What genre of MSTed films do viewers prefer?
Ooh I like that one!
Me, I gotta pick the dumb rocketship movies, i.e. Rocketship XM and Phantom Planet. Second favorite: Giant bug movies such as Beginning of the End and The Deadly Mantis.
What’s yours?
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Weekend Discussion Thread: Favorite MSTed Movie GenreAlert reader Glenn suggests:
119 Replies to “Weekend Discussion Thread: Favorite MSTed Movie Genre”Commenting at Satellite News
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I am partial to the 60’s goofy GoGo/beach/biker exploitation flicks: Eegah!…Girl in gold boots…catalina caper…village of the giants…sidehackers…hellcats…wild rebels. Basically, a movie with a truly “shagadelic” soundtrack or at least a few groovy tunes…
This is a toss up for me. I love 50’s to early 60’s Sci-Fi, and enjoy it with or without riffing, no matter how bad it is! But I also love Juvenile Delinquency flicks. The 50’s & 60’s sci-fi stuff, ultimately, is my favorite. “It Conquered the World” is may all time favorite movie, mstied or not, and “The Beast of Yucca Flats” my fav. episode.
That would have to be sci-fi movies and anything with poorly dressed monsters with crummy visual effects.
Hands down….sci fi. That lumps mad scientists, space films and
mosters all together
I think my favorites largely depend on the films itself more than a particular genre.
But if I have to choose, I would say:
Myth and Magic (i.e. Hercules, The Day The Earth Froze, etc.)
Crime stories (The Sinister Urge, The Beatniks, Angel’s Revenge)
Horror/goofy monsters (The Brain That Wouldn’t Die, Attack Of The The Eye Creatures, Manos)
Sweaty Japanese guys in rubber costume movies.
Movies where NASA was just a couple of guys in a truck.
Generally anything else Sci-Fi.
Cross-Country epics … which means there’s just one: K20-The Last Chase.
When I look at my fav episodes, none really fall into a genre pattern. But I suppose in terms of consistently funny, I’d go with the Russo-Finnish films, especially “Day the Earth Froze” and “Jack Frost”.
My first choice is giant bug movies, which I’m counting as “poor science” scientists. A sub-category (?) of “poor science”, in my opinion, is “Movies where NASA was just a couple of guys in a truck”. I live here in Houston where as kids we were told that NASA was a HUGE team working together for the benefit of humanity and had gobs of wonderful technical stuff. So basically,I like almost any movie where you can yell “that’s not science” such as any Gamera film, Gorgo or Prince of Space. And, hey, I liked Tormented, it may have been the lightest dark film MST3K did. What’s the most notable MST3k film with a message? Hmmm, anyone?
First favorite genre is bad teen movies. For example, Daddy – O, Girl’s Town, Teenagers from Outer Space, Giant Gila Monster etc… Second favorite has to be dubbed movies, anything with Godzilla or Gamera, or any of the Russo Finnish movies like Sword and the Dragon, Jack Frost, Day the Earth Froze, and the great Japanese stuff like Prince of Space, Invasion of the Neptune Men. The dubbing is usually pretty funny by itself, let alone the goofiness of the movie. 3rd is biker/bad boy movies, like Sidehackers, Wild Rebels, Beatniks etc…
I like anything that makes me laugh, but I have a real soft spot for absurdly paranoid cold war movies like Invasion USA and Rocket Attack USA. Maybe this is a holdover for growing up a liberal during the Reagan years of the cold war. I so wish Rifftrax would riff Red Dawn.
Supernatural horror & man in laughable rubber monster suit
1: 80s – 90s movies – they just look stupid. Weird hair, vacant looking women…
2: Shorts! They’re the best, especially ‘Spring Fever’ and ‘Days of our years’ or whatever it’s called.
3: Crime movies. I count ‘I Accuse my Parents’ in this one and that’s my favorite one ever.
Also I find movies in color are usually funnier. Black and white ones are like… ZZzzz.
