So let’s hear your list of the most watchable MSTed movies. We’re defining “watchable” as you wouldn’t mind watching it without the riffing. You might not LOVE it, but it would keep your interest.
Here’s my top 10 (in show order because it’s easiest, you can do as many or as few as you want, in any order you want):
K09- PHASE IV–actually a kind of interesting story, and some kind of scary moments.
112- UNTAMED YOUTH–Mamie!
204- CATALINA CAPER–Bright, silly–I love the beach movies.
422- THE DAY THE EARTH FROZE–Hey, it’s a little out there, but pretty to look at (reminds me of a girl I knew in college).
505- MAGIC VOYAGE OF SINBAD–See above.
516- ALIEN FROM L.A.–There is so much weirdness in this movie.
519- OUTLAW (OF GOR)–Action, pretty girls, midgets: what’s not to love?
523- VILLAGE OF THE GIANTS–These bizarro teen things hold a fascination for me.
601- GIRLS TOWN–Mamie!
812- THE INCREDIBLY STRANGE CREATURES WHO STOPPED LIVING AND BECAME MIXED-UP ZOMBIES–One of those movies you stare at because you can’t believe somebody actually made it.
What are your picks?
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-Any Gamera or Godzilla movies, I just love them
-Dinosaur films like Future War, which I did see the unriff version of lately
-Im actully considered Manos for some reason
-The Roger Corman films like Saga of the Viking Women and Teenage Caveman
Really, if it had any kind of monster in there, I can watch it. But I love the MST3K versions to death.
This Island Earth uncut isn’t that bad a movie. I agree if you like big lizard movies then Gamera/Godzilla is the way to go. I really liked the un-msted Final Sacrifice, though I’m probably alone on that. Alien from L.A. I saw when it was new and really liked.
I second Outlaw (of Gor).
Gotta say: Moon Zero Two is pretty good in its own right. Don’t mind the riffing, but the film’s pretty interesting, has decent production values/effects, acting, etc.
It’s probably the only film in MST3K history I’ve actually considered buying on DVD (when I checked several years back it hadn’t been released, however).
Parts: The Clonus Horror is surprisingly watchable.
I’ll also admit a sneaking like of both Master Ninjas and Riding with Death, but that’s more due to my overall love of 70’s/80’s tv shows like that, so I tend to see any faults in them as part of their charm…
Well, you can’t go by us because we love bad movies. Mrs. Gummo is a huge fan of the uncut Manos (I don’t know how she does it). Mitchell is great uncut because MST really did cut it to ribbons — it’s not better, necessarily, but it does make a little more sense. And there’s a whole hilarious “action” sequence that got cut that involves Mitchell on foot somehow dodging a dune buggy that’s trying to run him down! Ditto for Space Mutiny — it still sucks uncut but it does make a lick more sense. Squirm is pretty good fun uncut. And watching Mixed Up Zombies uncut reminds you just how truly weird it is….
Hmmmm, I’d have to say
a) Incredibly Strange Creatures…. – It’s just so off kilter and bizarre that it stays interesting.
b) Eegah! – Not sure why, but I always found this movie quasi-watchable in and of itself. (Still better with the riffing, natch).
c) Bride of the Monster – So bad, it’s entertaining.
d) Legend of Boggy Creek 2 – Good monster + rednecks + gals stuck in mud = win!
e) Pumaman – A movie that exists JUST to be mocked. I am sure of it.
f) Giant Gila Monster/Deadly Mantis/Amazing Colossal Man/Beginning of the End – I always loved the “giant creature” features. No matter how bad the movie is, I could watch it.
Just a few I tossed out, I’m sure I missed some…
I can watch the non-MST version of Ring Of Terror, Skydivers, and Jack Frost. Any of the Russo-
Finnish movies are easy because of the visual appeal. Ring Of Terror reminds me of drive-in movies
when I was a kid. And I love Coleman Francis!
Kitten with a Whip is decent enough despite the acting being total cheese.
Tormented would have also been ok, but the scene with Vi’s disembodied head will forever cement it in the “B” category.
Okay, true confession, I saw Alien from L.A. on cable and it sticks with me. I also have to give it to the Master Ninja shows (I didn’t see them when the show..I mean movie, was on but it seems like fairly innocuous entertainment.)
I think Wesley Shadrix said it best, if there was some type of giant monster, I probably would watch/already watched it.
Horrors of Spider Island
Village of the Giants
The Black Scorpion (own it!)
