205-Rocket Attack U.S.A.

Film Year:  1958
Genre:  Spy, Thriller
Director:  Barry Mahon
Starring:  John McKay, Monica Davis
MST Season:  2
Featured Short:  "The Phantom Creeps:  Chapter Two"

The Short

Our heroes manage to escape the sabotaged plane from last week’s installment, though Dr. Zorka’s wife is killed in the crash.  Blaming everyone but himself, Zorka returns to his lab to resupply himself with his invisible belt and other sciencey stuff.  The good guys show up, leading to a road chase with an invisible man.

There’s already so much more happening in two chapters of The Phantom Creeps than we saw in all eight segments of Commando Cody.  I actually wish more serials were like this, because this one is moderately entertaining.  There’s still not much to talk about, outside of low budget effects (this invisible man has nothing on the one Universal put in it’s main features).  Bela Lugosi continues to be a commanding presence that very few serials have.

The Movie

This cold war propaganda thriller will leave you saying “...help me…”  An American spy is sent deep into the Soviet Union to gain intel and/or stop them from launching nuclear missiles at the US.  In a Hitchcockian twist, he is gunned down two-thirds into the movie and we watch American residents react to their impending doom for the rest of the movie.

So if you ever want to see helpless infants get nuked, this is your movie!

Rocket Attack USA has a moderately effective idea at its core, as it reminds people that the threat of nuclear retaliation is very real.  And for a while it’s even a mildly amusing little spy movie too.  I gotta be fair this movie isn’t void of promise.  At the very least I liked the way it presented its subject matter more than the comparable Invasion USA.

But Rocket Attack USA is let down by its budget.  The movie lumbers like the heavy-handed propaganda piece that it is with little static dialogue playlets that are dull and tiresome.  The spy movie could be fun, but it lacks much intrigue as the most heroic thing our main character does is hide in a closet.

Life is much happier for those willing to come out of the closet.  THANK YOU!  I’LL BE HERE ALL WEEK!

In the finale we’re supposed to identify with little snippets of people going about their daily lives only to be cut short by nuclear holocaust, but unfortunately we don’t care.  There’s little to no meat on this film’s bones, and the idea doesn’t really make the film interesting without the execution.

The Episode

“Darn old apocalypse!  I just ignore them!”

I’m hesitant about popping episodes based around propaganda pieces like these in for repeat viewing, because I find the movies just don’t seem to invite me back.  They’re not that fun to watch, and the riffers need to be on fire to serve such a cold fish to us.  As such, Rocket Attack USA is something of a surprise to me.  I’ve never given the episode much thought, but forcing myself to have an opinion on it right now I find that it is actually a pretty strong effort.  The movie lulls the crew a bit down with it at points, but they always seem to bounce back.  I’ve found myself throwing my head back with a huge laugh more than once during this episode, which is always a welcome sign.  That’s without taking The Phantom Creeps into the equation, but adding it in I find the episode continuing to maintain consistency (“Stunned?  He took six bullets!”).  Creeps so far is a far superior serial effort over Commando Cody.

Outside the theater, the first thing we’re greeted to is Tom Servo’s now “haircut,” which is an experiment on giving the bot a skinnier head.  The bubble we all know and love will be back in a few episodes, so don’t get too upset (but yeah, it looks horrible).  Other than that the host segments maintain a goofy flow, providing a breaking counterbalance to the dour movie.  Mike Nelson’s cameo as Joel’s Russian counterpart is hilarious (and prophetic, as Mike would eventually take the reins of this series), while I also quite like the Nuclear themed game show and the Charlie McCarthy Hearings.  The Invention Exchange delights with a Water Polo Foosball Table and the Candy Ribbon Adding Machine.

Other than Servo’s new head, Rocket Attack USA is best known today as being the first episode with a “stinger,” that little clip they show at the end of the credits that’s usually just an odd moment from the movie.  I’m left leaving this episode thinking it probably should be known for more than that, because it is pretty funny at the best of times.  This one is a sleeper surprise for me, and it is now on my radar.

