No one familiar with the work of Aubrey Plaza in shows like Legion and Parks and Recreation would be surprised by the actress showing up in a strange side project. But the weirdness of an online video, Terror Team, exceeds all possible expectations.

The short video — which features Nathan Fillion (Castle) and Jack McBrayer (30 Rock) among others — is only about 15 minutes long, but it packs plenty of bizarre hilarity into its fever-dream mashup of ’80s and ’90s pop-culture tropes.

Such as the plot of Terror Team can be understood, the “pilot” episode goes something like this:

  • A ring pop commercial segues into the opening for Terror Team. Plaza is in that too.
  • Shortly after an owl neighs into the night, “five completely different teens” are introduced as the titular team.
  • Monica (Darcy Fowler), found in the “Goth section of the library,” is about to be inducted into the group — which already consists of a jock (whose football always comes back), a nerd, a kid in a wheelchair, and a princess-type girl who may be a Nazi.
  • Meanwhile at Fillion’s Los Angeles home, he and Plaza are having a tense moment after the actress dropped her half of a friendship necklace down the garbage disposal.
  • Fortunately for Fillion’s hand, Plaza is summoned to the woods… “We brought you here with our magical Bop It” (the best on-screen use of that toy since Gilmore Girls.)
  • Plaza has to tell a scary story. It’s about a blind babysitter and a roller-blading murderer. After much blood and a bit of cross-dressing, babysitter Julie trusts her charge, Timmy, to help defeat the bad guy.
  • Doing NSFW things to the Bop It does not get Plaza home. Only finishing her story does that.
  • The Terror Team votes in Monica shortly after her deadbeat dad wanders through the campsite.
  • After dousing the campfire with a tiny amount of water, the Team leaves. They leave behind a pile of corpses.

TerrorTeam-10.JPG

The origin of Terror Team isn’t exactly clear. The video appears to have been posted on Vidme sometime around April 26. It had made it to Reddit by May 1, and Fillion posted a tweet alerting his followers on May 2. He did not give any context for Terror Team‘s existence either, other than his assertion that it exists because he really wanted to work with Plaza.

Such as there are any clues, they come from the closing credits of Terror Team. Plaza is listed as one of the creators of the show, along with its director, Kieran Valla, and writer-actors Fowler and Kirschner. How those four made this crazy bit of entertainment must remain a mystery … but what a mystery it is!

TerrorTeam-12.JPGAnyone want a ring pop?

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Was this the weirdest video you’ve ever seen? Why do you think it was made? Are Bop Its actually evil? Let us know what you think in the comments below!

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(Image and video courtesy of Vidme and Terror Time)

 

 

Laurel Brown

Senior Writer, BuddyTV

Laurel grew up in Mamaroneck, NY, Grosse Pointe, MI and Bellevue WA. She then went on to live in places like Boston, Tucson, Houston, Wales, Tanzania, Prince Edward Island and New York City before heading back to Seattle. Ever since early childhood, when she became addicted to The Muppet Show, Laurel has watched far too much TV. Current favorites include Chuck, Modern Family, Supernatural, Mad Men and Community. Laurel received a BA in Astrophysics (yes, that is possible) from Colgate University and a PhD in Middle Eastern Studies and History of Science from Columbia University before she realized that television is much better than studying.