MST3K Turkey Day Marathon Strikes Back!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Just a heads up for anyone who didn't already know; because last year's MST3K Turkey Day Marathon was a big success (apart from that one random commenter who kept writing racist rants in the comments section) Shout! is doing it again! 6 episodes, with brand new intros from Joel Hodgson starting today at 12 noon ET / 9 am PT.

They've been testing the stream out all night with an endless loop of Manos, so click play below, or go directly to the YouTube page to enjoy the marathon before and after an awkward and gluttonous 2 o'clock in the afternoon dinner with family members you see a couple of times a year. Enjoy!

Shout! Factory Is Currently Streaming MST3K: Mitchell With Annotations

Heads up for all of the MSTies out there, Shout! Factory is currently streaming the full Mitchell episode of Mystery Science Theater on YouTube. I know what you're thinking, "so what, so is this guy." What makes the Shout! version awesome is that they've gone through and added annotations for every single joke and reference, sort of like the trivia tracks on the Seinfeld DVDs. This is a great idea - in fact I (like a lot of fans, probably) immediately thought of this way back when the first DVDs started coming out, glad to see it finally happen. I'm sure most of us get a lot of the jokes, but sometimes the references are incredibly obscure, so this will make everyone enjoy more of the jokes that might've gone over their heads. Check it out below:



Unfortunately I couldn't get the annotations to work for me when using the YouTube app on my TV, so I haven't watched the whole thing yet. I think there's probably some way turn them on, but I haven't really used that app before so who knows, I didn't really investigate the problem too much. It works perfectly on my computer though.

MST3K Turkey Day - Watch The New Joel Host Segments Now

Shout! Factory's MST3K Turkey Day live streaming event was a big success with over 20,000 fans catching the event, with close to 35,000 comments on the YouTube page alone. We got a good mix of classic episodes, 3 with Joel; I Accuse My Parents, Cave Dwellers, and Mitchell and 3 with Mike; Space Mutiny, Wahrwilf, and Final Sacrifice. And in between the episodes were some great new bumpers with Joel introducing the episodes. So much fun watching all of these in a row while reading the comments, which were coming so fast you couldn't read all of them. There was even a wonderful little surprise at the very end of the new segments that unexpectedly nearly made me cry a bit (it takes place at around 16:40 in the video). Here's hoping they keep this tradition going next year.

I managed to catch most of the streaming live, but for those of you who weren't able to catch the event yesterday, thanks to one viewer who recorded it you can catch the newly recorded Joel host segments below. Not sure if this will end up getting taken down, but just in case, I'd download the YouTube video now if you don't watch it right away.

MST3K Turkey Day Begins Online @ 9am PT/ 12 pm ET

Just a heads up for any Mystery Science Theater fans who weren't already aware, Joel Hodgson and Shout! Factory have joined forces to resurrect the hugely popular Turkey Day Marathon as a 9+ hour online streaming event. This will be the first Turkey Day since 1995 and will consist of six classic episodes hosted by Joel. The marathon begins at 9am PT/ 12pm ET, so be sure to head over to http://www.mst3kturkeyday.com/ to check it out.

Do you miss the Turkey Day Marathons of yesteryear, when, loaded with tryptophan, you'd curl up on the sofa with friends and family for a postprandial MST session? Well, you can relive the magic once again with a special Web-only Turkey Day Marathon featuring six classic episodes curated and hosted by Joel.  

This streaming event will kick off on Thursday at 9 am PT / 12 noon ET on Thursday, November 28th here at www.MST3KTurkeyDay.com. Fans who have suggestions for episodes they'd like to see included are encouraged to tweet Joel (@JoelGHodgson) with their votes.  On Turkey Day, MST-ies can join in on Twitter with the tag #mst3k. For updates on MST3K Turkey Day, follow @ShoutFactory and @JoelGHodgson .