Good

The DVD

Rocket Attack USA was launched at us in Shout Factory’s Volume XXVII set.  Audio and video were swell while the only special feature was Life After MST3K:  Trace Beaulieu.  This brief featurette features Trace recounting what he’s been up to all these years, including a writing stint on America’s Funniest Home Videos, guest spots on The West Wing and Freaks and Geeks, and the video game
Darkstar.

The Phantom Creeps was featured as a part of Shout Factory's bonus Serial Variety Pack, released exclusively through Shout Factory's website on Volume XXVII.

1107-The Land That Time Forgot

Film Year:  1975
Genre:  Adventure
Director:  Kevin Connor
Starring:  Doug McClure, John McEnery, Susan Penhaligon, Keith Barron
MST Season:  11

The Movie

*I HAVE SURVIVED WATCHING THIS MOVIE UNRIFFED*

Doug McClure survives being torpedoed by a German World War I sub, and he and fellow survivors succeed in taking the sub over.  They surface near an island inhabited by dinosaurs and primitive Neanderthals, struggle to survive, and must learn to work with their enemy.

Based on a novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Land That Time Forgot offers some delightful fakey dinosaur thrills for those of us who like our giant thunderlizards to be puppets and nothing but rubber.  Land That Time Forgot compensates its somewhat lackluster special effects by having a mildly interesting character dilemma at its core, even though it loses track of what it’s about halfway through.  This might be that rare breed of creature feature that can be more interesting when the toothy monsters aren’t on screen providing cheap thrills.  And yet, perhaps if there weren’t dinosaurs in this movie there would be nowhere to go?

For the most part I like this movie quite a bit.  While some of the dino action can be crudely hilarious some of the scenarios are interesting and there’s some good model work for the submarines.  And as hokey as some of the special effects can get, the action is fairly exciting at times.  However the biggest weakness is that the film feels dated.  After all, the original King Kong had a similar plot structure and was made forty years prior, and this movie isn’t nearly as lively.

The film actually spawned a sequel, The People That Time Forgot, also based on a Burroughs novel (perhaps it is being saved for season 12)?  There is also a third novel titled Out of Time’s Abyss, which did not receive a film adaptation.  However Asylum remade Land in 2009 (perhaps for season 13?).

The Episode

One of the great things about MSTidom is that each episode is a truly unique experience and we might at times give episodes a second chance to see if maybe it might gel this time and/or wonder if we just weren’t in the mood earlier.  This is especially something I wonder with the (admittedly bingewatched the first time around) eleventh season as there are several that I hoped might air out from the rest of the pack over time and improve.  The Land That Time Forgot is one I wasn’t impressed with upon it’s initial release.  But in retrospect it was in the middle of the season and was pretty out of breath from laughing at above par episodes like Cry Wilderness, Avalanche, and Starcrash (and the final theater segment of Beast from Hollow Mountain too).  A lower key episode probably wasn’t going to play with me at this point in time.  I’ve been eager to give this episode a second chance broken out of context of the season and am pretty glad I did.  Pretty much off the bat the riff “The world’s worst paperboy.” gave me one of the biggest belly laughs I’ve had in awhile.

And yet, maybe while my initial assessment of Land That Time Forgot being one of the weakest of its season might have been overly exaggerated in retrospect, I still find it mostly an uneven experience.  There are more laughs in it than I had remembered, though I find they’re spread pretty thinly throughout the episode.  It’s not uncommon for long patches of Jonah and the Bots’ trademark lightning-speed-sometimes-riffing-before-the-scene-happens-because-we’re-just-that-good style to breeze by with comments that just sit there, often said just to be said.  When something works it almost seems glaring and it hits because some of the material surrounding it has been weak.

The host segments are a rousing bunch, with the Dinosaur BBQ advertisement jingle being a favorite of mine.  The segment runs a little long, but the slogans and sales pitches are so clever and constantly funny that I just let it do its thing.  Also featured is Crow wondering if he’ll ever turn human and the crew playing submarine.  The Invention Exchange includes one of my favorite inventions of the season, the magazine M. Night Shyamalan Living, which makes for some great verbal gags.  The Mads’ invention of the Elder Pump is mostly just to pay off a running gag that I had noticed and thought was weird through the season, where the Mads’ inventions were based on riffs from the previous episode.  The idea of the Mads’ ripping off ideas without giving credit is kind of funny; this segment...not so much.  But I’ll give them points for trying.

