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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Cliff @ 37-Understand your comments re the Cor-Man but he evidently took in a slough of folks who were just starting in the business and in all aspects of it. Yes they worked for peanuts but he did show them the ropes and they were able to list something ‘professional’ to their resumes. He worked on the cheap extremely well and turned in profits for the studios so when these folks listed one of his works they knew they were aware of saving money. This is , I think, the main reason he was so prolific. Although he was no DeMille he served the industry well and influenced an entire generation of film makers, techs, actors and writers. I think he earned his award.
STAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!!!!!!!!!
Bridget turning into a confused Pearl, then getting stuck as a gallon of bleach was absolutely classic.
Contains two of my all-time favorites:
“Fight choreography by Leo Sayer.”
and, of course
“ME HELP! ATTACKED I AM BEING! HITTING ME STOP YOU MUST! GOD DEAR BLEEDING AM I! BREAK MY LEG THINK I DID YOU!”
My wife’s comments on the dishy Allison Hayes:
“Oh my God! I didn’t think women were even MADE like that back then.”
+1 pro-Bobo sammich/Observer sketches in general
I agree with several who stated that while Corman’s execution was poor, there were some interesting concepts he tried to put into play with this movie. I’m not saying he succeeded, but I’ll leave further discussion for later, since Sampo has eluded to an imminent Corman debate.
I think Pendragon may trump Puma Man as the most incompetent hero in MST3K.
As for my favorite-character pick: I imagine many will disagree, but I find Meg Maud to be one of the more competent characters in a cast of morons. Furthermore, although she can really go over the top, the actress at least attempts to put some character into her performance. I recall reading somewhere that Corman originally wrote the script in Shakespearean-style dialect and tempo, but that film executives thought that audiences wouldn’t be able to follow it so the dialog was rewritten and modernized. I think the film probably would have been more interesting in the former style, but remnants of the period dialog seem to be present in Meg’s lines.
Example: “What is the color of the heart that can, at will, send an innocent girl from future life, to die a grisly death, for the second time?” Perhaps I’m being overly generous, but I’ve read far worse dialogue.
A close second pick for favorite character is Livia; she’s sultry, crafty and ambitious. She’s evil, sure, but she knows how to get what she wants.
Personally, I thought that Bobo’s sandwich scene was fantastic, largely by virtue of his singing and the way he lovingly crafts the sandwich piece by piece. Also, Digger Smolken is a pure genius, and I kept wishing someone would’ve shouted “LEAVE THE BRONX–I mean, STAY!” during the ending.
I love this episode, I liked premiere and The Mole People but The Undead sealed it back in for me, I was hooked. (It also didn’t hurt that I was 12 or 13.)
Allison Hayes, va va va VOOM!
Corman is a chose sometimes but this one is so certifiably goofy it’s hard not to like it.
From Sampo’s intro: “(which the annotated page gets wrong)”
re. AnnotatedMST.com – Anyone here know who runs this site? It’s a great resource but when I recently sent in a correction (very politely worded) I never received a reply. Maybe the email address is wrong…
I’m an imp! – one of my favorite Crow as-a-character-from-the-movie moments. I love that he never does anything more than that with it.
The already buxom Allison Hayes (one or two “L”‘s: the interweb varies on preference, but IMDB uses “Allison”) in a padded bra. Then the Brains add Bridget as Livia. Hot stuff.
It’s good filmic karma when the haughty hypno-psychiatrist gets trapped in the past at the end. Who’s STAYing now?
When Sampo recently nominated this for his Most Drab and Dreary movie, I respectfully disagreed but when I watched it again, I understood his reasoning. Set-bound and foggy, the entire movie involves the cast running back and forth between the same sets, never getting anywhere (very Corman). It’s like moving through molasses in a bad dream.
mayoNAISE!
A few miscellaneous thoughts:
The female characters are all played MUCH more convincingly than the male characters. Bravo to the actresses.
The execution scene is obviously filmed somewhere different from the rest of the movie, perhaps an outdoor location. I also wonder if that single scene ate up a lot of the budget, given the location and how many extras there are.
