Movie: (1956) A “psychical researcher” hypnotizes a prostitute, causing her to regress to a previous life as a woman accused of witchcraft.
First shown: 3/8/97
Opening: Trying to fill in the viewers, Mike seethes about past injustices
Intro: The Observers test everybody and Servo tests well
Host segment 1: Servo becomes an Observer–then the spoons go missing
Host segment 2: The witch from the movie appears, but she’s going through some changes
Host segment 3: Mike plays his Digger Smolken album
End: Crow is an imp, Tom and Mike lash out at Leonard Maltin, and Bobo makes a brain sammich
Stinger: Observers
(217 votes, average: 4.39 out of 5)
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• My memory of this one was that it was all drab and smeary, kind of like the walls in the psychicical researcher’s office, but this was one of those episodes that was a lot wackier than I remembered. To start with, it’s Corman, and that means funny. And it’s the first non-Universal movie since the season started. Plus you got Billy Barty, the always-fun Bruno VeSota, Digger Smolken and the STAY! chorus. What’s not to love? Well, maybe the last host segment…
• Bill’s take on the episode is here.
• This episode is included in Shout Factory’s “MST3K: Volume XXXIV.”
• References.
• It’s in this episode that Bill breaks out and begins to become the Observer we know. He has some nice moments in this one.
• Why did Corman think audiences would go for this hokey tale of psychic regression? Well, it was, briefly, all the rage. In the mid-1950s, a book called “The Search for Bridey Murphy” became a best seller. It supposedly was based on a true story about a woman who regressed to former lives via hypnosis. In 1956, a movie based on that book, with the same title, was released, and did pretty well, well enough to get Corman working on a ripoff. But by the time he was able to get it filmed, the craze had peaked, and a new fad was hot: zombies. So they changed the title from “The Trance of Diana Love” to “The Undead,” even though there’s nothing particularly undead in the movie.
• When Livia and her imp change into bats, they may look familiar to you. Corman used them a year earlier in “It Conquered the World.”
• Daleism: As Quintus hypnotizes the girl, he says: “Do you see my hand?” Mike adds: “Do you think I’m Dale?”
• LOTR references: Rivendell, Strider, Mordor, Mithril.
• Bridget is lots of fun as the witch unable to control her shape-shifting.
• A rare riff retread: “This guy is Satan … from hell” is a riff originally done in “Santa Claus.”
• Callback: “You’re stuck here!” (Fugitive Alien)
• The old “spoons dropping from the sleeve” bit was probably most famously done in the 1930 Marx Brothers movie “Animal Crackers.”
• The “Servo as Observer” bit goes on a bit, I have to say. This long segment, plus the long segment at the end, are obviously drawn out because the movie is so short. A short might have served them better.
• That’s Kevin singing on the Digger Smolken album, of course.
• I wonder if Leonard Maltin saw the bit at the end before he agreed to be a guest star a year later.
• The final bit—the lengthy brain sandwich-making scene—sparked fierce debate among internet fans. Some loved it, others saw it as long, labored, pointless and emblematic of a growing problem they were having with the revived series. It really is a tour de force for Kevin. On the other hand, it’s definitely a long walk for a little joke.
• One other note: Kevin, his hands — or paws — probably slippery with mayoNAISE — drops the tape and it rolls a little way away and he has to run after it. They keep rolling.
• The Observers steal the stinger again. What would be your nomination? Mine is: “STAY!”