The Land That Time Forgot proves to be an episode that works better on its own outside of the Netflix trademark binge-style.  Maybe one day I’ll grow to love it on it's own.  For now it’s a patchy episode, with wonderful brilliance at it’s highs and dryness at its lows.  I had initially written this episode off as being one of the worst of the season, but now I’m not so sure.  Will the other unimpressive episodes step up as well?

Average

The DVD and Blu-Ray

The Land That Time Forgot was released by Shout Factory on DVD and blu-ray in a complete Season 11 collection, and also offered to Kickstarter backers in Shout Factory’s Season 11 (#WeBroughtBackMST3K Collector’s Edition) set.  My copy is the blu-ray collection, which has fabulous audio and video.  There are no special features, though the episode shares a disc with the following episode, The Loves of Hercules.

105-The Corpse Vanishes

Film Year:  1942
Genre:  Horror, Thriller
Director:  Wallace Fox
Starring:  Bela Lugosi, Luana Walters, Trisam Coffin, Minerva Urecal, Elizabeth Russell
MST Season:  1
Featured Short:  "Radar Men from the Moon:  Chapter Three - Bridge of Death"

The Short

In one of the cooler Commando Cody cliffhanger payoffs, Cody rockets out of the cavern above the molten lava that threatened to trap him.  After that it’s business as usual as Cody is threatened by the Moon Men thugs’ ambush, leading up to an exploding bridge.

Three episodes into Commando Cody and probably the best thing that can be said for it is that I’m not sick of it yet.  Don’t worry, that’ll change.  The repetition is annoying but the pulp flavor isn’t quite worn down yet.  This chapter at least has the awesome lava sequence.

Commando Cody will be taking the next episode off, but don’t worry, he’ll be back.

The Movie

Various brides begin dying on their wedding day, and their bodies disappearing on their way to the morgue.  A female reporter investigates a mysterious orchid each girl receives just before the ceremony, leading her into the home of a mad scientist (Bela Lugosi).  He has been kidnapping the woman and stealing neck fluid to keep his wife young.

This daffy movie is almost a precursor to The Leech Woman, which also told of an aging woman who regained her youth through the magic of neck juice.  The poverty row production of The Corpse Vanishes can’t even reach the low bar of that film, which at the very least told the story with imagination.  This movie just makes it a basic mad doctor tale, with little else.

The film does try to present the story with the hook of the mystery the reporter is following, though it tends to lose its mystique with early scenes featuring Lugosi performing his experiments.  And as we find out what he’s doing the premise doesn’t quite make sense, as he kidnaps women on the most public day of their lives and leaves a clear visible pattern for follow for anyone with half a brain.  He is clearly not the brightest, nor the most threatening, villain Lugosi has ever played.

If I might make a suggestion to a Lugosi film with a similar premise, maybe check out Murders in the Rue Morgue, which also sees him kidnapping women and performing dastardly experiments on them.  It’s not a great movie either, but it’s stylish and interesting.  The Corpse Vanishes is neither.

The Episode

I don’t mean to be a contrarian.  It just kind of happens.  Most people think the first season doesn’t pick up until about halfway through while I find these earlier episodes more enjoyable than the later episodes of the season (with some exceptions).  I theorize it’s because I’m a bit more intrigued by poverty row crap like The Corpse Vanishes than colorful chores like Moon Zero Two and overexposed bad movies like Robot Monster.  But is the riffing worse in these earlier episodes?  I don’t really think that’s true.  I find myself laughing a bit more in Mad Monster or Crawling Eye than I do in others, personally.  So it might be the unpopular opinion, but these first four episodes of the national series (not counting the out of order Women of the Prehistoric Planet) tend to hit my rotation more than most others in the first season.