Statistics on this fictional kingdom:
-Not counting Satan or the June Taylor corpses (the spirit dancers), there are 19 people in this kingdom before that final execution scene.
-Again, not counting the execution scene, there are only three buildings (the castle, the inn, and the witch’s house).
-The only modes of transportation are the knight’s horse and Smolken’s cart. (By the way, the cart is REALLY luxurious by medieval standards… and possibly the standards of a 1950’s horse-drawn hearse.)
-Only the innkeeper, the prison guards, the three soldiers, the knight, and Smolken seem to have jobs. And there doesn’t seem to be any agriculture.
-The death rate in this itty-bitty kingdom must be astronomically high. Smolken is shown burying two different people, and the graveyard for the sabbat has at least three bodies in it. For such a small population to support a full-time gravedigger, the people must be dropping like flies.
-Tom Servo says that the kingdom is 10 ft. x 12 ft. My estimation is that the forest set is actually about the size of a large stage: 40-50 feet wide and 15-20 feet deep. Other guesses?
A few other things that bug me about the movie:
-I don’t understand the metaphysics of this movie. Clothes can’t go back in time, but watches can? I thought the “hero” had spent time in Tibet learning this technique. Why can’t he get back?
-There don’t seem to be any rules about when characters speak pseudo-Shakespearean dialogue or modern language.
-Smolken’s singing!!!
-In medieval times, people were not buried in coffins. Nobility and important church officials were, of course, entombed, but common people were usually sewn up in a sheet naked and buried.
-As a psychologist, the total lack of ethics among the psychical (which used to be a technical term) researchers cracks me up.
But this is a good MST3K episode if you can sit through the lengthy sketches and Smolken’s singing.
Here, let me handle this… STAAAAAAAY!
I’m another who loved the Bobo sketch. Kevin Murphy really works the thin premise to pull out some great stuff. I will say, however, that you need patience to go along with the long setup.
To this day, I can’t make anything with mayonnaise without first looking at the jar and saying Mayo-NAISE! :razz:
This is one of my favorite Sci-Fi channel episodes. The riffing keeps me laughing, the premise of the movie is absurd, and I love that Tom “tests well.”
Favorite Riff:
I’ve never known more about what isn’t going on in a movie.
I was starting to despair given the dearth of Wizard of Oz references so far in season 8, but in this episode we get FOUR.
We see Digger Smolken and his wagon for the first time.
Tom: “The Wizard of Oz.”
Meg Maud approaches the inn.
Mike: “She’s hittin’ happy hour with Margaret Hamilton.”
Meg Maud: “I’ll take that challenge.”
Tom: “And your little dog, too!”
The imp jumps onto the screen.
Crow: “Satan, I’d like to move up the ladder in the lollipop guild.”
I never though I’d see a witch that looked like James Woods :razz:
About http://www.annotatedmst.com-I have emailed corrections in the past and the guy actually changed the page and made the correction. He might be busy if he doesn’t reply, and explained a previous disappearance by having been in the hospital.
This is all very well, but…
WHAT THE HECK IS THAT DARN BRAIN MADE OUT OF?!
I can’t eat, I can’t sleep…I MUST know….I MUST!!! :shock:
I’m going to say that the brain is made from Ballistic Gelatin dyed green.
RJ @ 63-Don’t know if this is right or if this will help you but it may be molded geliton(sp?). When I was a kid, we took some califlora(sp?II), skulped it a bit and spray painted it pink and it did not come out too bad ‘brain’ looking wise. We were thinking of getting some plaster of paris that was a bit set in a pan and putting that califlora in it to create a mold but mom caught us! Kids starving in China in those days you know.
Oh, yeah, how about some love for Digger Smolken? I think he’s the only character in this movie who’s having any fun with life and death. He may be mad — he seems to be taking the verdict of other people on this issue, and to be generally fine with that — but in a fairly respectable tradition as the madman he spins out chains of reasoning absurd enough that he’s the only person who actually makes sense.
Maybe I just like characters who mess your head, whether or not they dig graves.