• Executive producers Samuel Z. Arkoff and James H. Nicholson also worked on “The Amazing Colossal Man,” “It Conquered the World,” “Earth Vs. the Spider,” “Teenage Caveman,” “Viking Women and the Sea Serpent,” “War of the Colossal Beast,” “Night of the Blood Beast,” “Terror from the Year 5000,” “The She-Creature,” “I Was A Teenage Werewolf” and “The Screaming Skull. Producer/director Roger Corman also worked on “It Conquered the World,” “Teenage Caveman,” “Viking Women and the Sea Serpent,” “Swamp Diamonds,” “Gunslinger,” “Night of the Blood Beast,” “Attack of the Giant Leeches” and “High School Big Shot.” Assistant director Lou Place directed “Daddy-O,” appeared in “Swamp Diamonds,” was a production manager on “It Conquered the World” (he probably wrangled those bats), and “Agent for H.A.R.M.” Screenwriter Charles B. Griffith also worked on “It Conquered the World” and “Gunslinger.” Screenwriter Mark Hanna also worked on “The Amazing Colossal Man” and “Gunslinger and was production coordinator for “Terror from the Year 5000.” Cinematographer William Sickner also worked on “The Phantom Creeps.” Prop Master: Karl Brainard also worked on “It Conquered the World,” “Teenage Caveman,” “Night of the Blood Beast” and “The She-Creature.” Choreographer Chris Miller also worked on “Gunslinger” (and appeared in it as well). Score composer Ronald Stein also worked on “It Conquered the World,” “Gunslinger,” “The She-Creature,” “Attack of the the Eye Creatures and “The Girl in Lovers Lane.” In front of the camera, Allison Hayes was also in “Gunslinger,” “The Crawling Hand” and “The Unearthly.” Bruno VeSota was also on “Daddy-O,” “Attack of the Giant Leeches,” “Gunslinger” and “The Wild, Wild World of Batwoman.” Richard Devon was also in “Viking Women and the Sea Serpent.” Aaron Saxon was also in “Gunslinger.” Richard Miller was also in was also in “It Conquered the World” and “Gunslinger.” Paul Blaisdell also appeared in “”It Conquered the World,” “The She-Creature” (for which he also did special effects), “The Amazing Colossal Man,” “Earth Vs. the Spider” and “Teenage Caveman.”
• CreditsWatch: Jim gets the producer credit and Kevin gets the director credit. A guy named John Sims joins the crew for six episodes. His credit is “SFX/foley.” For some reason, interns Elliot Cobb and Mytch Parks, who worked the first five episodes of season 8, did not work this one and the next one. In their place are Lane Stiller and Steve Zocklein. They worked this episode and the next one, then Cobb and Parks returned for two more episodes. Hm.
• Fave riff: “You have one litter of toads and people won’t drop it.” Honorable mention: “I have never known more about what isn’t going on in a movie” and “This is one tough spelling bee.”
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This episode is pretty forgettable to me given the nature of the film. The only things I really remember right now are the Venusian bats making a return and a mute Billy Barty.
I don’t even remember the Fugitive Alien callback, but that’s fairly amazing they put it in there. Ancient riffs weren’t too common in Sci-Fi and this is about as far back as you’d get on MST3K. The only other ancient callback I remember that had this many years between it and the episode with the riff was Warrior of the Lost world when KTMA’s Hangar 18 was referenced.
For some reason, I revel in these terrible early season eight movies. Like Thing That Couldn’t Die last week, The Undead is one of my top episodes, usually one I watch on dreary winter afternoons.
I think the riffing is top-notch; the Ben Franklin riffs could have kept going for another 20 minutes and I would have laughed just as hard. There are only a few isolated places where the griminess of the movie overwhelms M&TB’s efforts to keep it entertaining.
I always forget just how long that final host segment is until I re-watch the episode. I’m with you: it’s a loooong way to get to an obvious joke. A short would have been ideal, instead of padding the host segs.
as far as old call backs go i vaguely remember in THE INCREDIBLY STRANGE CREATURES WHO STOPPED LIVING AND BECAME MIXED-UP ZOMBIES. Matilda the wart witch or whatever the hell her name was, was attempting to hypnotize our mouth breathing Nicholas Cage look a like hero when Tom pulled out the ageless “SLEEEEEEEEEP!” Which i believe made a return visit in Hamlet.
Like Shinola, this one’s a fave in the Gummo household. The medieval kingdom with all of 8 people in it is soooo Corman. And the riffs are just hysterical.
I’ve never understood the animosity towards the Season 8 host bits since I think they’re some of the best of the whole series. They took on some of the classic tropes of science fiction — starships, black holes, planets of apes, super-intelligent beings, trials of humanity — and turned them all to comedy gold.
Well, that’s what makes horse races, I guess.
[sings] Isn’t it raaaaats….
