So, Cool Cat Saves the Kids. I've followed the character and its unhinged creator, Derek Savage, for the last decade, but I never watched the movie. Until now.
I had seen 95% of it in clips, but it's quite a different experience sitting down for all of its whopping 95 minutes. I watched the readily available director's cut, which comes with several redubbed characters, including the titular Cool Cat, because Savage had a falling out with the original actor and now performs the character himself, which adds to the jarring quality of the picture because he had a massive amount of screentime to begin with as Cool Cat's father, Daddy Derek.
Another addition is a segment that was originally produced as a short called Cool Cat Flips a House, which was fraudulently financed (or most likely pocketed) by Savage through crowdfunding for an entirely different project, a full-length sequel called Cool Cat Stops a School Shooting, which Daddy Derek is still trying to finance, now with a two million dollar budget.
There's an endless amount of backstory for all of this, whether it's Savage misunderstanding fair use and trying to take down Youtubers, his "annual" 420 Awards Show (the "non-political" movie awards show), or his bizarre gun-safety PSA for women that is a classic in its own right.
Long story short, the man behind Cool Cat is a lot more interesting than the work itself, but the film is curious enough for a singular watch, and no doubt I'll be tuning in immediately if he ever releases that school shooting project. He profoundly seems to believe that it'll save lives. Even in this film, Derek overshadows Cool Cat with his gargantuan screentime, whether he's showing his Van Halen guitar, swinging an axe, or performing a rather dangerous and sloppily executed kung-fu routine. Unfortunately, he's kind of evil, so he's not enjoying the kind of cult success as his compatriots Neil Breen and Tommy Wiseau, but maybe it's for the better. Do NOT check out his recent Hood Rat character...