Mystery Science Theater 3000: Volume XXVII

THE SLIME PEOPLE, Episode 108. A pilot (Robert Hutton) hooks up with a professor, his two nubile daughters, a Marine and, along the way, a cynical writer (Les Tremayne) to alternately hunt and evade mysterious slimy creatures from below who terrorize Santa Monica under an inescapable veil of solidified fog. This black-and-white 1963 movie is every bit the loser it sounds -- applied fog is used to cover nearly every sin, from the fact that the monsters are not in the least convincing, to the fact the production ran out of funds nine days into shooting. Once the fog clears enough for us to see that the monsters look like eczemic rubber suits, the joke has already run its course. The riffs are fun, but the host segments reveal this to be a part of the first (or “formation”) national-broadcast year, though I did like the Mads’ invention of scary cotton candy that screams when Dr. Erhardt (Josh E. Weinstein) bites into it. The feature was preceded by a “Commander Cody” short when Our Hero was still on earth. The disc includes an interview with Judee Morton, who played the professor’s younger daughter.ROCKET ATTACK USA, Episode 205. “I never thought the end of the world would be so boring" says Tom Servo, and he has a point. This bottom of the bottom-of-the barrel 1958 movie succeeds neither as entertainment nor as propaganda, and comes across as preachy and tiresome. Even the acting is sub-par, except for career actor Art Metrano in a brief role as a truck driver. Except for some mockery of the Commies (per Joel, their head of government phones up the local tobacconist to see if they have Prince Albert in a can), this overly serious bit of exploitation almost entirely free of comic relief often lacks for parody material; on the other hand, Joel and the bots do well drawing on the discrepancy between then and the Nineties. (Crow’s advice on how Manhattanites should have prepared for a sneak Soviet attack: “Move to the suburbs.”) Some fun exists in a parody game show about atomic topics, and the beginning short features Bela Lugosi, whose accent alone is riffable.VILLAGE OF THE GIANTS, Episode 523. This colorful and well-funded 1964 movie is a study in how to aim for multiple audiences and not quite reach any of them. Producer Bert I. Gordon (whose initials form the highly appropriate acronym B.I.G.) tried to hitch his 1950s movie themes of big creatures terrifying helpless humans (such as THE AMAZING COLOSSAL MAN, EARTH VS. THE SPIDER, and WAR OF THE COLOSSAL BEAST, all sent up at MST3K) to the hedonistic go-go spirit of the middle Sixties. All this is set in a Disneyesque small town (actually the Columbia back lot) when a ten-year-old genius (nicknamed “Genius” and played by a young Ron Howard) cooks up an experimental “goo” that expands local animals to super size. The plot really kicks in when a gang of malevolent teenagers from another town (headed by a teenage Beau Bridges) steals the goo, expands appropriately, holes up in the local movie house -- and then Beau takes the sheriff's little daughter hostage in the name of Youthquake. Listen hard, and you can practically hear the a crack widening into a full-fledged Generation Gap as horror, teen, and Disneyesque kid themes all struggle for supremacy. Happily, S-O-L riffing is perfectly tuned to the many challenges posed by this slumgullion, though there were a few too many “Opie” references for my taste. An interview with Beau’s sexy “girlfriend” Joy Harmon, filmed at the time this compilation was made, adds interest. I can honestly say I liked my second viewing more than my first.THE DEADLY MANTIS, Episode 804. This 1957 Universal creature-feature stars Craig Stevens, William (“Paul Drake”) Hopper and Alice (“Alix”) Taunton and is typical of what the studio tossed out with such apparent ease that year. In the far north of Canada, above the DEW (“Distant Early Warning” Line, a real thing), a gigantic praying mantis is set free who goes looking for humans in lieu of other insects for sustenance. If you don’t know that the U.S. military is heavily involved in things, that a scientist will explain just why an enormous mantis is so fearsome, and that the creature will eventually attack the population centers of the Continental U.S.A., you haven’t seen many of these. By this time Mike and the bots could take on a film like this with several eyes closed, but they come through as usual. In an interview included with this disc, Mary Jo Pehl astutely points out that one of the chief flaws of this kind of movie -- perhaps more apparent in this film than similar ones out of Universal -- comes in not getting the monster’s scale consistent. Is the mantis somewhat more than human-size, or half as big as the Pentagon? At present, THE DEADLY MANTIS is the only episode of the four not available for streaming from Amazon.Although only one of these movies lands on my close-to-favorite list, the new lower price and the fun of watching the host segments and riffing grow in sophistication and confidence make this Volume 27 well worth having, in my opinion..