Hitting Shelves 9.3

There's a lot of great stuff coming out today, too much for me to list them all in fact.  Here are some that I think are well worth a look:

From Scream comes the stateside Blu-ray and DVD release of Cockneys vs. Zombies. Cockneys is kind of like a less funny (though still funny) Shaun of the Dead mixed with the inept thuggery so frequently found in the work of Guy Ritchie - in fact it utilizes a few quick editing techniques found in Ritchie films like Snatch and Lock, Stock. I'm working on a review for it now, but to sum up it's a bit derivative but still a very entertaining zombie comedy for those of you out there who aren't sick of comedic zombies.

Thanks to Shout! Factory we also finally get one of my most eagerly awaited releases of the year, Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie . In my opinion The Movie is lesser MST (thanks to the studio interference and shortened running time) but it's still a lot of fun, and we finally, finally get a release with some proper extra features. I'm particularly excited to get a chance to see the deleted scenes after all these years.



Also out there today are a couple more Bava titles from Kino; Five Dolls For an August Moon & A Bay of Blood Both are fairly light on features, but each title does include a Tim Lucas commentary.

FIVE DOLLS FOR AN AUGUST MOON is Mario Bava's deliriously mod spin on an Agatha Christie style whodunit.

Bava was so closely associated with the horror genre that this twisting mystery was never released theatrically in the U.S., but it is deliciously entertaining all the same. A space age island retreat is visited by a group of friends and business associates, one of whom is a scientist who has invented a revolutionary chemical process, and is fending off various offers to buy it. Soon the vacationers start dying, and the survivors begin to wonder who has the most to gain from these murders most foul.

One of the most influential horror films of all time, Mario Bava's A BAY OF BLOOD (1971, aka Twitch of the Death Nerve) is the spurting artery from which all future slasher films would flow.

When crippled Countess Federica is murdered at her isolated mansion, a gruesome battle ensues to secure the rights to her valuable property around the bay. Everyone, from illegitimate children to shady real estate agents, stakes a claim, only to be killed in increasingly bizarre ways, from simple shootings to impalement by fishing spear. The makeup effects are by Carlo Rambaldi, who would later earn Oscars for his work in Alien (1979) and E.T. (1982).

Rodman Flender's stupidly hysterical satanic stoner possession comedy Idle Hands finally makes its Blu-ray debut from Image. I actually just saw this again for the first time in several years, and it's not as funny as it was to me when I was 18, but there are still plenty of great jokes and references to a ton of classic horror films, and even a quick nod to The French Connection. It's also worth a look for an early appearance by Jessica Alba who in my opinion never looked hotter than she does here. The Blu-ray looks and sounds great, but we get totally dicked in the extra features department. The old DVD has some pretty great bonus material, so if you have the DVD you'll want to hang on to it.

And finally, Twitter's favorite shark film Sharknado hits Blu-ray and DVD today. This one really blew up on the internet and I'm not sure why because SyFy has been making these kinds of dumbass CGI-tacular pieces of crap for a decade. Look it up, there's a hundred of these things. I caught this one on one of its many repeat showings, and it's not nearly terrible enough to have caused such an uproar online. It's a bad movie, sure, but while it's bad enough to be enjoyable, it's not bad enough to be hilarious, certainly not enough to have garnered as much attention as it did. Still, it's entertaining enough to be worth a look, though I don't see myself picking it up unless I can get it for $2 from a Hastings sale or something, especially since it'll probably air on SyFy many, many times. For the best in terribly awful CGI shark cinema, might I recommend Shark Attack 3: Megalodon.

Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie - September 3rd

It's been officially announced. This is going to be the most expensive movie buying Fall in years.

EVERY YEAR HOLLYWOOD RELEASES HUNDREDS OF COLLECTOR’S EDITION BLU-RAYS. THIS IS ONE OF THEM.

"After six seasons of sublime, nerdy fun on television, the cult comedy series Mystery Science Theater 3000 took to the big screen in 1996 for its deliriously funny takedown of the 1955 alien invasion epic This Island Earth.

Evil scientist Dr. Clayton Forrester explains the premise at the start: in his quest for world domination, he devises a scheme to subject the human race to the worst movies ever made.  He tests his plan on Mike Nelson, the sole human aboard an Earth-orbiting space station known as the Satellite of Love.  But our hero and his two robot sidekicks turn a lemon into a much funnier lemon by showering This Island Earth with wisecracks, ridicule and general silliness.  The human race may never be rid of cheesy movies, but when the critics are this nutty, who cares?"

