- Directed by Jimmy Chunga
- Starring
- Jimmy Chunga
- Announcer Boy
- Little Ricky
- Producer Casey
No, it’s not one of the many soft-porn “homages”out there. This is a little (14-minute) video put together by morning host Jimmy Chunga and other DJs and staff at 107.5 The End, the best radio station in Salt Lake City. A local supermarket chain, Smith’s, asked him to do it as a special promotion for the weekend when The Blair Witch Project went on sale on video — buy the Blair Witch, get the Bare Witch free. They sold Chunga on it by offering him a free trip to Disneyland, a scene which is recreated in the video. (As luck would have it, though the film was shot in one day, the duping and box printing ran longer than expected, so they didn’t have it ready for opening weekend. Ah, well.) Since that time, they’ve been giving out copies at remote broadcasts on weekends. I’ve never been able to get to the Granite Furniture or Alert Cellular outlets where they were broadcasting on weekends, so in desperation I got ahold of Little Ricky, promotions manager, and begged him to send me one. He kindly complied. (Ricky, you’re the man!)
In a nutshell: Jimmy Chunga is set to work tracking down the “Bare Witch,” supposedly a University of Utah co-ed who got caught up in the occult and became a rarely-seen nudist, haunting a giant corn maze (which, oddly enough, the station was also promoting at the time). He and Little Ricky first accost various station personnel and anyone else they can to find out what they’ve heard about the legend. (Chunga’s grandparents make a wonderful appearance, singing, “Naked witch, naked witch, running through the corn,” to the tune of “Jingle Bells.”) Then they head around downtown Salt Lake, bugging people on street corners and in highrises until someone tells them that security is looking for them. (In other words, a lot like their “Jimmy Chunga, Man on the Street” segments, but with pictures too.)
And then, finally, into the corn maze at night. Naturally, Chunga and Ricky and their bodyguard (and who’s holding the other camera?!?) get lost, and squabble about the map (an aerial photo of the elaborate corn maze: “We’re right here in the jack-o-lantern,” “No, we’re in the bomber!”). We get the up-the-nose apology-to-mom sequence, and even a flash of the Bare Witch (their producer Casey, starkers except for a fright wig), and naturally the ending (complete with laying the camera down on its side — you can’t just drop them, those things are expensive!).
I’ll admit, this is much more fun if you’re a Chunga fan, but even if not, it was a free video, and at fourteen minutes it didn’t last long enough to wear out its welcome.
Not bad for a single day’s shooting.