I’ll go five on this one. The some of the host segments are way way above average ( and yes mayonaise is too long ).
The movie has that whacky manic campy whatever that the previous ep ( the thing that couldn’t die ) had. There is so much material to deal with, and the riffig is great.
The Imp/Leonard Maltin bit towards the end is glorious in its surreal madness.
The sammich bit does run on maybe three or four years too long. They could have trimmed to a decade or so. They are trying to make sure we are paying attention, but c’mon guys, we’re misties we’re paying attention already.
The ‘whacky’ ObServo chase scene could have been dropped without noticeable loss off overall hilarity.
Bridget as the witch with a problem is pricelss and not one second too long.
Does the injury to ( presumably “our” ) Brain Guy’s Brain tell us anything about Brain Guy’s subseuent behavior ?
A bust of Chiang kai Sheck made out of Chopped Liver….
As goofy as the movie was ( I’ll have her think she is eating under hypnosis and that will keep her actual body fed ) the idea that she has to die at the same time in order to maintain the exisitng chain of reincarnation is kind of interesting. i assume that if she had decided to live and die some years later, she would have started a different series of reincnrnations, one that would not include Diane Love. And the idea that SHE was Dr McCreepy’s lifeline back to the present was a nice touch. I’m not saying it was a good movie or anything, just that it had some non-un-interesting aspects.
STAY !!
When I first saw this (unmystied version) as a teenager I thought it was haute couture and “serious cinema”, kind of like King of Hearts that we dissected and analysed in college :mrgreen: ). One can imagine the movie teacher Arthur Fleeber [Paul Benedict] in The Freshman) showing it to his students in the second semeester of his cinema class (right after Kiss Me Deadly).
And to its credit, the movie does come up with yet another “creative” way to time travel.
Again, the worse and/or goofier a movie is, the more we benefit.
That’s definitely the case with “The Undead,” which is equal parts inept and silly (with Roger Corman at the helm, that’s no big surprise), giving the gang a plentiful supply of comedic fodder.
From Billy Barty’s antics (“Nobody notices a giant midget in the room!”) to Digger Smolken’s musical endeavors (“What rhymes with ‘coffin’…”) to all the lame hypno-science to Satan Pan, it’s all hilarious.
Always good to see Allison Hayes here as Livia. She was a fun presence in MSTed movies, including The Crawling Hand, The Unearthly, and Gunslinger.
One riff in particular caught me off-guard this time around. After Digger Smolken sings, Mike says, “I’ll send that off to Phil Spector today.” Given Spector’s recent run-in with the law and subsequent guilty sentence, that riff takes on something of a much darker quality.
While I loved the “Fugitive Alien” callback, it’s a shame that they didn’t throw out a callback to any of the other MSTed roles of Bruno VeSota (seen here as the doomed innkeeper Scroop).
Two reactions I loved: the gang cracking up at “STAY!” and Mike’s obsession with Satan Pan’s off-center Adam’s Apple.
The show features one of my favorite Crow moments: his “I’m an imp!” obsession as Servo and Mike run through the whole Leonard Maltin retraction script. Bill Corbett made me laugh like hell when Crow fearfully yelled “I’M AN IMP!” in reaction to Servo’s angry outburst.
Count me among those who loved the last sketch with Kevin. He was having such a goofy time with the whole thing (“Punch-happy tomato!”, “It’s MY time!”). The build-up to him making and chomping a brain sandwich was entirely worth it.
Again, not happy with the hijacked stinger. My two preferred choices would have been either “STAY!” or “Why, Gobbo’s the gentlest jailer EVER TO GOUGE A PRISONER’S EYE!”
All in all, a classic episode. Season Eight brought us a lot of gems, and “The Undead” easily ranks among them. This episode gave me a lot of bellylaughs.
Favorite riff of the episode: “Bottom line – CAN WE KILL THE IMP?!”
Love this episode. It’s really a toss-up whether the witch or Nuveena is Bridget’s sexiest character. Yum!
and the early season 8 episodes get even stronger. Just love this, fully Cormanized. One joke that always tickles me is during the beheading scenes with the closeup of on the the onlookers Servo (I think) says with much pride “that’s my daughter up there” Just fits with the ridiculousness of everything involved. And any movie with a fey community theater Satan is ok with me. And count me in as an Allison Hayes fan. As bad as Corman was he at least had generally appealing actresses on occasion, and that is a rarity in MST grade films.