Extras listed over at Satellite News:

* There may be more extras, but these are the extras that are definite:
– The Making of Mystery Science Theater 3000 The Movie (the EPK that fans have probably seen around)
– Two new docs from Ballyhoo: “Mystery Science Theater 3000 The Movie: The Motion Picture Odyssey” (including new interviews with cast and crew and never-before-seen behind the scenes footage) and “This Island Earth: 2 1/2 Years In the Making.”
– Original trailer.

Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie on Blu-ray This September???

I don't mean to get anyone excited as I've not heard anything official about this yet, but I stumbled upon this listing over at the HorrorDVDs forum. Is MST3K: The Movie coming to Blu-ray September 3rd from Shout! Factory? Here's hoping this is true. I'm also very hopeful for a commentary, though a commentary played over people talking over a movie with people talking might be too complicated a thing for the human mind to handle.

Here's an extra I think I would've been really cool for MST DVDs, do a trivia track for the episodes. I'm sure you've come across one of these before, it works just like a subtitle track, but instead it shows you a lot of trivia about the thing you're watching. I'm not sure about the rest of you, but I think this would be great for MST episodes, something new to check out when you're watching an episode for the 5th time.

Mystery Science Theater 3000 Volume XXVI Review

Shout! Factory has just released yet another volume of Mystery Science Theater episodes. I love how consistent they are in keeping up with these releases. It’s great knowing that every 3 months or so I can look forward to getting another Mystery Science Theater set in the mail. And every time a new set is released, the news for the next set shows up online just before, or shortly after. See.

Volume XXVI features another 4 unreleased episodes, one Joel and a trio of Mikes. The movies:

• The Magic Sword, is a non-huge creature film by Bert I. Gordon from 1962 starring the great Basil Rathbone - the greatest of all herb-named actors.
• Alien From L.A. a 1988 Albert Pyun film featuring the eardrum-murdering vocal chords of Kathy Ireland.
• Danger!! Death Ray a 1967 Italian spy film from Gianfranco Baldanello. With not one, but two exclamation points you can be sure this movie means business.
• The Mole People a 1956 Universal film directed by Virgil W. Vogel with John Agar and Hugh Beaumont. And Mole People.

Mystery Science Theater 3000 - Episode 508 Operation Double 007

This is Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode 508, featuring the Lip-Reading/Hypnotist/Doctor/Spy film Operation Double 007. This "not at all a James Bond ripoff" film stars Sean Connery's brother Neil Connery as...wait for it... Dr. Neil Connery. I didn't think it was legal to play a character named after yourself if you're not playing the character as yourself. Well, outside of a TV show, at least. For example, Drew Carey was called Drew Carey on his show even though the character was not the Drew Carey. But I don't think I've seen this in a movie before.

Still with me? Not only did they get Bond's brother, they even managed to get Miss Moneypenny herself Lois Maxwell on board - as Ms. Maxwell. What the hell? Twice? Really?

The bad news, the movie is, as you'd imagine, pretty awful. The good news, more hot broads than you can count. Sometimes dressed as cats, even, if that does something for you. The producers (and four writers) knew this film was a turd and filled the screen with as many attractive women as they could.

I've made it clear many times that I'm a Mike preferer, but I laughed my ass off at this Joel episode. A lot. This movie, while being a turd, is rather entertaining, and the MST guys seem to have really had a lot of fun with this one. I highly recommend any fan of the show grab this at once.

As an added bonus for this episode, regular visitors of the site will be excited to see both Ennio Morricone and Bruno Nicolai's names in the opening credits of the film.

Sorry guys, Shout! Factory put this one out, links removed.