The Corpse Vanishes as an episode doesn’t quite live up to how much I enjoy the previous three episodes, and yet it’s one I like to pop in on a rainy day.  The movie is pure inane nonsense, so much so that it makes Servo’s head blow up at the end.  The riffing is very patchy, sometimes commenting just to comment while in other moments providing precision comedy.  The guys relish having a recognizable star in Bela Lugosi on their screens, and really play with his theatrical presence here.  The episode is mostly enjoyable when he is on screen, though it tends to slog when we focus on the reporter characters.  The final wedding scene and kidnapping of our female lead is a bit of a highlight, which ends the episode on a strong and funny note.  And while they usually struggle with Commando Cody, this week’s isn’t too bad.  There’s some solid flow with the line delivery, and the zingers land on target more often than not.

One of the worst things about this episode is their new “solution” to the film/silhouette contrast issue.  They abandon the eye-strain shifting color of the last few weeks in favor of turning our riffers green, and while it’s an improvement boy is it ugly.  The color burns itself into your retinas and never leaves.  And get ready, we’ll have to stare at this for two more episodes.

The host segments feature two remakes from the KTMA season, including one of the all-time greats of this era, the barbershop segment from Cosmic Princess.  The segment is still a goodie, parodying small-town small-talk with some wonderfully wacky scenarios being conveyed.  There’s also a repeat of the tag segment from Humanoid Woman, which is lightweight but fun.  We also have Good Thing/Bad Thing and an invention exchange involving a flaming flower and a recycled gag from the Green Slime pilot, the Chiropractic Helmet.

I’m going to give The Corpse Vanishes a more humble grade than previous episodes, though for the most part I like the episode.  I don’t laugh that often during it and it slows down pretty often during some rough patches.  I guess the same can be said for most first season episodes, though I tend to watch films like this with the greatest of ease, making me softer of the episode in general.

Average

The DVD

The Corpse Vanishes sees release on Shout Factory’s Volume XVI set, with great video and audio.  The only special feature is a trailer for the film.

K20-The Last Chase

Film Year:  1981
Genre:  Adventure
Director:  Martyn Burke
Starring:  Lee Majors, Burgess Meredeth, Chris Makepeace
MST Season:  KTMA

The Movie

In a dystopian future where automobiles have been outlawed in the aftermath of oil depletion and a plague has wiped out a percentage of the American populace, a former racecar driver (Lee Majors) dares to race across the country to the free nation of California.  The government sends a former jet pilot (Burgess Meredith) to follow and destroy the car, but he soon finds himself sympathizing with the driver.

There’s not a whole lot to say about this cheap dystopian sci-fi film.  It’s pretty simple, has some fun moments, but for the most part is pretty crappy.  To an extent The Last Chase almost feels like a TV show like The Fugitive or The Incredible Hulk where characters travel across country, occasionally bumping into a regular nemesis, and moving on to the next town.  The way it’s shot doesn’t help, as I was almost certain this was a TV movie until I looked it up and was proven wrong.

The movie doesn’t have a lot of plot to support it, as it’s mostly just driving sequences followed by some male bonding moments between Majors and his sidekick.  The climax doesn’t even pay off that well with some bloated and prolonged sequence of Meredith making a noble sacrifice, which is undercut by how funny it is in execution.  The Last Chase ultimately is a waste of time, but it’s hardly something you’ll be angry at yourself for watching.

The Episode

Joel and the Bots are quipping away at a rapid pace this week.  However in trying to keep their comments active they wind up talking over each other quite a bit.  All too often you’ll find someone in a middle of a joke only to be cut off, and it doesn’t always feel for the better as I find myself wishing the previous joke was completed.  As such there’s a certain desperation to this episode’s improv that just kind of taints it.

That said, there are plenty of belly laughs in the episode.  Sometimes there’s a goofy observation, or just the right pun at the right moment (the riff about Burgess Meredith “knowing his old birds” got a huge reaction out of me, because it works on several levels).  The movie is watchable garbage that has a slight charm to it, which helps a lot too.