Call me crazy, but I like both the movie and the riffing for this one. The movie’s dumb as a post, sure, but it’s got a certain cheerful energy to it and all the actors are having a ton of fun with their parts. But it’s got that peculiar, quirky charm that also makes it perfect for riffing.
“Hey, she’s got a zipper!”
“If she wants a zipper, Mike, she can have a zipper.”
“I saw the Undead when they were at Un-Alpine Un-Valley.”
Oh, and fun fact: Despite their mocking of the “Institute for Psychical Researchiculation”, “psychical” used to be a legitimate, accepted synonym for “psychic”. There still is a “Society for Psychical Research” in the UK, founded in 1882, with branches in other countries.
As for the host segments…yeah, the Bobo bit drags, but Mike as Leonard Maltin is an absolute triumph. “What the HELL were you thinking, you stupid, bearded man?!?!?!?” And Mike’s opening bizarre stream-of-consciousness rant about his temping days, and Digger Smolkin Sings…”Isn’t it rat? Aren’t we a corpse? Losing my coffin this time of the year…” Truly an all-time classic sketch, that one.
It’s your choice!
Allison Hayes (as Livia) vs.
Yvonne de Carlo (as Lily Munster)
I understand they both speak French. :evil:
Pendragon was the ‘hero’ ?
Now that I think about, this is a movie about 3 women, with all the men relegated to plot devices. The movie doesn’t have a male hero, it barely has a male lead role. Two of the women ( the ‘good’ ones ) are strong and independant and control their destinies, while the evil ( but mucho hot ) woman is subservient to the male satan.
Our heroine even sacrifices herself for the benefit the women she has yet to become.
Kind of modern, kind of enlightened.
There is something here for a feminist scholar to sink their teeth into.
Funny as STAYYYYY is, Bill’s description makes it even funnier. ‘Baffling vehemence’ indeed.
I was going to save this comment for the upcoming Corman discussion, but I’m totally in agreement with you Medium (#69). I think one of the reasons that Corman has been seen as deserving of an achievement award is not because his films are good, but because he tried to break out of the Hollywood mold at a time when it was very set, and give opportunities to some actors who may not had them.
Based on his MST3K films, we can at least credit Corman for attempting to break from people’s expectations. Tough female characters (scientists, sheriffs, doctors, crafty criminals) abound in his films. In The Undead, we see a nice reversal of 1950’s expectations: the stereotypical ugly, cackling witch Meg proves to be a force for good while the beautiful Livia is in fact the devil’s right hand. And you’re right, the men are often a bit slow (Pendragon, ‘Touch’ Conners in Swamp Diamonds) in comparison to the women.
The only point I might argue is that Livia is subservient. I’m not so sure she wouldn’t stab Satan in his off-center Adam’s apple and seize hell for herself if she could.
Re: #29: I agree with “The Professor” regarding Bruno VeSota. He appears in a a variety of roles in several Corman films the Brains did (as well as “Daddy-O” if I’m not mistaken) and I too believe he was a good character actor. Have we done that as a topic yet, Sampo?
Favorite riff (and I can’t believe no-one has mentioned it)
Tom: You know, Smolkin is naked sometimes, Mike.
Mike: Oh, damn you…
Mike vapor locking is one of my favorite moments from the show. The Lidia skit is pretty ingenious, and the split-screen/jump-cutting effects are really quite good.
The infamous final segment does go on too long… as someone pointed out, the brain jar shouldn’t have been shown until it was about to get sliced. I do think the agonized screams as Bobo takes bites out of the sammich is pretty funny though.
I love showing this episodes to visiting friends, since afterwards I can say, “I insist that you STAY!!”
I totally disagree about the Sandwich. I thought it was one of those things that got funnier the longer it went on. Also, I don’t think it was a mistake to show the container. The whole point was Bobo’s obliviousness, otherwise it wouldn’t have worked for me. Kevin and the screams were hillarious to me.
PS I, too, was dying to know what that brain was made of. Thanks DON3K!
Ironically, the sketch that dragged for me was the Digger Smokum “album” skit, but nobody else seems to be singling that one out.
I like the Three Stooges but Kevin was doing a bad Curly in that last segment. No real punch line, either.