Something about the way Tom delivers the line, “Warriors of the wussland” just cracks me up every time. I also love Crow’s reaction when the shapeshifting witch briefly turns into Pearl Forrester…
I first saw the infamous “STAAAAAYYY!!” clip in a youtube video of the surprise montage the Brains slipped into the Diabolik footage, to surprise M&TB during filming of the final episode. Taken so completely out of context, and surrounded by other random goofy movie clips, it was one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen.
A few months later, when I was suffering through three months of MST3K-and-other-media-deprived boot camp in Parris Island, SC, my boyfriend printed out the photo of the guy from that scene that’s on the SciFi channel archive page. He blew it up to fill the whole page, wrote STAAAAAAAAAYYYYY!!!! in huge sharpie letters across the bottom, and mailed it to me. That was one of the few bright spots outta that whole ordeal… and probably one of the most romantic things he’s ever done… :grin:
A pretty good episode,though I take issue with the Servo chase scene(why not speed it up a la Benny Hill?)and the last bit where Bobo is making a sandwich.Could’ve trimmed a few minutes off both of them.I grew tired of Digger Smokin’ singing in the movie,but all in all,some funny riffing throughout.STAY!!! Sleeeeeeeeeeeeeeep!!!
My favorite black and white episode of Season 8.
The opening segment where Mike vapor locks is hilarious.
The riffing is strong throughout.
“STAY!!” is a classic moment.
And yes, the Bobo sketch goes on too long. And I’m actually a fan of a lot of the protracted host segments (ex: Mike and his CD collection in The Creeping Terror).
My least favorite season eight episode. When I first saw it, I thought, “Oh, crap, it’s back to Season Six dullness,” especially with the brain-sandwich bit. I’ve come to appreciate the episode more these days, but it’s not the first episode I think of when I want to watch a Sci-Fi era episode.
I rewatched this episode yesterday and found it to be a middle-of-the-road ep IMO. I found the movie to very painful, but the riffing was on. I too will agree a short would have helped. I did like seeing a young Dick Miller playing the bit part of the Leper. I also thought the saving grace of the film was the ending. *You’re Stuck Here!*
An aside: Did the Brains explain why there were only 3 shorts in 3 seasons?
i agree with u that the “servo as observer” bit goes too long but i’m one of those who LOVES the ending. i am partial to a really long buildup to a punchline (see: “scarlet takes a tumble” on youtube). after i saw this bit for the first time, i immediately went to my computer and printed out a full page of a single sentence, “I LOVE PROFESSOR BOBO” and mailed it to kevin.
I believe the SciFi Channel wouldn’t let the Brains do shorts early on, ’cause very few shorts out there are science-fiction themed, and every movie they did for Seasons 8 and 9 had to be either science-fiction, horror, or fantasy as mandated by the network (“Century 21 Calling” and “Robot Rumpus” are just borderline within the channel’s guidelines, and by the time they did “A Case of Spring Fever”, SciFi had lifted the “sci-fi only” requirement).
So this episode was forbidden to have a short. And so instead we get the Observers chasing Servo around for three minutes and Bobo making a brain sandwich for six minutes. My main complaint with the brain sandwich thing is that you immediately know what the punchline is going to be. If they’d kept the brain containment chamber offscreen until after Bobo had already made the rest of the sandwich, then it would have been funny. Instead, we have to endure five minutes of set-up for a punchline we all saw coming down Broadway.
Lot of funny riffs in this one, and who doesn’t still yell “STAY!” when the opportunity arises? I had read Bridey Murphy in college, and while it was an interesting read, it could have benefited from some imps. And how fast did the reincarnation phase pass if Corman couldn’t get a cash-in movie about it out in time?
Plus: Alison Hayes, Alison Hayes, ALISON HAYES.
Plus, I’m going to misspell her name: Allison Hayes, Allison Hayes, ALLISON HAYES!
