Meet the Feebles

Meet The Feebles is a 1989 black comedy filmed by director Peter Jackson and produced by WingNut Films.

It features Jim Henson-esque puppets in a perverse comic satire. Like Henson's Muppets, the Feebles are a mix of animal-figured puppets and people in suits.

Premise
Meet the Feebles tells the story of the Feebles theatre troupe. They are a group of performers who, that night, are going on live network TV. If they're good enough, they'll get picked up for a syndicated network show and everyone will get rich. Scenes involving violence, sexually explicit images, drug dealing, back stabbing, date rape, and death (including a snuff film within the film) follow.

Characters

 * Heidi (hippo) - The star of the show; a severely bipolar drama queen who overeats when upset.
 * Bletch (walrus) - The bad-tempered boss. He runs the troupe and, on the side, a porn business. He's in a relationship with Heidi (this is never elaborated on), while in an adulterous relationship with Samatha.
 * Samantha (cat) - A prostitute and Bletch's mistress.
 * Harry (hare) - Satyristic narrator who contracts "the big one", a fatal (and implictly sexually-transmitted) disease, but later finds out it's just "bunny pox."
 * Trevor (rat) - Bletch's enforcer who directs pornography on the side.
 * Arthur (worm) - The meek stage manager. His appearance resembles a bookworm.
 * Sidney (Sid) (elephant) - Animal trainer; was once married to Sandy and wears a wifebeater undershirt.
 * Sandy (chicken) - Has Sid's child out of wedlock. He denies it is his and for this, she is putting a paternity suit on him.
 * Seymour - The baby of Sidney and Sandy. He is a half elephant and half chicken hybrid.
 * Robert (Wobert) (hedgehog) - The shy new member of the troupe who suffers from rhotacism. He falls in love with Lucile.
 * F. W. Fly (fly) - A sadistic and stereotypical paparazzo bent on breaking Harry's story.
 * Sebastian (fox) - The flamboyantly homosexual stage director with a penchant for sodomy - including an entire song about it.
 * Wynyard (frog) - Knife-thrower; addicted to "every barbituate known to man." He is a Vietnam veteran who gets flashbacks about the war. He has illusions when he throws knives.
 * Lucille (poodle) - Singer in the Feebles. Robert falls in love with her.
 * Barry (bulldog) - Bletch's driver and enforcer.
 * Cedric (warthog) - A Scottish drug lord who tries to double-cross Bletch.
 * Mr. Big (whale) - Cedric's boss.
 * Madam Bovine (Daisy) (cow) - Heavily pierced cow who stars in Trevor's porn. She has 10 teats on her udder.
 * The Masked Masochist (wetta) - Actor in Trevor's porn. Dies after Madam Bovine unknowingly sits on his face and suffocates him.
 * Dennis (aardvark) - After the "Masked Masochist" dies, he is convinced by Trevor to take a part in the porn movie. It looks like semen drips from his nose and he has a penchant for sniffing panties. He dies after snorting bleach.
 * Dr. Quack (duck) - Doctor who's called to the theater after hearing about Harry's sickness.
 * Dorothy (sheep) - Showgirl whose a friend of Heidi's.
 * Louie (dog) - Cedric's henchman.
 * Guppy (fish) - Auditions for Bletch, but gets eaten by him.
 * Abi (human) - Contortionist; the only human character in the film or what seems to be. His nationality is Indian. Gets his head stuck in his rectum and when he pulls it out, a bed of nails crushes him.

The ending sees Heidi go on a shooting spree with a machine gun and killing most of the surviving members of the troupe. The ones that live go their separate ways in life.

Cultural impact
The movie has become a cult classic, and has enjoyed great popularity since Jackson's success with The Lord of the Rings. During his acceptance speech at the 2004 Academy Awards, Peter Jackson mentioned the movie, noting that it had been "wisely overlooked by the Academy."

Trivia
Money ran out during production, so the flashback to Vietnam was quietly filmed separately (with a different budget) as The Frogs of War. This scene includes a game of Russian roulette as a parody of The Deer Hunter.