Arise! The SubGenius Video (Video 1992) Poster

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8/10
Hypnotic, hilarious, and extremely dense
Modemac3 October 1998
How many videos do you know that warn you of the sensory assault they are about to bombard you with? This is one sign of the intricate, complex, and occasionally incomprehensible media barrage that is ARISE, a.k.a. SubGenius Recruitment Film #16. Using clips edited together in a fashion similar to The Atomic Cafe," you will be entranced and held fast by the fascinating life of J.R. "Bob" Dobbs and the rise of the cult he founded, the Church of the SubGenius. In fact, you may not be able to finish the entire video in one sitting!
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This is the video THEY DON'T WANT YOU TO SEE!
revdjepoch3 April 2004
I can truely say, this is the first DVD to ever clear my sinuses just by watching it! Yes, "Arise!" has it all... aliens, armageddon, sex, salvation, yeti-spotting, accubeating, nuclear destruction, anarchomaterialistic sarcastoblasphemy, audio-visual media barrages, how to tell the difference between "you" and "them", and the word of J.R. "Bob" Dobbs. AND THAT'S JUST IN THE FIRST 15 MINUTES!

"The world may end tomorrow and YOU MAY DIE!" Can you really afford NOT to be informed and ready for the end-times?

WARNING! Do NOT drive or operate heavy machinery during or immediately after viewing this DVD. Reality perception will be altered. This is a good thing.
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10/10
A Great Historical Record
ASalina23 March 2004
Perhaps in some distant future time, archeologists from another world will happen upon the cinder that was once Earth and find a copy of Arise! still in playable condition. And perhaps those alien beings from the future will also have adopted VHS as the home video tape standard over Betamax, just as the Merehums had, and will have a tape deck handy to watch it on. Under those circumstances the extraterrestrial archeologists will come to understand what had happened to planet Earth on July 5, 1998; The Prophecy of J. R. "Bob" Dobbs, the Final Celebration of the Subgenii, The Coming of the Xist Ships, The Whisking Away of The Faithful, The Return to Pick Up Some Forgotten Luggage, The Re-Whisking Away, and finally, The Destruction of Earth and the Merehums.

Or perhaps not. But in any event, YOU can PRETEND to be those alien archeologists, and PRETEND to have found the only playable copy of Arise!, and once more PRETEND to unravel the mysterious demise of Earth Farm One.

By the way, the $9000 copy of Arise! comes with a bucket of complementary hot wings, I think.

P.S. Arise! is not for rent, so forget about making copies. That would be bad and wrong.
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10/10
Psychedelic, psychotronic media barrage at its finest
rocketsmith10 April 2004
A fast paced montage of video clips taken from conspiracy media reveal the true nature of reality, allowing you to escape into the safety of your own delusions by pulling the wool over your own eyes. Revival footage of Subgenius ministers is intercut, helping to guide you along the path of true Slack. Hilarious, brilliant, and scary in its uncovering of the true Conspiracy that threatens all life on this planet. A must see, but those with heart conditions should have a licensed Doktor standing by, just in case.
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10/10
A necessity.
Naturezrevenge20 November 2006
REPENT! QUIT YOUR JOB! SLACK OFF! The world ends tomorrow and YOU MAY DIE! ARE WE CONTROLLED BY SECRET FORCES? ARE ALIEN SPACE MONSTERS BRINGING A STARTLING NEW WORLD? Do people think you're strange? DO YOU? THEN YOU ARE PROBABLY ON THE RIGHT TRACK!

The words ring true in my squishy head and they always have.

This video has been playing in the background of my parties/living room for years and I find that I end up watching it every year or so just because I need it like Bob Dobbs needs $lack. I think it has either damaged my brain and/or possibly made it better.

I rate it a 10 because I'm a member of the "church" and Arise! embodies everything that kept me enamored with the art and essays of the church since I was a belligerent teenaged girl and beyond.

A fragrant/flagrant touch of cheesiness and camp and delicious bite-sized prairie squid flavored morsels of pure, hysterical, stark- raving, frothing, self-indulgence and reckless abandon.

9/10 people won't understand it, but residual Subgenuii/yeti people,Quarks, Kooks, Heretics, Lunatics, Defilers of God will no doubt be watching this masterpiece/piece of crap as we set off in leaky vessels Towards holes in the horizon.

If you couldn't understand this review, Arise! Will probably damage you permanently. But it's a SubG staple and if you're partial to Devo/Nagativland-esquire humor, bad 80's rap, pretty colors, drugs and a general loathing for the status quo...do quit your job, repent, slack off and join us as we embark into a divine state of infinite mental inactivity and total resignation to the ridiculous.

myspace.com/lexfulgore2
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9/10
"Bob" and me go waaaaaay back!
rzajac12 May 2011
What can I say? I moved to Dallas TX in 1986 and started listening to Rev. Ivan Stang's "The Hour of Slack" on KNON ("Da Voice! Of Da Peephole!"). The Subgenius Church is a reminder that Anything Can Happen Here, and "Arise!" stands as sober evidence that it often does.

Will you like it? Probably not. Either that, or you will be mesmerized and taken on a trip to the farthest reaches of awareness, via the gateway of Likely Unlikelihood. At which stop will Arise! drop you off? Only "Bob" can say... And "he's" not talking!

I saw the first incarnation of this flick at a premiere public showing at Dallas's Art Museum. During the Q&A I had the temerity to ask when Part II would be made, and was greeted with scoffing dismissal--You mean, this wasn't *enough* for someone? Well, it never has been enough for me; and yet it may be too much for you.

But, as "Bob" wisely said, "Too Much is *always* better than Not Enough!"
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Total Sensory Overload
MingesWithAnE30 August 2003
One of the most watched videos in my nerdy collection, I seriously have not watched this whole thing in one sitting. It's not that it's that long, it's just that there's so much to see and hear that it will blow your mind long before the last few minutes. However, if you find a copy, snatch it up. If it's for rental, then by all means, make yourself a copy. Entirely worth the three dollar rental, the twenty dollar purchase, or the nine hundred dollar something or other, this thing will entertain you for years to come. The Subgenius changed the way I saw the world, and this is the living proof. Buy the book, seriously.
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