Warning: Violence, puppet and otherwise.

Too Many Cooks (2014) dir. Casper Kelly

I wouldn’t be the first to risk hyperbolizing the accomplishment of viral sensation “Too Many Cooks” (Rian Johnson advocated for its nomination for an Academy Award), but this is Adult Swim’s The Matrix. That is to say, it’s experienced as a fresh and innovative movie even though a quick glance at immediate predecessors shows it’s also a summary of several ideas already floating around. The “endless TV theme song” concept had already been done on the same network by Robot Chicken as pointed out by Soluter Anthony Pizzo in his series on the music of Rachael Bloom. Remixing and parodying television of the 70s and 80s had been a staple of Adult Swim since it carved out late night space on the Cartoon Network (Space Ghost Coast to Coast, Sealab 2021, etc) and descending into non-sequitur violence was a staple of countless programs it created and/or aired.

But tracing the splattered DNA of “Too Many Cooks” doesn’t diminish its special blend of mayhem. Like the best parodies, the imitation of its targets is spot-on with several details to appreciate on rewatches, like the (first) baby credited with names of twins, suggesting the many shows and that used multiple birth infants to fill the roles. It’s also, to say the least, wildly committed to its idea. The short immediately thrived into the wilds of the Internet where jokes get memed into the ground within hours, probably because it so thoroughly burns its own idea into the ground.

The horror it segues into doesn’t feel completely out of place either. The shows with smiling family freeze frames were broadcast on the same networks that aired the evening news, Rescue 911, Unsolved Mysteries, and all sorts of other creepy “real life” stories. Some of this energy always seemed to seep into the family primetime lineup, maybe a local affiliate teasing a new criminal on the loose and promising footage after Full House. A serial killer stalking an opening credits sequence seems uncannily familiar.

People swapping places with their own title cards, however, wasn’t a fear I had. Until now.