There’s not much to the host segments this week, which devotes three segments to reading letters.  I’m pretty sure the movie was running long so they kept it simple, though Dr. Forrester creating cold fusion in Dr. Erhardt’s mouth was a giant slice of WTF.  Overall I’m going to be lenient on The Last Chase and give it a solid grade.  It constantly amused me.

Good

M01-This Island Earth (Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie)

Film Year:  1955
Genre:  Science Fiction
Director:  Joeseph M. Newman
Starring:  Vic Morrow, Rex Reason, Faith Domergue, Russell Johnson, and Coleman Francis in the role of a lifetime

The Movie

*I HAVE SURVIVED WATCHING THIS MOVIE UNRIFFED*

After a series of strange events, including a glowing airplane and building a some-assembly-required communications device, a group of scientists find themselves invited to take part in a secret project.  They are rounded up by aliens from the planet Metaluna, who sneak them back to their planet for no reason other than to stare at them and send them back while a planet explodes and a giant mutated insect attacks for no reason.

One of the most controversial film selections in Mystery Science Theater history, half because it’s somewhat well regarded as a science fiction classic and half because the film had one-fifth of its runtime edited out due to studio insistence.  For years I had held off on having an opinion on This Island Earth until I had a chance to watch the film in its uncut glory.  Will my various questions be answered?  Will we have an explanation as to why Ruth doesn’t remember Cal?  Does the third act still render the entirety of the film completely redundant?

The answer to all three is yes.  It’s not a terrible movie, but in all honesty it’s really not all that great.

The film is a colorful science fiction film full of ideas, and maybe if it went anywhere it would seem far more worthwhile.  We are supposed to dazzle at the amazing technology on display and be intrigued by the mystery behind the aliens’ motivations, and for a while it works.  I love the tech and the effects bringing it to life, and the alien plot is easy to get involved in.  It’s as soon as the film reveals it’s going nowhere with this that it starts to become tiresome.  The third act to this movie is a mess as our human leads are reduced to gawkers, taken to an alien planet for no reason at all other than to see it blow up before the aliens’ plan can be executed (rendering any conflict in the movie completely pointless, I might add), and given a final obstacle in the form of a monster that has nothing to do with anything that just kind of dies after doing nothing.  It makes the whole movie in retrospect less interesting.

That said, I do quite enjoy the first two acts of this movie.  It’s intriguing science fiction with pleasant eye candy.  But in the end the movie collapses because it has nowhere to go.

The "Episode"

Mystery Science Theater 3000 makes a leap to the big screen and for the most part it’s bittersweet.  Their creative freedom is gone, causing a lot of riffs to be changed and the film to be heavily edited and altered.  In many ways This Island Earth is the biggest victim here, though for the most part the film remains mildly coherent.  But this should have been their chance to riff an uncut film in it’s full length glory, and it has been stolen away.

While it’s easy to write this riff off because of how neutered and safe it feels at times, that wouldn’t entirely be giving it enough credit.  I admit being worried early on during Cal’s introduction scene, in which a minute or two seems to go by without a “real” riff other than mock laughter, and there are spaces where the film gets talky and the crew can’t get a word in.  However when Mike and the Bots get the ball rolling the laughter and amusement reaches peak points.  The movie is ripe for playing with, with things like the alien forehead designs, impressions of Cal’s heroically deep voice, and all of the crazy designs all over the place prompting creative commentary.  The riff of MST3K:  The Movie is just fun, with a colorful but sluggish movie being energized by an enthusiastic group of riffers.  It’s hard not to delight at Cal’s crappy plane flying (“Should we be seeing this?”), his wormy sidekick (“Into the Weeniemobile!  Weenie-Man away!”), and the lackluster romance (“Shrinky Dink!  Remember?”).  As the film gets into it’s horridly mizcalculated third act things seem to start settling down as it’s hard to have fun with the film at this point...until we meet the Mutant.  This creature revealed out of nowhere to create finale conflict gives the riffing a shot of adrenaline, and it pushes them through to the inane final confrontation where Ruth screams at it for several minutes and it just lays down and dies, leaving the viewer mystified to the point of it all and without breath in laughter.  The riffing on this scene is solid gold, and they stay pumped up straight until that “The End” text is seen.