When I saw in the opening credits it was a Corman film I exclaimed “Oh, goody!” because I knew that mean plenty of laughs were to come and I was right. The host segments by this point were really tight as they were now in their groove. Loved the Observers testing them and Servo as Observer (I didn’t think that bit went on too long)plus the Digger Smolken album (“Isn’t it rat? Aren’t we a corpse?”) also makes me laugh, as well as Bridget’s out of control shape-shifting witch, Crow as an imp and Bobo making a sammich out of Observer’s brain. OK, the last bit went on a little long.
The riffs were really good in this one despite the fact that unlike previous Corman offerings (Swamp Diamonds, Giant Leeches, Gunslinger)it was much darker and the Brains didn’t have as much to work with in my opinion. This one ranks with the Viking Women and the Sea Serpent, really good host segments, good riffing, dreary movie. I rate it four out of five.
Oh, and “STAAAAAAYYYYYYYY!!!!”
Whenever I watch this episode (which is not very often), it always ends up being better than I remember it. The movie is, well, Corman, but is even sillier than average for him–although I do kind of like the premise of the movie, if not the actual execution (so to speak). Still, it is often devoid of logic or sense. (How does Diane/Helaine flash back to events she hasn’t actually witnessed? Why does the Psychical Researcher guy go back in time completely nude except for his wristwatch? What exactly is it Satan wants everyone to do? Why the imp? Etc.)
I thought the riffing was spot on, but I did especially like the host segments (except for the labored “sandwich” bit).
Some good lines:
“This forest needs a plant”
“It’s beautiful when the tortillas return to Capistrano”
“If Satan thinks you’ve gone too far, you’ve gone too far”
“This guy was never in heaven; he was cast out of community theater”
“I’ve never known more about what isn’t going on”
“This is one tough spelling bee”
And why *are* the onlookers at the execution so surprised when someone is executed?
Oh, and, of course, “STAAAAAYYYY!!!”
I’m going to disagree with most people here. That Bobo segment could not have possibly gone on long enough for me.
“The Undead” has really grown on me over time. When I first caught it during the initial run, I found it to be too dull, dreary and drab to enjoy. There were fun moments, but as a whole the riffing, and the film especially, left me very cold. I had the same reaction to almost all the Roger Corman films that have been done on MST3K so this wasn’t a huge surprise to me. My girlfriend’s brother was a huge fan of the show and taped and watched them all the time. For some odd reason this one always seemed to be on when I went over to their house. When I caught it piecemeal, it was really funny. Of course “STAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYY” was an immediate hit with my girlfriend’s brother and combined with bursting into rooms and yelling “JEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEDDDDDDDDD!” I had to blame MST3K for creating some seriously annoying behavior by him. Of course he was at the age where he just loved annoying people anyway.
I don’t think I had actually seen the entire episode in one sitting since the initial viewing. So it was time to give it another try thanks to DAP. I’ve discovered that I have to be in the mood for Corman’s brand of idiocy to enjoy an episode featuring one of his movies. This explains why I always flip flop on my opinion of “Gunslinger”. Sometimes its too boring for words, other times its really damn funny. So I watched “The Undead” when I was mentally prepared for it, and I was laughing the whole way through. It’s still dreary but it wasn’t as dull as I remembered it being. There’s a lot of stuff going on, but none of it terribly interesting. Still it seems to move a little faster than some of Corman’s other dreck (I’m looking at you “Swamp Diamonds”).
You’ve also got wall to wall whacked out characters in this one: Smolken, the Imp, the witch, the researcher/knight, the inn keeper and of course the Devil himself. Each of these folks seems to be in a different movie and forced to act together. This makes the whole thing even more ludicrous. The most normal (and I use the phrase loosely) is the falsely accused witch. My favorite character has to be Alison Hayes’ evil witch, Livia. Not only is she supremely sultry in this, but she actually seems to understand how to play her part for this film (something the other actors didn’t seem to get a handle on).
All of this provides lots of stuff to work with riffing wise. Even when the movie slows down, Mike and bots just keep powering on making fun of the set, the costumes, the acting the dialogue. It’s a rich bounty that just keeps giving. For me, none of the riffs are out of the park funny, but there seems to be a greater percentage of funny stuff over the jokes that don’t land. This pushes the rating up into above average for me.