As far as genres I don’t like, I don’t think there is a single mysted comedy that I can recommend. Thought watching Space Mutiny, Werewolf, Merlin’s Shop, Outlaw and Warrior of the Lost World, it’s hard to imagine they weren’t meant to be campy as hell. In fact, they seem literally custom-made for MST3K. If they made their own movies for riffing, Best Brains could not possibly have come up with something as perfect as Warrior of the Last World. It would make me laugh hysterically without the riffing.
I like the ones with bad actors.
Those movies that were 70’s things that should be tv but aren’t, also those 80’s movies that are just so eighties it isn’t funny but it is (space mutiny for example).
I like it when they did stupid movies…oh, wait. :shock:
I don’t really have a favorite type for this show. As long as they made it funny, and they usually did, that was enough for me.
Anything that stars Joe Don Baker is an immediate “must-see.”
My money’s on made-for-TV movies. (Puma Man, Angels’ Revenge, Code Name: Diamondhead, San Fransisco Intl.)
Bad and/or cheap sci-fi is always a good platform to use, but I love the instructional shorts. They really had fun with them on MST3K.
Believe it or not, black and white movies. To cite two that have a perverse attraction: Attack of the Giant Leeches and Hamlet, yes Hamlet. For some reason while it seems at first, second, etc. viewing as just dull it becomes a badge of honor to sit through and there is some good riffing. Although for some reason Mike and the bots never played that great game show “Alas, Poor Yorick!” again.
(Go figure). Interesting how often the bots have trenchant observations on ladies clothing (for example, unmatching underwear in Leeches and clashing plaids in Time Chasers).
Wow, what a difficult question. Like many of you, I find it hard to pick a favorite genre, as I think one of the genius things about MST3K was that they could go from Angel’s Revenge in one week to Beginning of the End in another and you still wanted to watch it, irrespective of the genre of the movie.
That being said, I have to mention something I don’t think any of you have talked about yet. I tend to really like the movies where everything in the plot stops for a song, and usually a song which lends itself to being made fun of. I’m thinking of the songs in I Accuse My Parents, the songs in Catalina Caper, Idiot Control Now from Pod People, Pig Sticker from Hobgoblins, Lonesome Man from Girl in the Gold Boots – really too many to mention.
Maybe the genre is movies that were not musicals but which included random, pointless, time-filling songs. Again, not my favorite per se, but definitely high on the list.
Sword and sorcery. Cave Dwellers, Outlaw, Quest of the Delta Nights all seem to fall into my favorites. Then there are many movies that are close to falling into this catagory: The Hercules movies, Merlin, etc. The genre just seemed to be so bad until Lord of the Rings came along. That just made the rest of them look even goofier by comparison.
My favorite genre is the one where it shows a pixelized version of a completely different movie in the opening credits. What company does that?
Black and whtie fifties movies (Daddy-O, Teenager From Outer Space, Kitten With A Whip, especially sci-fi like Rocketship X-M). They just have an earnest irony that I really like. Those work for me with any mix of the MST cast.
For Joel era(s), I also like any film with some genuinely offensive element that gets a sense of “have you no sense of decency?”in the riffing, like a moral outrage. The last two live CT’s have been good examples of that sort of tone, what with the racist stereotypes.
Well, I’m not sure if this counts as a genre, but I loved all the failed TV pilots from the 70’s.
Got to agree, the rocketship space exploration films are the best for me. Rocketship X-M, First Spaceship On Venus, 12 To The Moon and others were just terrific fun and funny and are among my absolute favorite episodes.
Second favorite, any other kind of science fiction, especially any type of “monster” flick. Be it The Amazing Colossal Man to Monster A-Go Go, Pod People, Creeping Terror, Robot Monster, Giant Gila Monster, Earth Vs. The Spider or Beginning Of The End, they’re all great fun.
Close runner-up, fantasy/sword and sorcery/sword and sandal. Cave Dwellers, Hercules/Maciste movies, Magic Voyage of Sinbad etc. Really amusing and always hilarious MST3K material.