MST3K Squirm Review

I haven't put any Mystery Science Theater up in quite some time, so here is the 12th episode of the final season. This is their take on Jeff Lieberman's Squirm. A tale of a dorky scrawny city boy and his daft scrawny bumpkin girlfriend in a fight against mutant earthworms - occasionally portrayed by spaghetti noodles. There's also a burly mildly retarded Steve Young/Alvin The Chipmunk looking man, who may or may not be a rapist, depending on what part of the movie you're at. Is he dumb and socially awkward, or is he a sex offender with a record? The movie didn't seem to know, why should we?

In addition, we also get a hilarious short called A Case of Spring Fever in which an obnoxious demonic sprite named Coily shows an obnoxious old moron I think was named Joe - because in the 50's everyone was named Joe - just how important springs are to the world. Turns out, without them the world would cease to function.

This was the second to last episode of the show and the riffing is as strong as ever. I could be biased, Mike episodes with crappy 70's-80's horror/monster movies were always my favorite. I think if you liked Boggy Creek II, or A Touch of Satan you should certainly get a kick out of this one. Come for the over the top southern accents, stay for the legendary "worm in my egg cream" scene.

Interesting thing about this movie, it being shown on MST really pissed off director Jeff Lieberman. Jeff was apparently displeased with his film being shown on MST because "you can't goof on what's already a goof". I've seen Squirm, and if it was supposed to be intentionally comical - a "goof" if you will - some wires must've gotten crossed somewhere because it's not. Maybe in theory it's funny. Take the "creatures run amok" formula, except instead of a killer shark or a big ass grizzly, what if it were something harmless, like regular sized worms. That can roar for some reason. However the actual movie just seems like a regular fairly dull creature picture that just happens to be funny because it's kinda stupid.

I'm not trying to sound like a dick or anything here. I respect him as a filmmaker - Blue Sunshine, Just Before Dawn and Remote Control are all very entertaining - I'm just saying I didn't think Squirm was a goof. Either way, the movie does have a pretty metal poster.

Mystery Science Theater 3000 - Episode 306 - Time of the Apes

This is episode 306 of Mystery Science Theater, a sort of Japanese Planet of the Apes called Time of the Apes. Time of the Apes was one of 10 Sandy Frank distributed films that appeared on the show throughout the first 3 seasons. Sandy (for the 9 MST fans who don't know) was well known for taking Japanese movies like Gamera or Fugitive Alien, dubbing them into English and unleashing them on American audiences. This is one of those films. Well, technically Time of the Apes wasn't even really a film before Frank got his hands on it. It was actually edited together using several episodes of the 1974 Planet of the Apes inspired Japanese show Esuefu dorama saru no gundan(Army of the Apes). Kind of like Episode K10, Cosmic Princess, which was comprised of two episodes of Space 1999. Only with more Japanese people poorly dubbed into English and given American names.

I haven't made a cover for this one because I can't find one bit of decent looking artwork, or any good screenshots. I've actually started one using a Japanese Planet of the Apes poster, but I don't know if I'll finish it. I'll continue to try and find an image to work with, but until then you can check out Joshway's site and grab a very classy and stylish cover, like the one below.

Mystery Science Theater 3000 - Clowns in the Sky Volume 1

This is Clowns in the Sky, a compilation of music from the late, great Mystery Science Theater. 29 Choice cuts of harmonious hilarity from the first 7 seasons of the show.

Volume 2 features music from the 8th and 9th seasons, but it's still available to purchase so I won't be posting that one. But Volume 1 here is listed as "out of print - we're not sure if or when it will be back", so here it is.

Tracklist (with episode titles)