The host segments are a mixed bag. The prologue with Mike struggling to give a history of the show is cute. The intelligence test and Servo becoming an observer makes for a funny two part sketch. I enjoyed Bridget’s turn as Livia. But segment four and five seem to be a hit or miss depending on my mood type of thing. The first time I watched the Digger Smoken sketch I was bored stiff. This time, I found it a bit obvious but funny. The final sketch with Bobo and his midnight snack still feels like it goes on way too long. I have to be in the mood for these “pad out the run time” sketches. This one almost works, but just doesn’t quite do it. I recently watched “It Conquered the World” and found the use of Peter Graves speech to be very funny, and I always enjoyed Mike in his sweet spot in “Creeping Terror”. But this Bobo sketch either bores me to tears or just makes me smile a bit before wishing it would end.
After my most recent viewing I can say I enjoyed “The Undead”. I think I know what kind of mood I have to be in to enjoy a MST3K take on a Corman film. If I get into that mood again, I can safely reach for “The Undead” knowing that I’ll get a four star episode.
>>>why *are* the onlookers at the execution so surprised when someone is executed?
Same reason people hide their eyes or otherwise display revulsion at a gory movie: You’re there to see it, but when it’s finally there…ick.
I’m guessing the Sci-Fi Channel didn’t give the shorts issue too much thought, because think of how many shorts from the Comedy Central era qualified as fantasy:
X Marks the Spot (ghosts and angels)
Mr. B Natural (sprite)
Design for Dreaming (dreamworld/future?)
The Selling Wizard (wizard)
Out of This World (angel and devil)
Money Talks (ghost of Benjamin Franklin)
Once Upon a Honeymoon (angels)
Surely there were more where that came from.
To say nothing of Radar Men from the Moon, The Phantom Creeps, and Undersea Kingdom, all bona fide science fiction.
“Mike, every glimpse into your past paints an ever-darkening portrait of a sad, damaged, lonely little man!” And this (the opening seqments) is the first time (correct me if I’m wrong) Mike really broods on the missteps of his past (which will happen again in “Riding With Death”). The Bobo segment ran a little too long, but I was never foaming at the mouth angry about it (or the loss of stingers for that matter). I loved the host segments, and yes Bridget’s witch here is DEFINITELY the hottest character to appear in any host segment.
I agree with ca20 from a few posts above, the final segment with Bobo making the sandwich is pure gold!
i don’t know if the episode is good or not. For i am mad. i can’t tell a joust from a jest.
Side note the lady playing i guess the good witch went on and played otis the drunk’s wife in a couple of andy griffith show episodes
There is only one true candidate for the stinger: ‘STAAAAYY!!!’ I mean, come on! :razz:
I remember that “Good Morning Starshine” commercial!
“Warriors of the Wuss Land!”
A solid four stars for this one. The riffing is strong throughout and we get some mega-sized host segments. It’s an interesting episode for sure; let’s discuss, shall we?
-It should be mentioned that this is the only Corman directed film both Mike and Bill would riff on.
-The riffing keeps up a pretty good pace in this one, which is pretty amazing when you consider the bizzare flow of this film. The odd cutting between the past and present towards the middle of the film put me in mind of the wonderful editing techniques we’ll later be subjected to in Devil Fish.
-I loved the Fugitive Alien callback and the Ben Franklin jokes.
-It’s nice to see Bruno VeSota back again. I don’t know about you people but I always thought the man was a pretty decent actor.
-Witch/kitty Livia (Allison Hayes) is incredibly hot. Bridget’s protrayal of her in the second host segment makes it my favorite of the episode. I get a kick out of the line “…never been a football before…” and Pearl’s sudden appearance.
-The Brains are already showing their resentment towards the forced storylines in the opening segment but nonetheless still do a good job at catching everyone up to speed.
-I don’t understand why the spoons move around during the chase scene in the Servo Observer skit. What’s up with that?
