Vileness Fats (partially found material from unfinished Residents musical film; 1972-1976)
Characters Arf and Omega in a behind-the-scenes photo from the film.
Status: Partially found
'Vileness Fats' is an unfinished musical film by anonymous avant-garde art collective The Residents, with the bulk of it being shot between 1972 and 1976. While only 40 or so minutes have been released by the band on the 1984 VHS 'Whatever Happened to Vileness Fats?' and the 2001 DVD 'Icky Flix,' the group shot well over 14 hours of material. Additional footage of both the film and behind-the-scenes work was shown in the 2015 documentary about the group, 'The Theory of Obscurity.' The Residents shot the majority of the music based film on the relatively new reel-to-reel video format.
Plot
The film's plot revolves around a village, Vileness Fats, under siege by meat thieving atomic shopping carts, forcing the population to survive entirely on vegetables. Unbeknownst to the population, however, their own spiritual leader is also the the leader of the bandits. To guard the bridge leading into Vileness Fats, the villagers call upon Siamese-twin wrestlers, Arf and Omega, who in turn summon the Indian priestess Weescoosa.
Availability
As was stated earlier, a cut down version of the film was released in 1984 as 'Whatever Happened to Vileness Fats?,' with a runtime of about 35 minutes. In 2001, a new 'concentrate' edit of the film was released, at just over 17 minutes long. This version featured new digital restoration of the footage. Additional footage was included in the 2015 documentary, 'Theory of Obscurity.' The director also released additional restored footage as part of the promotion for the film. An extensive plot outline was included in the 2015 'Buy Or Die' art book. This not online provided the films intended plot, but also detailed which scenes were shot.