“Hey, I’m experiencing a sensation altogether new to me!  And quite frankly, I LOVE IT!”

I also quite like the host segments for the most part.  Crow breaching the hull in his attempt to “tunnel” his way to Earth gets the film off on the right foot, as it’s deliciously wacky and the final solution is hilarious.  Another favorite of mine comes in Mike’s attempt at steering the Satellite of Love only to find up crashing into the Hubble satellite.  They aren’t all winners, as Servo’s Interocitor sketch is mediocre and the finale is pretty weak.  But the good ones are gold.

I was anticipating saying something similar about MST3K:  The Movie as I say about The Simpsons Movie (the film version of my other favorite show) in that in the context of the series it’s just pretty good, though compared to most comedy films I’d dare say it’s outstanding.  But upon further review I have to say, even if the production was troubled, this movie is hilarious.  It says something that I’ve watched this film as many times as I have and still laugh at to this day.  Is it inconsistent?  Sure.  A little tempered and too mainstream?  Just a tad.  But when I laugh at something I have to trust that I’m laughing for a reason.

Classic

The DVD and Blu-Ray

Mystery Science Theater 3000:  The Movie has been released on home media many times.  It’s initial release was an early DVD by Universal with a non-anamorphic widescreen transfer with no special features.  I don’t own this one, since it was out of print for the longest time and was being sold for outrageous prices.

Luckily Universal re-released it a few years down the road through their Rogue banner.  This disc featured a nice anamorphic transfer and good audio.  However, one small irritant is that they edited in the more modern Universal logo at the beginning of the movie, when it should have been the logo from the early 90’s.  Edited logos are a pet peeve of mine, and they’re pointless.  There were no special features on this disc either.

The definitive way to own this movie is the blu-ray/DVD combo pack from Shout Factory.  The video is about as crisp as you would expect it to look in high definition while the audio is as good as it ever was.  Unfortunately the logo replacement is still intact.

Special features are loaded, leading off with a vintage behind the scenes preview.  Some of the set videos are neat, but if you want the real meat and potatoes of what went on behind the scenes I recommend the extra beneath it, Mystery Science Theater 3000 The Movie:  The Motion Picture Odyssey.  This 35-minute documentary interviews Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy, Trace Beaulieu, and Jim Mallon about the origins and execution of the feature film, as well as the constant battle with the studio over the final edit.  If you ever wondered why there wasn’t a sequel, wonder no longer.

Meanwhile we’re also offered another 35-minute documentary called 2 ½ Years in the Making, chronicling the making of This Island Earth and it’s legacy.  The documentary is interesting, though it becomes bitter when Mystery Science Theater is brought up, one interviewee even claiming the guys at MST were the ones who edited the film and states the studio should have stopped them, which is about as far from the truth as one can be.

But for those who also wish there was more in this film, the deleted scenes might satisfy you.  There is quite a bit of extended theater segments as well as two deleted host segments.

Finally there is a trailer for MST:  The Movie.

Mystery Science Theater 3000: Volume XIV DVD Retrospective

Buy Here!

Featured Episodes:
The Mad Monster
Manhunt in Space
Soultaker
Final Justice

Release Date:  February 9th, 2009

Shout sets a determination to be an equal opportunity episode releaser almost from the get go.  Outside of The Crawling Hand and Women of the Prehistoric Planet, Rhino seemed too timid to tap the first season well, and probably rightfully so.  While I enjoy all eras of MST, there are more than a few who outright refuse to watch early episodes or the series.  These people are wrong and deserved to be shamed.  SHAAAAAAAAME!

Even still, those who don’t lament the fact that a first season episode is on this set might lament the fact that of all the first season episodes they chose to release, they chose Mad Monster, which from what I gather is considered one of the worst episodes of the series.  I have an opposing viewpoint on that, as every time I pop this episode in I enjoy it thoroughly.  This skews my appreciation for this box set a bit more than most, though regardless of how you feel about Mad Monster I’d say the other episodes are worth having.  Soultaker is a must own bar none, and while Mad Monster might be the least funny episode by default a part of me enjoys the episode on the same level as Final Justice personally.