-I’m one of those who think the last host segment is just terrible (not counting the Leonard Maltin/Imp stuff on the SOL. That stuff is funny). I don’t understand WHAT exactly i’m supposed to find funny in that skit. It doesn’t really lead up to any particualar punch line or anything…it just keeps going. And after you’ve finally made it through that skit, you still don’t even get a stinger! It’s a one-two punch of suck that easily makes this the worst finale of any MST3K episode.
One of my fave episodes ’cause of two things:
Servo as an Observer was too cute for words. Cracked up laughing.
Bobo making a brain sammich. Mayonnaise!
Bridget’s witch’s attempt to emphasize her full control over her vast evil powers (‘whoa, didn’t mean to do that … i mean DID mean to do that, for i have dark powers and … aww no!’) is one of my favorite bits from a MSTie skit.
beth563 – agree with you on servo-observer – “but i am no longer servo – i am ‘observer’ – but you can call me ‘servo’!”
The title, “The Undead”… Again, no.
Overall, enjoyable. 4 Stars, I think.
The ending segment, to me, completes Brain Guy. I mean, he did become a bit of a dufus oddball after ending up with Pearl and Bobo. I suppose getting your brain sliced and smeared with Mayo will do that to ya.
I like the fact that, in the beginning scenes, the two doctors talk about the streetwalker as if she’s a lower life form, which can’t understand them, since they talk as if she’s not right there, hearing every word they say. But in the way the prostitute reacts, or rather, doesn’t react, I guess maybe they weren’t off-base. The scene remind me of Paul as Observer with Mike.
BTW, I love when Pearl takes Tom’s ‘brain’ and says, “That’s not his brain! It’s an olive!” and throws it to the floor. Too, too funny!
Oh, and saying, “Mayonnaise!!!!!” and laughing a bit has become part of my programming, in any mayo or sandwich scenario, since this episode first aired.
I also love Bill’s response, when the Observers point out that Tom scored higher than Observer. Almost like a flustered Englishman.
Billy Barty really did need to take the Imp’ing down a few notches.
I always thought this was one of Corman’s better films from the 50’s. It had a pretty good idea for the storyline and a little better acting than most of those movies(I know that’s not saying much). Best of all Allison Hayes’ witch costume gave her a chance to display her best “talents”.
Love Billy Barty! His most memorable role was Sparky the firefly in The Bugaloos. Also liked him in Legend (opposite a young Tom Cruise) and Under the Rainbow.
There was a zombie craze in the mid 1950s? I didn’t think zombies became poopular until George Romero made his little film.
The only ‘undead’ I saw in this film were the dancing dead girls that the devil raised. For that matter, does the devil count as an undead? Or Billy Barty the imp?
There are some interesting bits in the original movie, such as the hotel guy whatsisname talking about all the ways he’s secured his hotel against witches and imps while talking to a witch who’s feeding an imp under the table. It’s not brilliant, but it’s handled almost lightly enough to be funny on its own.
And the time travel method and the chain-of-being thing is an interesting one as well.
The hilarious scene where they cut from one part of the dungeon to the same part of the dungeon was wonderful. It also nowadays reminds me of a bit on the Monty Python And The Holy Grain DVD, where they have this fantastic making-of documentary and show how the Pythons brilliantly, absolutely brilliantly, reused very few locations to represent all those many different castles. I think the Pythons used the same small bit of corridor to be three different castles, and in the movie they *look* like different castles, which just underlines how funny Roger Corman was in failing to do so.
This is the movie where all the Medieval Land Made Out Of A Supermarket parts had dialogue written in iambic pentameter, and then changed at the last minute because somebody was scared this would confuse audiences, wasn’t it?
Tom As An Observer seems to me about the perfect length, a wonderful little rise and fall drama showing exactly what you need for the full story. And anytime the Brains can do Harpo Marx material is good.
Bobo Makes A Sandwich I also like, in part because of the may-yo-NAISE chant that’s irresistible and because somehow being drawn out as it is makes the inevitability of the punch line better, the way padding a shaggy dog story improves that. Also there’s how he needs to take several bites of Observer’s brain to figure it out. And all the funny noises he makes along the way.
Not one of my favorite episodes, but better than I remembered. Of course, all I remembered was Digger Smolken. Pendragon is another in the long line of useless MST heroes. A solid, average episode.