Goofy fantasy. The Magic Voyage of Sinbad, The Magic Sword, Jack Frost, anything with swords, poorly animated special effects, and badly-puppeteered creatures.
A close second is camp/cheese, the more identifiable by the decade, the better. So films like Hobgoblins, Angels Revenge, and Village of the Giants are pretty high on my list, too.
And Mr. Redwine, that would be the infamous Film Ventures International you are thinking of.
This was a tough one. I really love all the space movies from the 50’s with hard right turns in space and HUGE interiors of rockets. I really love the monster movies (especially Giant Spider Invasion). I do tend to prefer color episodes, though they are all great. I guess, even though it may not be a genre, I like it when they tear apart fairly modern movies. Time Chasers, Deathstalker, Hobgoblins, Space Mutiny and even Boggy Creek 2. The more modern movies are even worse in my opinion then the older ones. I guess I just think they should have no excuse to be so bad because they have older horrible movies as a guide. Guess not. I’d say late 70’s to 90’s movies are my favorite then. I know, not a genre per say but those are the ones I like the best. They just deserve it more.
When selecting our bedtime MST, my wife and I go through the following categories to narrow it down to two or three choices:
Mike or Joel?
Mike and the Mads, or Mike and Pearl?
Then we go from there. Hobgoblins aside (I think she’s seen that one upwards of 30-40 times–I even got her a Club Scum t-shirt for her birthday), she seems to prefer what she calls “Teens in Trouble” movies. Teenage Strangler, Daddy-O, and Girls Town, etc.
I tend to veer toward the more recent sci-fi fantasy, Space Mutiny and Outlaw being two constants. I also like the movies that feature some obscure garage band, like Skydivers and Horror at Party Beach. I’m very proud of my Del-Aires 45, and I just discovered that there’s a Jimmy Bryant compilation available. I even have the Arch Hall, Jr. CD. His non-Eegah songs are actually not that bad. Tangent alert!
I too would have to say the Finnish-Russo co-productions. ‘The Day the Earth Froze’ is my particular favorite, especially with all the Norwegian/Northern Midwest jokes, since I am of Norwegian descent and live in Iowa. Jack Frost with all of it’s silliness is a favorite also, and it also has my all-time favorite MST3K line: “You just got yourself a whole sled-load of whoop-ass, Frost!”
1. Sword/Sorcery/Fantasy including the Russo-Finnish films.
2. 1970’s made for TV “movies” & pilots
3. Sandy Frank / Japanese Sci-fi
4. 1950’s Atomic/Communist threat
It’s so tough to decide … my favorite episodes change depending on mood and circumstances!
“What’s the most notable MST3k film with a message? Hmmm, anyone?”
#59 Kay learned almost too late that man is a feeling creature… and because of it, the greatest in the universe. S/he learned too late for him/herself that men have to find their own way, to make their own mistakes. There can’t be any gift of perfection from outside ourselves. And when men seek such perfection… they find only death… fire… loss… disillusionment… the end of everything that’s gone forward. Men have always sought an end to the toil and misery, but it can’t be given, it has to be achieved. There is hope, but it has to come from inside, from Man himself.
Movies where they get to make fun of rednecks a lot are good. Attack of the Giant Leeches, Boggy Creek 2, Giant Spider Invasion, Mitchell, Squirm, Laserblast, The Thing that Couldn’t Die and many more. And, Canadian or not, Rowsdower would surely be considered a redneck.
Well, looking at some of my favorite episodes – Egaah, Manos, The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who….,Red Zone Cuba, ect – I’d have to say my favorite ones generally involve directors who had no business directing. Outside of that, Giant Creature flicks and “man-in-a-bad-rubber-suit” flicks work great too…
And let’s not forget the Shorts, the MSTie-McNuggets of the bad-movie buffet…
I’ve also gotta throw in yet another vote for the Russo/Finnish fantasies. Despite the bizarre levels of fairytale goofiness, you can tell that these movies were made with a great deal of love and dedication (and pretty fair-sized budgets!).