This is another great box set from our friends at Mystery Science Theater 3000! It's interesting seeing shows spanning seasons one through eight in a single set, and it really serves to show how the show evolved and became more refined without ever losing its midwestern sensibilities.Starting with season one's "The Slime People" (with an insufferable "Commando Cody" short), the crew tackles horrifying monsters of all shapes and sizes. The slime people themselves are pretty hilarious to look at, but that's just a warmup for the monsters that come in later discs. "Rocket Attack U.S.A." is a typical cold war film about the Soviet menace. It's heavy-handed and is the weakest film of the four for two reasons: first, the cold war actually was a scary time, and while I only recall a bit from the end of it early in my childhood (remember to duck and cover!), it's not a subject many who lived through it find inherently entertaining. Beyond the propagandistic issues involved, the other problem is the pacing, which it absolutely glacial. I certainly wouldn't watch this one again.The real gems of the set are "Village of the Giants" and "The Deadly Mantis". "Village of the Giants" is my favorite of the set, as not only does it star Ron Howard as a precocious but brilliant child scientist dealing with powerful potions and giant creatures, but has every 1960s trope known to man in a single hilarious place. That it's made by Bert I. Gordon should tell you all you need to know about its schlock-quotient! "The Deadly Mantis" is another giant creature movie, featuring a hilariously gigantic praying mantis and the US military's response to same. It definitely takes itself seriously, but Mike and the bots make it engaging and funny. I highly recommend this set.

The good people at Shout Factory have released another outstanding volume of Mystery Science Theater 3000 movies. The low-budget flick "The Slime People" (1963) boasts some scary looking monsters. Unfortunately, because the slimy creatures have enveloped L.A. in an impenetrable fog, it's hard to see a lot of the action in the film. Being a Season 1 episode, Joel Hodgson looks like he's in a fog! (Yes, that's a compliment.) "Rocket Attack U.S.A." (1961) is more of a paranoid fever dream than an actual movie. Characters come and go with no rhyme or reason. At least comic actor Art Metrano bought a necktie before the cataclysmic ending of this flick.My favorite film in this volume is "Village Of The Giants" (1965), directed by Mr. BIG himself, Bert I. Gordon. When asked what he wants for breakfast, big man about town Fred (Beau Bridges) good-naturedly replies "Sheriff, on toast." What a kidder! If you think Beau is a good actor, just wait until you see him dance. My only complaint is that, because of time constraints, they cut out Freddy 'Boom Boom' Cannon's performance of the song "Little Bitty Corrine." The final film is "The Deadly Mantis" (1957), another giant insect film from the fabulous fifties. Those type of movies really bug me, especially with lines like the following. "In all the kingdom of the living, there is no more deadly or voracious creature than the Preying Mantis." I wonder if Ed Wood was an uncredited script writer on that movie. I hope Shout Factory has enough movies left to keep releasing more Mystery Science Theater 3000 volumes as good as this one.P.S. - On November 3, 2013, I saw Cinematic Titanic's presentation of "The Doll Squad" at the Wilbur Theater in Boston. The show exceeded my wildest expectations, and was hilarious from start to finish. At the meet and greet after the show, I asked Joel Hodgson how many more MST3K movies were left to release at this point in time. "Sixty movies" was his answer. I asked above the crowd noise, "You did say sixty 6-0, not sixteen, 1-6." Joel replied, "Yes, there are still sixty MST3K movies that haven't been released yet." The line of people had to keep moving, so I couldn't get any more details about getting the movie rights to release all of the films, how frequently they would be released, etc. But, I must say, that was very encouraging news to me!