1. Theme Song Version 1A (Seasons 1-5.5 with Joel)
2. My Creepy Girl (Catalina Caper)
3. Godzilla Genealogy Bop (Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster)
4. If Chauffeurs Ruled the World (Ring of Terror)
5. Music from Some Guys in Space (Pod People)
6. Tibby, Oh Tibby (Gamera)
7. The Plate Spinning Song (Gamera vs. Gaos)
8. A Clown in the Sky (Pod People)
9. The Waffle Song (Viking Women and the Sea Serpent)
10. A Patrick Swayze Christmas (Santa Claus Conquers the Martians)
11. Master Ninja Theme Song (Master Ninja I)
12. Tribute to Pants (Hercules Against the Moon Men)
13. Gypsy Rose Me! (The Day the Earth Froze)
14. Kim Cattrall (City Limits)
15. Ode On Estelle (The Magic Sword)
16. Gypsy Moons (Crash of Moons)
17. Hired! Original Broadway Cast (Bride of the Monster)
18. What A Pleasant Journey (The Girl in Lovers Lane)
19. Theme Song Version 2 (Seasons 5.5-6 with Mike)
20. The Janitor Song (Teen-Age Strangler)
21. NummyMuffinCoocolButter (Colossus and the Headhunters)
22. Merry Christmas...If That's OK (Santa Claus)
23. The Greatest Frank Of All (Village of the Giants)
24. Livin' In Deep Thirteen (The Violent Years)
25. Bouncy Upbeat Song (Red Zone Cuba)
26. Whom Shall I Kill? (Samson vs. the Vampire Women)
27. Tubular Boobular Joy (Outlaw)
28. Theme Song Version 3 (Season 7 with Mrs. Forrester)
29. Mighty Science Theater

Pants!

Cinematic Titanic Conquers Santa Claus Conquers The Martians in Electronic Christmas Card Form

Be sure to send one to all the CineTit fans nearest and dearest to you.

Mystery Science Theater 3000 - 20th Anniversary out now

As any MSTie* out there should already know, Shout Factory now has the rights to future MST3K DVD releases. They just put out their first release, a 4-disc set containing the episodes First Spaceship on Venus, Laserblast, Future War and one of my favorites, Wahrwilf. The set comes in a large, very shiny tin (shiny good) with a cool little Crow T. Robot statue.

The tin, in all it's glory. It's pretty huge, actually. Looking at it from the front, it's not much bigger than a normal DVD case. But, this thing is pretty deep. It's not as far back as, say, the Blind Dead Collection coffin box, but it's close. It's about 6 1/2 regular Amaray cases thick. Think Planet of the Apes Legacy Collection thick.

And here's a shot of everything else. DVDs, Lobby Cards and Crow.

Those of you interested in owning this set (like myself) might need to hurry. Shout released this statement a few days ago on their site:
News Flash...News Flash...News Flash

Due to an unexpected level of demand, all copies of the deluxe version of the Mystery Science Theater 3000 20th Anniversary Edition 4-DVD box set have shipped to retail outlets in advance of the October 28, 2008 release date.

As a result, Shout! Factory is rush-releasing the standard version of the box set, which contains all four film episodes and DVD bonus features, but not the collectible tin box, the Crow T. Robot figurine, or lobby cards that are part of the deluxe version. The standard 4-DVD box set version of Mystery Science Theater 3000 20th Anniversary Edition will arrive in stores on November 18.

Shout! Factory

It sounds like a huge deal, but it's not. Places like Amazon or even some stores like Best Buy should still have them available. And if you miss it, fear not, the set will be released without the tin on November 18th. But if you want the tin or the Crow statue, you might want to visit your nearest DVD purchasing establishment soon.

*Speaking of MSTies, you're not a true MSTie unless you're wearing my newest creation - The MSTie: Coming Soon From Phelpsco:

Mystery Science Theater 3000 - Scrapbook

Here is the MST3K Video Scrapbook - a 96 minute long behind the scenes/clip show which was originally released on VHS by Best Brains in 1995. I don't believe it's ever been aired on TV and hasn't been put on any of the official DVDs yet. Plus that VHS is out of print so I think the only way to actually see this thing is to find it on the interweb somewhere.

The file is split over 5 parts totaling about 405 MB. Despite the smaller file size, this actually runs about the length on an episode of the show. The quality is just a little lower than the usual episodes I've posted. It's still very watchable and given the amount of rare footage contained within I'd say it's a must see video for any fans of the show.

