Film director Charles Band and Full Moon Features are no stranger to the weird and hilarious, from the Puppet Master series to their most recent franchise, Barbie and Kendra, the company has established that no genre is too tough to handle. With the COVID-19 pandemic causing issues for the entertainment industry, Full Moon has found a way to create a new genre of film while maintaining the proper safety guidelines. Enter: Coronasploitation.
The first film in the Barbie and Kendra franchise was appropriately titled Corona Zombies, and was a hit with viewers. The sequel, Barbie and Kendra Save the Tiger King, decided to get more topical with its humor, which was a pretty smart direction to keep things fresh. Now, the franchise is headed to space with a new sc-fi comedy titled Barbie and Kendra Storm Area 51.
Recently, we were able to talk to Barbie and Kendra themselves, Cody Renee Cameron and Robin Sydney, to discuss what makes the franchise so unique and some of their favorite films in the company.
You can check out the written excerpt from the interview below, but for anyone that is interested, there is a full audio version has even more questions! We would love to hear your thoughts on the interview and films in the comments below!
4m 58s
Nick Brooks: Would you consider this movie series solely as comedys, or maybe a mixture of sci-fi comedy? How would you describe the franchise?
5m 14s
Cody Renee: I think the term has been given Coronasploytation. It's like an exploitation film comedy and some sci. The Tiger King was more like pop culture, and Corona Zombies is more coronasploitation. So they all have little Zingers in there.
5m 53s
Darth Lexii: Do you guys have a favorite that you've filmed from the series?
6m 0s
Cody Renee: Well, we haven't seen Storm Area 51 yet, so I can't say. But we did get to eat on set because we were eating in a scene. That was fun. I was just so obsessed with Tiger King; that has a special place in my heart. The night that Tiger King came out, I watched it. I saw it before anyone said anything about it, and I had no idea it would blow up like that. But I did watch the entire season in one night and was like, wait, tiger's, meth, what the shit. Interviewing John Reiki was cool.
6m 42s
Robin Sydney: I'm excited about this Friday too. We would normally have a red carpet, but because we were quarantining, we would have our living room carpet where we get to walk around the living room and watch the TV. But I don't know my favorite movies that I've done. I would say my first favorite movie I did is called The Lost. And then, I did a movie with Charlie Band called The Skull Heads and really liked that one. I feel like I've done a lot of movies with Charlie, and I love working with him. He's super talented, but I love the Barbie and Kendra series. It's so much fun. You get to escape or for a moment.
9m 48s
Nick Brooks: What has made working with Charlie different from the other projects that you've worked on in the past?
9m 60s
Robin Sydney: The environment that he creates when you walk on the set is super relaxed. Like we have no time, there's no money, and I'm sure in his mind he is freaking out, but he makes it relaxed. Cody and I get to play. He allows the freedom to play.
10m 54s
Cody Renee: He also shoots fast. Like the times I've worked with him before, I wasn't a lead part. So this time I came in and in the first movie, Corona Zombies, I'm the only Actress. Kendra is on the phone, but I don't get to hear what she's saying. It was an extra person reading the lines for me to react to, which makes it interesting. I've learned my lines, but now I have to do choreography; there are all those things that you haven't rehearsed. So we do one shot, and he's like, all right, this is good. Moving on. He's like, I know we got it. You have to trust that in the editing, they have enough things to piece together. And every time I see that, I'm like, wow, that looks good. We didn't need to do it a hundred times.
*The interview has been edited for clarity and was hosted by Darth Lexii and Comic Brooks*
First they fought the Corona Zombies. Then they Saved the Tiger King. Now sexy LA airheads Barbie & Kendra bring their ditsy brand of quarantine quirk on an adventure that's truly out of this world! Full Moon's notorious "coronaverse" expands anew in BARBIE & KENDRA STORM AREA 51, the third (but not final!) movie in the world's only quarantine set and shot film franchise. Get ready for a heady dose of pandemic panic as the dynamic duo (played once more by Cody Renee Cameron and Robin Sydney) turn on the TV and get tuned into a viral saga that takes them deep into the forbidden fortress of Area 51 and beyond!
Barbie and Kendra Storm Area 51 is now available to watch on Amazon Prime Video!