hope for it on DVD - this is the kind of movie that smacks of becoming a cult favorite. Don’t look for it under the old name though. When the picture was picked up by National Lampoons, it received a title change - National Lampoon’s Stoned Age, which hits DVD on January 20th.

My first reaction to the title was that it sounds a lot more sophomoric than the cultural commentary Rifkin told me about during our interview. Then again, Homo Erectus wasn’t exactly a title that said “high class satire,” so if National Lampoons thinks this is a good title change, so be it - it’s not like they’ve been wrong before.

So at last, you can own it yourself. Here's National Lampoon's Stoned Age at Amazon:

But don't confuse it for the 1994 movie of a very similar title, The Stoned Age. Which you might actually prefer, if you tend to go for sleeper classics with bong humor:

Hey, whatever floats your boat. Just don't get either of them for me...