Things to look for:

• The filming of the multi-doored corridor to the theater shot - a shot which they nailed on the second try.
• Thanksgiving with the Molemen
• Footage from the long lost pilot episode in which Joel viewed The Green Slime. (No copy of the pilot (and the three episodes that followed) has ever turned up. I guess nobody was home to record those first few shows.)
• Footage from the MST3K Conventio-Con and ExpoFest-a-Rama from 1994
• Pre-Voice Tom Servo (or Beeper, if you will) - complete with fishbowl(?) cranium.
• Kevin and Trace partaking in the actual building of the set
• The Chiropractic Helmet
• Stand-Up With Joel
• Bald-cap Mike
• Bevel Leveling Level Bevels

The Adventure of Links

Mystery Science Theater 3000 - Episode 523 - Village of the Giants

I thought it was time for another MSTie post, so here’s Village of the Giants, starring Beau Bridges, Tommy Kirk and a very young Ron Howard. Village was directed by pioneer of really big stuff Bert I. Gordon and he really goes to town on huge effects here. We get huge ducks invading a dance, said huge ducks in roasted form, huge cats, dogs, huge plastic legs, and a 50 foot tall shimmying Beau Bridges. Oddly, no one seems to mind the huge ducks at the dance. As someone who has been bitten by a duck I’d say a big ass duck is reason for alarm.

Things to watch for: 10 minute fully clothed mud orgy, The Beau Brummels, free giant breast rides, build your own Cthulhu kit, attempted seduction of a 10-year old Opie by humongous hussy, elaborate plans to inconvenience Beau Bridges, and the buffalo shot that covered 3 states. Trust me, all of that will make sense to you soon. So, get ready to join Mike, Tom and Willow-fan Crow as they take on Village of the Giants.


The file is split over 8 parts, you’ll need all 8 parts to watch the episode. Like I’ve mentioned before, if you’re looking for more MST be sure to check the torrent sites out there. I know at least one of them has the entire series up. Of course it’s split over 35 DVDs, but it’s a good way to fill in any gaps you might have.

Jim Begg’s Love Handles!

On a related note, the newest Cinematic Titanic episode The Doomsday Machine is available for purchase or download. I haven’t checked it out yet myself, but I really liked what they did with the first movie so I’m getting this one as soon as I can. Just hope they aren’t any Britney, Lindsay Lohan, or Youtube jokes this time, I think they snuck a few of those in there last time. I don’t care what Leno says, topical humor isn’t funny.

Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie - The Press Kit

A few weeks back the long out of print Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie was finally re-released on DVD after an 8 year wait. The original DVD went out of print around 2000-2001 so fans had to pay out the ass on eBay or import the German DVD that came out a couple of years back if they wanted to own a copy.

This re-release is great for people who didn’t own a DVD player in 2000 and missed the original DVD, but for whatever reason the collective heads of knuckle over at Universal decided against including any special features. Admittedly the cover is quite snazzy (Shiny good) but there is nothing beyond the movie for you to enjoy once the end credits roll. Now, if there were no features out there then the lack of inclusion would make sense – a quality presentation of the movie is the most important feature after all. But there are deleted scenes on YouTube (YouTube - soon to be used in a lame joke near you!) and there is also a 30 minute long, rather interesting press kit which I just so happen to be posting here today. There are several clips from the movie, like most of these types of features, but there is some great behind the scenes footage included as well.

The video is a little under 400 MB and the links can be found below. I put the 4 parts up on Rapidshare, so just click the one link below to access the folder.

Warning: Gratuitous Exeter Alert!

MST3K Escape 2000 - Review

Episode 705, Escape 2000. Not to be confused with the Brian Trenchard-Smith film Turkey Shoot, which is also known as Escape 2000. This is the 1983 Italian film Fuga dal Bronx, which is Enzo G. Castellari's followup to the previous year's 1990:The Bronx Warriors.

Escape 2000 follows the misadventures of Trash (Mark Gregory reprising his Bronx Warriors 1 role), as he attempts to stop Henry Silva and his army of men wearing ineffective fireproof suits from disinfestating the Bronx in order to build a better, kind of futuristic looking Bronx. "Disinfestate" apparently just means "to set people on fire", so clearly native Bronxians like Trash want no part of it. Joining Trash on this epic anti-Silva crusade is the partially insane badass Flank (or Stroke, or something) and his androgynous, prepubescent offspring Junior. (There's also some weird Jerry Lewis/Nosferatu lady with them for a while as well, I didn't catch her name though. She mostly just yells.)