Blood Waters of Dr. Z (aka ZAAT)
Diabolik
Girl in Gold Boots
While all the films deserve the treatment, here are some I can conceive watching unriffed (in no particular order):
The Magic Sword
Bloodlust
Revenge of the Creature
All of the Russo-Finnish Quartet, especially Jack Frost for Baba Yaga alone
Parts: the Clonus Horror
The Undead
Devil Doll
Santa Clause (somewhat)
Gorgo
Soultaker
Squirm
And finally Monster a Go-Go (just kidding, REALLY just kidding, I can’t even say it’s watchable with the riffs).
Back to second Diabolik — in fact, it’s a GREAT movie.
Any and all Ed Wood movies are more than weird and unique enough to warrant an unMST’d viewing.
Some of movies, particularlly the monster movies, are definitly funny or strange enough that I’d watch them without the riffing.
The Crawling Eye
Attack of The (The) Eye Creatures
Horror of Party Beach
Any of Godzilla and Gamera movies
Any of the Russo Finnish movies.
Goro, just because I’ve always liked it.
Black Scorpion and Deadly Mantis, same reason.
Here’s mine:
Godzilla vs the Sea Monster (I saw it without riffing before I ever knew about MST3K)
Gorgo (I still don’t get why they did that. I can watch it just fine.)
Catalina Caper
Final Justice (some local cable access channel back in the day actually showed the unMSTied version)
Beginning of the End
Giant Gila Monster
The Painted Hills (You do NOT make fun of Lassie!!!!!!)
Gamera
That’s all I can think of right now.
So far, what I’ve managed to watch on their own are….
The Amazing Colossal Man
The Sidehackers
The Green Slime
All Gamera movies (but only in the original Japanese versions)
Earth Vs the Spider
War of the Collossal Beast
Bloodlust!
and I think that about wraps it up. For now….
Squirm. I actually own the regular dvd of it and have since way before the brains did it on the show.
I’d also watch Jack Frost on its own. As goofy as it is, it’s actually a very good movie.
Time Chasers is a pretty good movie too. I actually don’t know what’s supposed to be so “bad” about it. In fact, if you notice, most of the jokes in that episode don’t actually poke fun at the movie so much as the actors or the scenery.
Oh…. but it looks like I forgot Squirm, and definetly Bride of the Monster (how could I forget THAT one XD)
Santa Claus Conquers The Martians too. Goofy, but it’s supposed to be.
Soultaker
Tormented
Catalina Caper
Track of the Moonbeast
Skydivers
Red Zone Cuba
Manos, Hands of Fate (I do have the unriffed version)
Daddy-O
Girls Town
Eegah!
I own the Godzilla and Gamera movies, THE CRAWLING EYE, and GORGO unMSTied. I wouldn’t mind seeing the Russo-Finnish films UnMSTied.
In no particular order:
The Dead Talk Back
Monster a Go Go
The Girl in Gold Boots
The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living, etc., etc., etc.
Space Mutiny
The Amazing Colossal Man
Santa Claus
Mind you, these are not good movies – just movies that, for whatever reason, hold a fascination for me even without the riffing
Time Chasers and A Touch of Satan were two movies that I started watching and forgot about the riffing. They kept my interest and the second viewing I concentrated more on the riffs.
I’ve already seen “MANOS: The Hands of Fate”, “Eegah”, “Santa Claus Conquers the Martians”, “Robot Monster”, and “The Crawling Hand” uncut. In fact I even have “Robot Monster” on DVD. I used to love bad movies when I was younger, but now my tastes have become more eclectic. I now enjoy foreign films very much, so I would really like to see the original Russian “Sadko” (“Magic Voyage of Sinbad”) without Roger Corman screwing it up. The other Russian films seem interesting, especially “Humanoid Woman” (no, I’ve never seen “Solaris” but I assume I’d like it), but “Sadko” is more interesting to me, mainly because it actually won the Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival. I’m sure it’s lovely…lovely…lovely…
And no matter how strange it may seem, I’d kind of like to see “Invasion of the Neptune Men” in Japanese, just to see how TRULY BAD it is.
The Eurospy stuff isn’t bad its own, like Danger: Death Ray and Operation Double 007.
Revenge of the Creature, The Green Slime and anything with Godzilla or Gamera. Godzilla and The Creature series were heavily played on TV during my youth. That is partly why I am a fan bad sci fi flicks during 50’s and 60’s.
Master Ninja I and II: just because I love cheesy 80s action shows
Time Chasers and Space Mutiny: So many bad and funny moments in these two
Interesting idea. Actually, there are a number of movies done on MST3K that I did watch, some probably dozens of times, all on their own when I was a child years before MST3K premiered. When I was a kid I liked monster movies so much that I’d watch any monster movie no matter how lame. As I got older into my teen years and early twenties I began to realize how bad some of them were, but I often enjoyed seeing a really bad movie if it was so incompetent that it was amusing. Creeping Terror is such a film. I actually saw it once on a UHF station years before I saw it on MST3K and immediately declared it the worst movie I’d ever seen. Some MSTed movies I saw many times when I was very young include Amazing Colossal Man, Beginning Of The End, Deadly Mantis, Gorgo, Godzilla, Gamera, Hercules (Steve Reeves), Giant Gila Monster and I even watched The Master on TV in its initial run because I was (and still am) a Lee Van Cleef fan. However, I hadn’t seen most of those films in years before they appeared on MST3K, so some episodes of the show were like revisiting long lost friends, albeit low-budget ones.
