Is Better Off Dead on Showtime?

Better Off Dead, the 1985 comedy from director Savage Steve Holland, is finally available to purchase on digital video platforms. The movie had been available to watch periodically when it came to a cable channel that had a streaming option (it's currently streaming on Showtime), this is the first time fans have been able to purchase and own the film digitally. The move comes ahead of a planned December release for a new edition of the Blu-ray, so it's likely those two things are tied. It also follows on the heels of last year's book, Diane Franklin: The Excellent COMEDY of the Last American, French-Exchange Babe of the 80s: The Better Off Dead Movie Tribute Book.

In that book, Franklin -- who stars in the film as French exchange student Monique Junot in the film -- spoke with many of the cast and crew behind Better Off Dead and wrote an autobiographical take on one of the defining experiences of her professional life. The movie, which was a dud at the box office, has since become a cult classic, garnering hardcore fans, at least in part due to heavy rotation on Comedy Central in the early 2000s.

"Better Off Dead, to me, is my favorite film I ever did," Franklin told ComicBook.com. "For a lot of reasons -- I love a lot of my work, I really do. I'm very proud of a lot of the things I've done, but Better Off Dead was a film that I would have seen, even if I wasn't in it. It was very sweet and funny and romantic, and there's a sweetness about the film that I love. I love the film, so I knew no matter what I did, that was going to be there. But I was a little nervous about writing it. The other two books I wrote, it was about my perception of the experiences that were happening, and in this book, I felt more of a responsibility, because I'm not just talking about the people that I worked with, but it's also the memories that people feel watching the film, and the expectation of, they want to know extra things, but also, it's got to be about love. The film makes you feel good, so the thing about this book that's different from the other books is, I needed to come at this from the point of view of a fan."

You can pick up a copy of Franklin's Better Off Dead book here. The film itself is available on Amazon, Vudu, and other digital video on demand platforms for rental and sale.

Here's the synopsis for the film:

After his girlfriend (Amanda Wyss, NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET) ditches him for a boorish ski jock, Lane (John Cusack, HIGH FIDELITY) decides that suicide is the answer. However, his increasingly inept attempts bring him only more agony, not to mention embarrassment. Filled with the wildest teen nightmares, a family you can't help but identify with, and a host of extremely comic characters, BETTER OFF DEAD is an essential 80s classic, and a painfully funny teenage tale.