My favorite riff, which I assume references the Dr.’s walls: I’ve been trying out my dung-sprayer.
It is amazing to think that Corman will seen be the recepient of a lifetime achievement Academy Award. Maybe it is a trick to get him to come to the show so they can indict him for crimes against cinema.
#9 Cornbred – “One joke that always tickles me is during the beheading scenes with the closeup of on the the onlookers Servo (I think) says with much pride “that’s my daughter up there” Just fits with the ridiculousness of everything involved.”
I’m glad that you mentioned that, because I forgot to mention one moment from the execution scene that gets me rolling each and every time.
There’s one shot of a disturbingly happy looking guy in the crowd, to which Mike says, “Heeeeey, buddy!” There’s no way that I can’t laugh at that.
I could see Digger Smolken being a big fan of Blue Oyster Cult’s Don’t Fear the Reaper
Mayo-NAISE!
I completely agree with Gummo’s response in post 4. The season 8 host segments were a goldmine, and I think the only reason so many fans have a problem with them is that they were non-traditional up to that point. They really took the sci-fi concept and ran with it, and I’m still upset they abandoned the “endless chase” in season 9.
Take these Observer episodes, and this one in particular. I’m actually disappointed when the segment focuses on the movie instead of the Observers, since they’re such a delightful concept. Hell, I could have watched an entire episode of nothing but Observer skits.
I love the shot of the clothes sitting there on the chair. :smile:
Pretty good. Count me among the fans of the end sketch. Movie’s good, Corman’s always good for them. Host segments are good, lots of fun.
Bad movie, great riffing. The host segments are hit or miss. The testing where Tom scores higher than Bill’s hapless Observer is great. The Great Spoon Chase was a waste of time. I loved the Digger Smolkin compilation and the visit from the shape shifting witch. Crow’s Imp is classic. My husband and I often look at one another and say though gritted teeth, “I’m an Imp” whenever we are stuck waiting for long periods of time. I thought that the sandwich making scene was mildly amusing but ran too long.
In my opinion, one of the best episodes in Season 8. The Brains finally broke out of the repeating Universal picture pattern, and for the first time since Season Five they had a Roger Corman film – which, when MSTed, is a dose of Ecstato-Euphoro-Fun (with patented Hinder 90)!
I especially liked the Digger Smolken sings routine (“Isn’t it RATS! Aren’t we a CORPSE!”) and, despite being overlong, Bobo’s midnight snack (mistaking an Observer’s brain for lunchmeat) and running away with the Mayo-NAISE!
FYI the length of Bobo’s Midnight Snack – 4 minutes, 16 seconds.
Corman seems to always tap into memorable bit players and this one was a tour de force on display. You couldn’t swing a dead venuzian bat with out hitting one. Also, I have always enjoyed Corman’s uncanny ability to recylce sets, scripts, actors, costumes, locations, creatures, rocket launches, plot devises and probably whiskey bottles. The opening scene with the cut rate emoting Satan had me hooked from the get go. One of the best hammy laughs I have ever heard HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!
Diana “cinch that waist” Love, La-La-Livia, sparklers, Ray Nitski seduction, Billy ‘always under the table’ Bartey, Maid Maud (looks more like Maid Mawled), whimpy hero, Scroop (BDS), Rent a Satan, Smokin n Jokin Smolkin, poetic license to kill, zippers, hypno science, venuzian bats, knight jacking, Dick Miller acne issues, Observers, good riffing, Bridget all add up to a 4.2 in my book.
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“It is amazing to think that Corman will seen be the recepient of a lifetime achievement Academy Award. Maybe it is a trick to get him to come to the show so they can indict him for crimes against cinema.”
===========================
And perhaps Bobo could be his defense attorney.
:wink:
Among my favorite films riffs, but unfortunately it’s also got my least favorite sketches.
“When I touch you I –”
“–think about myself. No, wait…”
“Ah…Digger Smolken…digs graves and messes with your head…”
and…
I’ve always been extremely curious to know just WHAT the brain that Bobo is slicing up was made of. Anyone have the inside story on that?