Animal House of Blues (2012)

Behind every great movie and the stars who get all the credit are the people who sweat not under the lights, but while setting them up and making sure they turn on. ANIMAL HOUSE OF BLUES tells their story and it is a compelling one. With interviews filmed near the actual ANIMAL HOUSE locations in Eugene, Oregon, blues legend Curtis Salgado, local casting directors, extras and members of Ken Kesey's Pranksters get the chance to tell the story of their influence on the iconic college comedy, as well as THE BLUES BROTHERS a few years later.

The film traces ANIMAL HOUSE's origins back to Kesey and his wild acid-fueled bus trips across America and his influence on the writers of the film, through the ANIMAL HOUSE crew's wild parties amongst Eugene's blues scene in the 1970's all the way to the present as hundreds of toga clad locals march through the streets of Cottage Grove, Oregon celebrating the chaotic fraternity that rampaged the same streets in the film. Possibly the most exciting part of the documentary comes with the stories of Salgado and his friendship with John Belushi. Belushi would later credit Salgado with influencing the Blues Brothers, and the film features unreleased live tracks of Belushi singing two future Blues Brothers standards with Salgado at the Eugene Hotel. Fans of Saturday NIGHT LIVE and the late Belushi will not want to miss out on hearing these!

ANIMAL HOUSE OF BLUES is a concise and heartfelt portrait of a community coming together to help make a comedy classic or two. In turn, these films have come to define the communities that made them. The locals who helped make these films are finally able to tell their stories and get the credit they deserve as well as pay tribute to the films that gave them so much. Listen to them. They have a lot to say.