Postal – Burn it All Down

Uwe Boll is infamous for his poor video game adaptations. To date, he has made over 10 of them—including BloodRayne and its sequels, as well as House of the Dead and Alone in the Dark. Postal is his magnum opus. It's a giant middle finger to the critics who've lambasted his work throughout his career, and it pulls zero punches.

From an opening that pokes fun at 9/11 to Verne Troyer meeting his maker via chimpanzee defilement, it is as tasteless a film as you'll ever encounter.

That is clearly by design. Postal, the game for which the movie is based, is primarily known for its unfettered violence—think Grand Theft Auto without a coherent narrative to buoy its less seemly mechanics. It may have a cult following, but it was not what most would consider popular.

It should as come as no surprise then that the movie flopped. It, like the game, was hindered by its wanton nihilism. Released on only four screens in the U.S., Postal grossed just $146,741. It also sits at a measly 9% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Though it's not devoid of salient ideas—the dangers of religious fanaticism, for example—the execution never lands. And the movie pinballs from one abhorrent joke to another, failing to ever stop to consider how awful everything it's presenting actually is. Despite that, its failure did little to prevent Boll from continuing to direct movies—an oddity of the industry that will never not be baffling. 

Listen, you can watch this, but just remember: We did warn you not to. So sit back, blast open a Steel Reserve from Steel Brewing Co., and stay the hell away from Little Germany! I, the Thunderous Wizard (@WriterTLK), Capt. Cash, and Chumpzilla are smuggling a crate of Krotchy Dolls into the U.S. to prevent a country-wide pandemic!

This Week’s Segments:

• Introduction/Plot Breakdown – How does one describe a movie that is in such poor taste? Well, we give it the old college try. (00:00)
• Lingering Questions – Aside from the obvious, "why?" there are some actual questions to be answered. (56:03)
• The "Raging" Boll Trivia Challenge – Chumpzilla challenges us to trivia centered around this movie, as well as the rest of Uwe Boll's schlock portfolio. (1:19:32)
• Recommendations – Next up: We hail all the world warriors! It's time to fight our way to the end of our video game series with Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li! (1:31:02)

And, as always, hit us up on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram to check out all the interesting factoids—the game that inspired the film and more—from this week’s episode!

You can find this episode of Hops and Box Office Flops on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, Podbean, Spotify, Acast, TuneIn, and iHeartRadio!

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