I worship at the altar of Joe Dante. Who else could work for Spielberg and deliver Looney Tunes logic, EC Comics gore and more character actor cameos than a Hollywood funeral? Innerspace is Dante working at the peak of his studio powers, taking the high-concept DNA of Fantastic Voyage and mutating it into a manic, sweaty, screwball buddy comedy.

Speaking of that Raquel Welch shrinkage movie, the lab’s instrumentation shows a screen reading of six interlinked hexagons. This is the symbol that the Combined Miniature Deterrent Forces used in that film.

Tuck Pendleton (Dennis Quaid) is a hard-drinking, hot-shot pilot who’s volunteered for a miniaturization experiment. The plan? Shrink him and his high-tech sub, then inject him into a rabbit. But because this is a Joe Dante film, things go wrong immediately. High-tech industrial spies, led by the deliciously icy Margaret Canker (Fiona Lewis) and the scenery-chewing Mr. Igoe (Vernon Wells), storm the lab.

In the chaos, Tuck ends up injected into the ass of Jack Putter (Martin Short), a neurotic, hypochondriac grocery clerk who is having the worst day of his life. Now, Tuck has to navigate Jack’s nervous system while Jack has to find his courage (and Tuck’s estranged girlfriend, Lydia, played by Meg Ryan) to get the miniaturization chips back before Tuck runs out of oxygen or the villains extract him with a vacuum.

This begins as a sci-fi thriller, turns into a body-horror comedy and ends as a full-blown caper. Martin Short delivers one of the decade’s greatest physical comedy performances. I mean, his possession dance to Sam Cooke’s “Twistin’ the Night Away” is worth the price of admission alone. Quaid plays the ultimate charming jerk in a cockpit and the chemistry between the duo is electric.

The real stars are the practical effects. Dennis Muren and the crew at ILM won an Oscar for this, and I agree that they deserved it. When Tuck is floating through the bloodstream or dodging stomach acid, it feels real. It’s a love letter to the “Impossible Voyage” genre, dressed up in a Hawaiian shirt and holding a beer.

Because it’s Dante, keep your eyes peeled for Dick Miller (as a cab driver), John Hora, William Schallert, Henry Gibson, Robert Picardo (as The Cowboy), Kevin McCarthy, Kathleen Freeman and Wendy Schaal. There are also appearances by animator Chuck Jones, New York Doll Arthur “Killer” Kane, and rock-and-roll legend Jerry Lee Lewis. And hey, there’s Andrea Martin and Joe Flaherty in the waiting room scene! Plus, if you love movies shot at the Sherman Oaks Galleria (Chopping Mall, Phantom of the Mall), this was made there and at Northridge Mall (The Karate Kid, Superbad, Terminator 2, Mausoleum).

The Arrow Video release of Innerspace features a brand-new restoration from the original 35mm negative, approved by director Joe Dante. Extras include a new audio commentary by film critic Drew McWeeny; an archive audio commentary with director Joe Dante, producer Michael Finnell, visual effects supervisor Dennis Muren and actors Kevin McCarthy and Robert Picardo; a brand new hour-long documentary featuring newly filmed interviews with director Joe Dante, producer Michael Finnell, visual effects supervisor Dennis Muren, visual effects artists Harley Jessup and Bill George; behind the scenes features; storyboards; continuity polaroids; a production stills gallery; posters and promo stills gallery and a theatrical trailer. It all comes inside a reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Doug John Miller. It includes a double-sided fold-out poster featuring two original artwork options, a collector’s perfect-bound booklet featuring new writing by film critics Charlie Brigden, Michael Doyle, Josh Nelson, Jessica Scott and Andrea Subissati, plus a short guide to Joe Dante’s stock company by Scott Saslow and the original exhibitors’ pamphlet. You can get this on 4K UHD or Blu-ray from MVD.