As a big fan of bad post-apocalyptic films of the 1980s, this is one of my favorite episodes. Partly because these types of movies are a blast on their own, but the hilarious onslaught of riffage just adds to it. The guys are just scatting and bebopping allover this one. It does start off a tiny bit slow, but by the end the jokes are just relentless. Escape 2000 also features one of the all-time great characters ever in a movie on the show in Toblerone. Played by Antonio Sabato of all people, Toblerone is so incredibly over the top that Mike, Tom and Crow cheer whenever he makes an appearance. I haven't them this happy about a character since Kline in The Sinister Urge. I recommend this one to any fans of Italian schlock and the music of Francesco De Masi.

Now seriously guys, leave the Bronx.

Mystery Science Theater 3000 - Episode 904 - Werewolf

Shout Factory released this on DVD, so the links are gone. Think of this as a review of the episode.

Episode 904 - Werewolf. Also know as Wuhrwilf, this 1995 film is absolutely fascinating...ly awful. The most recently made movie they featured on the show, it's also easily one of the worst movies they ever showed. There are more continuity errors than you can even count. The moon is always full in the town of Flagstaff, at least according to the 72 random shots of the moon throughout the movie. The werewolf makeup is completely random, you never know what the hell these people will look like once they change. The psychopathic Yuri's hair changes in every scene. He must go to his hairstylist a lot, you know, when he's not beating people with various parts of lycanthrope skeletons or groping stupid women. Speaking of stupid women, Natalie, the film's heroine/gropee (and by heroine I mean female) has some of the funniest lines Mike and his robot friends have ever sat through due to her thick accent and poor delivery. Poor girl.

In my opinion this is one of the funniest episodes of the entire show. I laughed until I was choking and had to stop the movie on several different occasions. If you nearly die from the hilarity of something, it must be good, right?

Here's a cover for this one. I actually didn't do this one myself since I could never find any artwork from Werewolf. You can find the full size cover on this site, under the DVD Covers link on the left. Or if you prefer an artsier slimcase approach, check out Joshway's fantastic cover series.

In other news, I'm thinking about starting up another site. It won't interfere with what I'm doing here, this will just be a collection of hilariously bad old advertisements (with optional commentary) and movie posters. I know there are several sites out there showcasing old ads and movie posters, but I've always found them to be quite fascinating so I think it'll be fun. I've got a few name ideas I'm kicking around (stuck between Midget Encyclopedia, Everybody Wears Shoes! and The 97-lb. Weakling, all inspired by various ads), but I'll probably try and start it up in the next couple of days, see how it goes. I'll let everyone know when it's up.

Cinematic Titanic Begins...

Well Joel and the original MST3K gang's (plus Mary Jo Pehl) new movie riffing venture Cinematic Titanic has released it's first official DVD, The Oozing Skull. It's actually the 1972 Al Adamson film Brain of Blood, but they were asked to use a different title to avoid confustion, so The Oozing Skull is what they came up with. I'm a big fan of terrible movies, so I'm very excited about seeing them take on some Al Adamson.

The good news is, the trailer looks very funny (despite the odd placement of the silhouettes), but the bad news is that it's a bit more than I thought it would be. It's $16, which isn't too expensive, it's about on track with what the Film Crew DVDs retail for, but The Oozing Skull is going to be a burned DVD shipped in a paper Netflix-ey sleeve. So there will not be a case or a cover or anything other than a label on a disc. I'm working on making a cover for when I order my copy, (the early stage of that cover can be seen here, ignore the credits from Zombie on the back)but there's also a 2-week wait before it will ship right now. I'll definitely be ordering this one, I just hope they can eventually start offering either cases with artwork or lower the price a bit. $16 just seems a bit too steep for just a disc in a sleeve. At least for a poor individual like myself.

If you're interested, swing on over and order yourself a copy. And on a MST-related note, the latest episode, Werewolf, will be up sometime Monday afternoon, so check back to grab that.