I also tend to sit in slack-jawed wonder while watching any film that’s bloated to the gills with it’s own pretentious, preachy, pompous self-importance…where you can almost feel a hand coming out of the screen to wag it’s finger in your face. Especially from a filmmaker like Ed Wood, who’s own personal…shall we say…”cockeyed” sense of morality didn’t deter him one bit from trying to enlighten parents (and society in general)to the horrible mistakes they were making, and the effect it was having on the level of…ahem…”decency” in America. The mind boggles!
…and #85 : Castle Monster…
Having lived my entire life in Oklahoma, I can definitely vouch for it: Canadian or not…Rowsdower IS a genuine, certified, A-#1 REDNECK!
For me, I’ve got to go with the sci-fi movies in general. To such classic examples that come to mind are Prince of Space and Space Mutiny, arguably some of the best episodes in MIST3K history. There’s something about then that the writers seemed to really have that special kind of contempt for, and it really showed through in their scathing rips.
I had a soft spot for the Sword-and-Sandal ones. I’m still hoping Hercules, Colossus and the Headhunters etc come out on DVD but i think Giant of Marathon was the least requested Film Crew DVD so i don’t think it’s too popular!
#88 rockyjones
And in Giant Spider Invasion the only indication that we’re not dealing with the South here is the refrain “PACKERS! WOOOO!”.
The South? Packers? Canada? Castle Monster – You’re befuddlin’ mah dumb cracker mind!
My favorite genre that was riffed?
Japanese monster movies. Japanese movies in general were great on MST3K, but Gamera and Godzilla are always a blast.
I think the “teen drama” films (I ACCUSE MY PARENTS, HIGH SCHOOL BIG SHOT, even GIRL IN LOVER’S LANE and I WAS A TEENAGE WEREWOLF) are always perfect fodder for riffing.
Of course, 50’s/60’s SciFi/Monsters would have to be up there too.
Its a tie between Boggy Creek 2 The Legend Continues and one of my all time favorite movies It Conquered The World Rodger Corman classic!
My favorite has to be stitched-together Japanese TV shows (Fugitive Alien, Time of the Apes, Prince of Space and (I think) Invasion of the Neptune Men). No other genre is as ridiculous as this one, in my opinion.
The second favorite is stitched together American TV shows, like Master Ninja and Riding With Death. They’re never too dull because they always completely change gears half-way through the episode.
Third place goes to Japanese monster movies in general. I’m a big Godzilla fan, so I can’t help but enjoy these.
Honorable mention goes to 50s sci-fi, since they already have such a great atmosphere of hilarity.
Re: #90
IMO, ‘Giant of Marathon’ ironically ended up being the best of The Film Crew’s 4 releases (was there a 5th? I seem to remember once seeing a preorder for one on Amazon…)
And “oily” may also not be a genre, but the show’s “Maw of Hell” movies most revered for their badness by fandom tend to come from that mid ’60s period when everyone on camera seemed to have a thick coating. ‘The Incredible Melting Man’ and ‘Hobgoblins’ are major exceptions, but oily=good riffin’ in my book.
im sure it’s been mentioned but any of the movies featuring a crappy robot…Phantom Creeps, First Spaceship on Venus, Godzilla vs. Megalon. nothing got the Bots more worked up than a crappy robot.
Well,all my favorites have pretty much been mentioned more than once (the russo-finnish episodes and as #86 so eloquently puts it ‘directors who had no business directing.’)
One thing I’m fond of, which I don’t believe has been mentioned, are the british films they did, such as Devil Doll and Projected Man, or any movie with a british character. I love when they riff on the british and do the fake accents and such. I was just watching She-Creature this weekend and enjoying the heck out of their riffing on the british guy in that one.
I really love the TV movies/series: San Francisco International, Stranded In Space, Riding With Death, The Master I & II. Short of that, I love the spy movies, which may mean that Agent for H.A.R.M. fulfills both of my loves at once.