Average Rating (scale of 1 to 4):  3.25

The good news is that no matter which episodes you enjoy, the video presentation is pretty great across the board.  Special features are a bit light, especially by comparison to the fully loaded 20th Anniversary Edition set that preceded it.  However we are given brief interviews with Soultaker star Joe Estevez and Final Justice director Greydon Clark, which are worth a look.  We also get clips from Mike, Kevin, and Bill’s small MST cameo on the television show Cheap Seats, though we’re not given the full episode.  Having seen the full episode, it wasn’t a huge loss.  Cheap Seats was fine, but it wasn’t anything special.  Concluding content is a trailer for Mad Monster.

Volume XIV set the standard for the MST box sets that Shout put out package wise.  The cardboard case is mostly a star backdrop with the theater seats at the bottom, and the MST logo in the top left corner.  Dead center is the Roman numeral “XIV” painted in green.  Get used to this image folks, because it’s not getting much different from here.  I don’t hate the covers, and I thought it was okay when I first saw it.  The repetition of it as a stock cover for the series grew a bit tiring.  Regardless of whether or not you liked Rhino’s sets, one can’t deny their covers were more creative.  They weren’t always show related, but they were pretty to look at.  But as always the real beauty of thewe Shout sets lies inward.

Presenting the discs are four thin plastic clam cases, each with their own distinct artwork by Steve Vance, each featuring Servo and Crow “in” the movie.  Mad Monster features the duo hiding behind a tree from the titular beast.  Manhunt in Space has them sitting in an open command center gazing up at a rocketship.  Soultaker is my favorite of the bunch, showcasing a giant hand stealing their souls.  Final Justice features Servo as Sheriff Geronimo in a Maltese dungeon searching for Crow, who is sneaking up on him with a double barrel shotgun.  And in case you want to hang these on your wall, four mini posters are included as well.

Disc art is standard for Shout.  It’s a starfield with an episode logo.  But the disc menus still amuse, featuring 3D animations of Servo and Crow wandering around various movie scenes.  Mad Monster finds them locked up in the mad scientist’s basement with a wolf in a cage, meanwhile the title beast scurries around in shadow and howls occasionally.  Manhunt in Space offers them gazing out a string held spaceship window.  Soultaker steals the show again, featuring Crow stealing the soul from a comatose Servo in a hospital, making it the most visually appealing menu on the set.  Final Justice has them hanging around an alleyway in Malta watching a squealing car drive by and occasionally ducking shots fired.

Despite light special features and an episode that seems disliked by most everyone (except myself), I think this set is a must-own.  Unfortunately it’s currently out of print, due to lapsing rights to Soultaker.  But hopefully MSTies everywhere got while they had the chance.  If not, hopefully you have a few hundred dollars to spend, because no MST collection is complete without Soultaker.

1001-Soultaker

Film Year:  1990
Genre:  Horror
Director:  Michael Rissi
Starring:  Joe Estevez, Vivian Schilling, Greg Thomson, Robert Z'Dar
MST Season:  10

The Movie

A group of teenagers find their souls flung from a car accident.  As they try to piece together what happened and how to fix it, they discover a man dressed in black chasing after them.  He is actually a grim reaper seeking to cross them over into the afterlife.

Inspired by star/screenplay writer Vivian Schilling’s near fatal car accident, Soultaker takes that personal experience and turns it into a crappy horror movie.  To an extent I can almost picture this being turned into a really bad horror franchise, but all it needed was some more talented people guiding it.  I mean think about it, this is almost the exact same storyline as the Final Destination series.  But of course, that seemed to be successful without talent so why not this?

