CASPER 1995: A RETROSPECTIVE

CASPER 1995 AND PROMOS

GRIMEY

It's been a minute since I wrote something in depth, and I apologize; it's spooky season, which means I'm basically completely booked from now until the big day. But, fear not! I have a few Halloween articles up my sleeve aside from junkfood reviews starting with this one right here!

I'd like to venture to a huge event back in May of 1995 when Casper the movie was released! Most of you probably saw Casper at some point. My little brother and I, on the other hand, down right destroyed at least 2 copies of this tape from constant Casper rotation; that's how big we bought into the live action film. From raunchy childhood humor to cool cameos and silly cartoon like action; It had everything a kid of the 90s could ever want from a film, including sweet promotional tie ins!

First, I'd like to address some of these amazing cameos! Don Novello as Father Guido Sarducci (a character from SNL) and Dan Aykroyd as Ray Stantz from Ghostbusters who could level a kaiju Marshmallow Man but couldn't tackle 3 pesky ghosts. Then, Bill Pullmans character, Dr. Harvey, is possessed by the ghosts and turns turns into Clint Eastwood, Rodney Dangerfield, Mel Gibson and even the Crypt Keeper voiced by John Kassir doing his best Kevin McCallister mirror impression. Then, to cap it off, at the end credits Stretch does a Little Richie impression. I understood a couple of these cameos as a kid but now that I'm 32, watching it again has been a real treat.

I wrote about this commercial (uploaded by user 90s Rewind) back in one of the Spooky Commercials articles last year but I'm bringing it up again because, wow.... it's a real beaut! Pepsi is no stranger to Halloween. Most people would argue even before Mountain Dew started their Voodew soda series (a Pepsi owned product) that Pepsi is the official drink of Halloween. Let's be honest, did anyone else throw the Universal Monsters all over their soda?

I can't help but feel a little nostalgic when I see this one for 2 reasons. 1. Did you read the 2nd paragraph in this article? Casper was practically my Bible in 95, this commercial is forever burned into my memory and 2. This feels sorta familiar... maybe something Coca-Cola did with juice and a green slimey ghost? I don't know. Maybe it's just me.

Not only did Casper appear in a Pepsi commercial; he also made his way onto the front of several Pepsi products! I know for a fact Casper and friends appeared on Mountain Dew, Pepsi and Diet Pepsi but that’s as far as my knowledge goes. Not many images exist of them online but I did, however, get super lucky and snag this beautiful sealed Diet Pepsi from 1995 that does indeed feature Stinky and Stretch shooting hoops! I was eyeing it up for some time and decided to pull the trigger just for this article.... *polishes off Pepsi bottle before tucking it in every night before bed*

One thing I will rip from online is this sweet t-shirt from an eBay listing. There are a bunch of similar listings and It seems to be all over the place in price regardless of condition but I've been seeing a steady $200-$300 lately. Someone please bootleg this shit so I can own it, please and thanks.

While Pepsi was having a blast with the ghosts; Pizza Hut decided to join the fun with his awesome promotion (uploaded by user bunkras1); the new stuffed crust pizza! It's weird to think that in 1995, stuffed crust was some wild and new idea. They didn't stop there. Pizza Hut tried to make eating your pizza crust first a huge deal calling it an odd and unexplainable haunting phenomenon!

The fun didn't stop there, Pizza Hut went the extra mile to offer Casper hand puppets featuring Stretch, Fatso, Stinky and the friendly ghoul himself (video uploaded by user StoryTimeWithTim). The hand puppet thing was one of Pizza Huts hat tricks. They did similar ones for the movie The Land Before Time as well as the show Eureka’s Castle. The Casper ones are legit though because they glow in the dark like all plastic ghostly things should.

Last, something I'm insanely jealous of; the Casper exhibit at Universal Studios Florida. We didn't travel much as kids and, to tell you the truth, I'm mostly deathly afraid of traveling out of state even now as an adult. I've never been on a plane. I really don’t want to ever be on a plane. Something about being in a tin can that far off the ground doesn't sit so well with my anxious mind. So, YouTube videos it is! Here, you can see a walk through of the entire Casper set up thanks to user: Disney Dave ( of course he's a Dave)! Along with this video, you'll see the Pepsi commercial as well as a Comfort Inn sweepstakes featuring all four ghosts! I talked in the first episode of The Leftover Pizza Podcast how Universal Studios was always doing contests and sweepstakes for free trips to either Florida or Hollywood, well... here's another that even I wasn’t aware of!

I hope you all enjoyed reading about mostly unimportant details of the 1995 release of Casper! Be sure to check back soon for more spooky content! Also, episode 2 of The Leftover Pizza Podcast will be up very soon! Thanks for reading!