Honestly, though I watched them many times as a child I wouldn’t watch most of them these days without the MST3K riffing. Yet, there are some that are still amusing and of course thanks to MST3K there are some new oddities I discovered that I never would have seen without the show, like Manos. In fact some serials I discovered through MST3K we ended up buying in order to see the whole thing, including Radar Men From The Moon, Undersea Kingdom and Phantom Creeps. There are also a few movies I owned on VHS before they were done on MST3K like Indestructible Man and Sword And The Dragon. Then there’s the rare really bad film I wanted to see because of its reputation, but I had yet to see till I caught it on MST3K, like Beast Of Yucca Flats. But having seen all of this stuff now many times and my curiosity having been satisfied long ago, the list of what I’d want to watch now is a lot shorter. So without further ado, here’s my list of movies I would theoretically watch for fun now without the riffing:
1) First Spaceship On Venus
2) Godzilla (any)
3) Gamera (any)
4) The Magic Sword
5) Sword And The Dragon
6) Beast Of Yucca Flats (to laugh at the incredible incompetence and nonsense narration)
7) Phantom Creeps
8) Undersea Kingdom
9) Black Scorpion
10)Hercules (with Steve Reeves)
One of the cable channels in my area has been rerunning Sea Hunt the past few weeks. I haven’t seen it since I was a little kid and I’ve been very curious to see it again ever since MST3K busted on it during Rocketship X-M twenty years ago. I’ve been recording and watching every episode they show and have watched over a dozen already. Not once yet have I heard “the line”, you know the one, but I haven’t given up hope yet. I’m determined to see if Lloyd Bridges actually says it like they did on MST3K or if they were just saying a line similar to something he said on the show. I’ll report back on Satellite News if something develops out of this little Sea Hunt watching expedition. :-)
The Dragon vs. The Sword-Weird, but a great hero and some excellent production values.
The Day the Earth Froze-See above.
The Magic Voyage of Sinbad-See above.
Squirm-Creepy, take your time horror film with a good lead.
Boggy Creek II: And the Legend Continues-Genteel monster movie, well made.
Bloodlust-Most Dangerous Game ripoff is short and to the point with a good cast.
Laserblast-I like Charles Band, plus Leonard Maltin gave it two-and-a-half stars.
Riding with Death-If I had been around when this series was on TV, I would have watched it.
The Girl in Lovers Lane-Homoerotic tale always holds my interest.
Time Chasers-Vermont!
I grew up in the 70s, and our town got two local LA channels, though we weren’t all that close to LA. On Sundays, these channels showed B movies all day, so I grew up watching all the Gamera and Godzilla movies, Santa Claus Conquers the Martians, Village of the Giants, and many of the American 50s radiation-created lager than life animals/people movies, as well as the aliens invade movies. I can still watch them un-MSTied. Of those I hadn’t already seen, aside from the Coleman Francis trio, I’d say I could watch any of the MST3K movies unriffed. I like B movies loads.
As #6 observed, the line is blurred when you actually like to watch bad movies, but The Amazing, Colossal Man is fun to watch on its own. Love those 50’s “special effects” like the micro-mini newspaper and giant hypodermic needle. It was the inspiration for my humor novel.
The Godzilla movies because I’ve been a huge Godzilla fan since I was a little kid and our local station would occasionally play them in the afternoon for a whole week. My mom still rolls her eyes if I mention Godzilla.
I also wouldn’t mind watching The Magic Sword and Jack Frost unmstied. They’re both really beautiful films with a lot of over the top acting.
1) I’d start with one with an interesting premise and some work
on actually showing alternate world scenarios. Yes, I’m serious,
it’s Time Chasers!.
2) Also, I think Overdrawn at the Memory Bank was an interesting
exercise in cinematography. Really.
3) Third, The Eye Creatures. A nice cinema verite type movie.
I can’t believe no one’s mentioned Kitten with a Whip yet! To me, that was the most watchable film of the whole series.
Whoops, sorry #9…didn’t see your post the first time around…you get first mention for Kitten with a Whip
Bride of the Monster, It’s Ed woods best film (which is’nt saying much)
Oops. I meant The Crawling Eye.
Also, 4) Because of Babs and Co., The Horrors of Spider Island.