Ultimately the script feels lumped together without a real vision or direction.  A story using Death as a character antagonist should work, but it loses bite when he’s a love sick puppy with a glow-ring.  A Soultaker’s function should also be called into question, as death seems like it should relate to them but it never does.  The finale is a race to prevent the female lead from having her body taken off of life support, but if she was and the Soultaker having never taken her soul, would she die?  It appears so, because there is drama in the idea of her flatlining, but where would her soul go?  The movie’s motivation for the Soultaker is “restoring the balance,” but what does that mean?  Does it have to do with souls trapped on Earth without a body?  Is that limbo?  If collecting these souls is so important, why are they only sending one Soultaker when clearly there are many, who seem indifferent to the idea of these kids surviving?

Soul logic never quite makes sense in the context of the film, as nobody can see or hear these teens yet they can touch, push, and pick up anything in sight.  They spend most of their time communicating verbally with the living world, when logically they could communicate visually by creating a message with what they can touch.  Also one of Soultaker’s ways of catching his prey is to choke them and/or snap their necks, leaving a corpse behind.  “He’s dead!” a character screams.  But is he?  Can you really “kill” a soul?  Especially if it can’t pass on without the Soultaker’s glowy ring.

And as stupid as the directions this movie takes its concept are, there’s something oddly charming about it.  As far as trashy late-80’s/early-90’s filmography goes, Soultaker might be the most enjoyable one featured on Mystery Science Theater.  That doesn’t make it a good movie, but it at the very least has a heart.  It just didn’t have skill backing it up.

The Episode

It’s the tenth season of our favorite series, and to help celebrate fan favorites Joel and Frank are here to party with us!  Their cameos are regulated to about two host segments each, and Joel doesn’t even get to enter the theater for a riffing reunion, but it is good to see their faces again.  If only we had Trace and Josh to make it perfect.

Soultaker will forever go down as the episode where they made their grand cameo, but is it really a great episode aside from that?  I can honestly speak as a fan who grew up during the Sci-Fi era who had no clue who either were when this aired, which I point out to say that I can view this episode’s merits objectively outside of the gimmick.  And I can definitively say yes, Soultaker is an amazing episode.

So why are Joel and Frank here?  Well, the storyline of the episode has the Satellite of Love malfunctioning after Dr. Forrester implanted an auto self destruct after ten years (neveryoumind that the ship is technically thousands of years old due to the “time and space” storyline in season 8).  Joel hitches a ride in the escape pod from Mitchell and plans to fix all that ails them.  Meanwhile, in a movie related twist, the long since deceased Frank has come back as a Soultaker and is way below his quota.

Personally, even though I enjoy these segments, Joel and Frank aren’t even in my favorite host segment of the episode, which has Mike “take command” of their malfunctioning ship and make things worse.  I love how Mike tries to take influence from various Star Trek shows, yet Servo and Crow constantly have to correct him that the SOL doesn’t work like a Starship.

“Shields up!”
“Shields?”

But what about the movie segments?  The host segments could easily overwhelm any episode, but the theater work in this episode is a mad powerhouse that holds its own.  The movie is dumb but watchable, while the riffing just enhances the films simplistic likability.  They tend to just roll with the movie, flowing into its ineptitude instead of merely pointing it out.  By the film’s padded climax they get a bit frustrated with it, and it’s hard to blame them, because it has gone far too cuckoo to make any logical sense out of.  But they seem to love the flavor of the 80s and they play it up to the max (“Zeppelin was wrong, man!”  “SHUT UP!”  “There is no stairway to heaven!”  “ZEPPELIN’S NEVER WRONG, MAN!”).  They do lose a tiny bit of leeway since technically this movie is a 90’s film, but most everything about the style of the film is trapped in the decade that preceded it so I’ll give them a pass on that.

But the fact is that Soultaker is a rousing success both in and out of the theater.  This is one worthy of popping in anytime, and definitely should be apart of any MSTie’s collection.  And if you haven’t checked it out, I recommend doing so immediately.  OR I’LL TAKE YOUR SOUL!

Classic

The DVD

Soultaker sucked our souls out through Shout Factory’s Volume XIV release, which featured great audio and video.  The only special feature was an interview with star Joe Estevez, who loves the movie they made as well as the MST version.  He shares some set stories, gushes about Robert Z’Dar, and discusses what he finds interesting about the role.  He briefly mentions being in Werewolf but doesn’t go into any specifics.