Mystery Science Theater 3000:
The Incredibly Strange Creatures
Who Stopped Living and Became
Mixed-Up Zombies
Studio:Shout! Factory
US DVD Release Date: February 15, 2011
Rated: Not Rated
Running Time: 90 minutes
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 full screen
Audio: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo (English)
Subtitles: None
In the not too distant future, somewhere in time and space.....
Movie: 3.5 out of 5
Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3K) was the brainchild of Joel Hodgson, a former prop comic and frequent guest on Saturday Night Live and Late Night With David Letterman. Basically an extension of the popular hosted movie format made famous by Vampira and Elvira, the original premise was that Joel (and later Mike Nelson), along with his robot companions Crow and Tom Servo, were sent into space, orbiting the planet and forced to watch bad movies by Dr. Clayton Forrester (Trace Beaulieu). The show first aired on local Minneapolis-St. Paul UHF station KTMA in a very crude form in 1988, but was picked up by the Comedy Channel (now Comedy Central) as one of its first series a year later. The series survived for seven seasons, then moved to Sci-Fi for three additional seasons, finally falling out of first-run orbit in 1999.
With many of the Rhino-released episodes now out of print, Shout! Factory has begun releasing these episodes individually on DVD, available exclusively through their online store.
Experiment #812, The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies, is very likely the movie with the longest title to ever appear on Mystery Science Theater 3000. It is also one of the more bizarre. Director Ray Dennis Steckler cast himself (under the pseudonym Cash Flagg) as teenage punk Jerry, who lives with his Czech (?) roommate Harold (Atlas King). The two pickup Jerry’s girlfriend Angela (Sharon Walsh) and head over to the carnival, where Angela has her fortune read by Madame Estrella (Brett O’Hara, looking like a cross between Elizabeth Taylor and Joan Collins), who earlier poured acid on a customer for refusing to come on to her. Jerry manages to upset Estrella, and with the help of her partner Ortega and her singing and dancing sister Carmelita (Erina Enyo), entice Jerry into the burlesque show next door and hypnotize him into killing the manly-looking dancer Marge (Carolyn Brandt), before eventually turning into a mixed-up zombie. Speaking of the title creatures, they do not appear until the final ten minutes or so of the film, with little to no explanation. The movie is crudely made, even by MST3K standards, and includes several dreadfully awful musical sequences with such bad choreography they make a kindergarten play look like Broadway.
The riffing by Mike, Servo, and Crow are in top form, with many at such speed that repeated viewings are a must. Tom Servo’s freaked out response to Jerry’s murderous dream sequence just about had me in tears, as did their sing-along riffs to Shook Out Of Shape (which they jokingly mistake as Schick Out of Shape). Some of my favorite riffs:
Crow (on the film’s sound quality): Recorded on Edison Cylinder!
Tom Servo (when the main title appears on screen): The title actually has appendices.
Mike (during one of the striptease sequences): You know what I’m looking at right now? That EXIT sign...
Crow (after seeing a very bizarre monkey puppet): Did I just see that, or did I imagine that?
Tom Servo (once the zombies finally appear): Hey, it’s Big Head Todd...AND the Monster!!
The host segments are in top form as well, especially the opening sequence where Mike is deciding who to sponsor during Walk-A-Thon season. Crow is running for W.A.L.K.A.T.H.O.N. (Walkers At Large Kinetically Altruistic Through Hygiene or kNowledge), while Tom Servo is running for H.E.L.P.I.N.G. C.H.I.L.D.R.E.N. T.H.R.O.U.G.H. R.E.S.E.A.R.C.H. A.N.D. D.E.V.E.L.O.P.M.E.N.T. (Hi, Everyone, Let's Pitch In 'N' Get Cracking Here In Louisiana Doing Right, Eh? Now Then, Hateful, Rich, Overbearing Ugly Guys Hurt Royally Every Time Someone Eats A Radish, Carrot, Hors d'oeuvre, And Never Does Dishes. Eventually, Victor Eats Lunch Over Peoria Mit Ein Neuesberger Tod). Other host segments include Tom and Crow trying to steal 50 cents from Mike by telling him his fortune, Mike and the ‘Bots getting bee-hive hair-do’s from Shelli the Nanite, and Crow hiring Ortega (from the movie) to cater a commercial break.
Video: 3.5 out of 5
As I’ve stated in my previous reviews of these sets, judging the video quality of an episode of MST3K is difficult. The movies are usually in fairly bad shape, with sub-par transfers that the series’ producers had to contend with. The Incredibly Strange Creatures... is no exception, as it appears to have been filmed in 16mm on expired film stock, and the print left in an attic for 30 years.
The only fair thing to do is to judge the host segments, and this re-issue is a slight improvement over the prior Rhino release (as part of the Volume 9 set), with increased detail and well-defined colors.
Audio: 3 out of 5
As with the video, the audio quality is best judged by the host segments and the actual riffing during the movie. Dialogue is intelligible and overall the track has good fidelity, and the stereo mix generally adds some ambiance to the host segments. This is a slight improvement over the prior Rhino release, which sounded a tad muddier.
Special Features: 0 out of 5
The were no extras on the Rhino version, which have been carried over to this new Shout! Factory release. In other words, this disc has no features, and only a static menu. Missing are the creative and often hilarious animated menus we’ve grown accustomed to on Shout! Factory’s 4-disc sets.
Overall: 3.5 out of 5
Long-time fans of the series likely already own the previous Rhino release of this episode, and the slightly improved video and audio are not necessarily worth trading up to this new release. Still, kudos to Shout! Factory for making a long out of print episode available to fans who may have missed the opportunity to purchase this episode as part of the Volume 9 set.