5) Catalina caper (even though some of the cast seems to
be hopped up on goofballs).
Danger! Diabolik-Bava! I can watch anything Bava.
*Devil Fish by son Lamberto, not so much. Wouldn’t be as great
without the MST presence in the final credits. :)
1. Revenge of the Creature
2. The Amazing Colossal Man
3. War of the Colossal Beast
4. Space Travelers (aka Marooned) I actually saw this when it was in the theaters!
5. Hercules
6. The Crawling Eye
I agree with the Mario Bava Hercules flicks. Beautifully shot.
Diabolik
In addition to the ones already mentioned, I think Quest of the Delta Knights was surprisingly entertaining. The questionable location and time period would have kept me interested even without Mike and the ‘bots to point them out. Also, it’s too quirky to take seriously. With multiple characters played by one actor, a pee-throwing scene, and a young Leonardo Da Vinci, it’s intriguing on its own.
My list is:
1. Jack Frost
2. Village of the Giants
3. Kitten with a Whip
4. Werewolf
5. Time Chasers
6. The Deadly Bees
7. Squirm
8. Gorgo
9. Quest of the Delta Knights
10. Operation Double 007
An honorable mention also goes to The Atomic Brain, because any movie that sticks a cat brain into a woman’s skull and vice versa is going to be somewhat intriguing.
Many of the MSTied movies were films I grew up with and still love today.
In fact, this show allowed me to introduce my kids to science fiction films
they would not have watched otherwise (Dad, I don’t like black and white movies).
1. Earth Vs the Spider
2. First Spaceship on Venus
3. Brain that would not die
4. Crawling Eye
5. Black Scorpion
6. Fire Maidens of Outer Space
7. I was a teenage werewolf
8. It conquered the world
9. The mole People
10. Viking Women and the Sea Serpent
All good, rainy Saturday afternoon movies worth seeing again, riffed or unriffed.
Because of these, my kids learned to appreciate movies regardless of their color,
or lack there of.
I can watch ANY MST movie made in the 70’s
– Riding with Death
– Giant Spider Invasion
– Pumaman
– Parts: The clonus Horror
– The Touch of Satan, etc…
…or 90’s cheesy sci-fi/horror films.
– Space Mutiny
– Time Chasers
– Werewolf
– Hobgoblins
I also own Diabolik (great stylish 60’s Italian superhero flick) and the tragic Manos (I call it a charming trainwreck)
I actually saw MAROONED/SPACE TRAVELERS at the theatre when i was like 7 yrs old! Big stars like PECK/HACKMAN. The director John Sturges did The Magnificent 7, Joe Kidd and The Great Escape among other really good flicks. I know watching it now the SFX look lame but for 1969 they won an oscar!
Not to pander, but I’d pick “Alien from LA” as well. It’s fairly well budgeted, has a star(?) people would recognize, and is humorous in the right spots. It loses points for overdoing the Austrailian male leads (there were like 5, right?) but it’s fun seeing Kathy getting tossed around in caves.
For most UNwatchable: Well, “Red Zone Cuba,” of course.
Maybe I’m crazy, but I always thought “Rebel Set” was a pretty decent movie, which is why I was never able to get into the riffing on that one. It has some decent performances and an ok storyline, at least.
I Accuse My Parents is the first episode I saw where I kept rewinding to try to follow the movie.
I don’t know why, but it’s the old black-and-whites that grab my attention. I also kept rewinding The Brute Man.
I actually really liked The Indestructible Man.
Ditto on The Undead.
This is off topic, but have you guys heard the news about El Santo from Samson vs. the Vampire Women? Hubba hubba!
Time of the Apes. My single fav episode (stuck on an island, just one episode, this would be it). A video store near me had the used VHS of this in the 90s for sale and I regret not getting it. Goofy, but fun ripoff. I’m probably in the minority that it’s watchable without the guys keeping it fun.
Alien from LA is probably a better choice. I have the DVD of just the film and really enjoyed it last time I gave it a spin.
I’ve always had a soft spot for no-budget, z-movies, so I was already a big fan guys like Ray Dennis Steckler and Ed Wood prior to seeing their films on MST. Some of my faves –
The Incredibly Strange Creatures – Sampo covered the reason to watch that one perfectly!
The Brain that wouldn’t Die – Who knew mad science could be so sleazy?
The Sinister Urge – For the magic known as Gloria
The Green Slime – It is Fukasaku after all!
Robot Monster – For obvious reasons!
The Creeping Terror – See Robot Monster.
Eegah! – The mix of teenagers, rock music and monsters just sucks me in! Which reminds me to add…
Horror at Party Beach – Everybody do the Zombie Stomp!
This list is by no means complete, as I’ll watch ANY Corman flick, and I’m sure there are others that have just slipped my mind.