Bill writes the best recaps. He should have done them all.
Actually i always thought of Bobo’s Sandwich as riffing on the Honeymooner’s Ed Norton and his often elaborate, silly and endlessly frustrating ( for Ralph ) preparations for simple tasks.
Hellooo Ball ( and STAAAAAYYYYYYY )
This was yet another middling ep for me, and I’m continuing to underrstand why I don’t revisit this part of season 8 often. The riffing has its moments, but overall just doesn’t hold my attention. At one point, I became more distracted by Allison Hayes and the actual plot and M&tB’s riffing became secondary. (Nice to see she’s getting some love here!) I did get a chuckle at Satan Pan at the very beginning; his “evil” laugh looks more like a guy who’s blown his line of dialogue more than anything sinister.
Then again, this is Roger Corman, so why should I be surprised?
Considering that some of Corman-directed-or-produced eps have made it to DVD, I think this would have the best chance out of the first 9 eps of S8 being released. Too bad it’s best feature is a hot actress who died 30 years ago! :roll:
Nicias @71.
I’ll grant you that maybe I’m over-reaching on the subservience thing. There’s enough meat to what we’re saying without it.
But I didn’t mean to go so far as to say that Corman was making a deliberate philosophical choice to empower the female in American Cinema. I am more likely to suggest that he simply had some kind of FemDom fantasy thing going on…
DON3K @ 64:
Hmmm….I’ll buy that. Seems to be the most logical theory. I had always thought that ballistic gelatin was a bit more “wiggly” than that, but on that small of a scale, it probably wouldn’t be.
Thanks…I can now move on to other irrelevant, trivial things to worry about… :smile:
Everyone’s mentioned “STAAAAAAYY!” as their quotable from this episode, but in my household, Crow’s weird obsession with the Men’s Wearhouse commercials get the most repetitions.
“Will you get a quality education that you can afford? I guarantee it. Is there water at the bottom of the ocean? I guarantee it. Do I guarantee it? I guarantee it.”
Oh that’s right! The Men’s Warehouse commercials. Those were on all the time on Sci-Fi, so hearing Crow make fun of them was quite refreshing.
I think the final sketch was worth it. “mayoNAISE!” was HUGE in my household for a few years there.
Yeah, my sister occasionally makes the “mayoNAISE” reference to this day. Love that bit.
PS–To I’m not a medium, I’m a petite I’m actually not a 3 Stooges Fan, if that helps any. I just enjoyed the… screams… (awkward moment, looks away). I guess by definition that skit is “love it or hate it”.
I guess it could be like Norton, but Pearl isn’t there to yell something like, “OHWOULDYOUJUST…!”
I saw it as a Curly skit due to the childish nonsense song while he was preparing a sandwich.
i like this one, though don’t watch it often – gotta be in the right mood. Even after repeated viewings i probably couldn’t explain the plot … I think this has more flashbacks than any other movie they ever riffed, like Mike says “I need a flowchart for this movie” & “I’ve never known more about what’s not going on in a movie”
Hit-and-miss host segments, Servo acing the ‘Observer’ test is great, Bridget as the shape-shifting witch cracks me up. The part with Mike’s old LP of Digger Smolken doesn’t do much for me and goes on and on and on, & the ‘brain sandwich’ sketch should definitely be shortened by 1/3.
Actually a pretty boring film (distinct community theater feel to the acting, it’s a very different kind of badness from the other Corman flicks) but the riffing is right-on, the last 30minutes are exceptional! it’s also really funny to see the “It Conquered the World” alien probes as bats!
Mike sums it up; “yeah, Corman’s a good director”
I remember watching this unMisted on late night TV as a teenager. So I have always liked this, and remembered Allison Hayes. I can’t believe noone else remembers that she was the 50 foot woman.
Didn’t like this one. Watched it awhile ago, but couldn’t sit through it again for this discussion.
Medium @ 78: You’re right; Corman’s primary intent was definitely to supply a healthy share of titillation in the films using these tough female roles. Beverly Garland’s sexy sheriff outfit and the wrestling scenes from Swamp Diamonds make that quite clear. But intent aside, it was definitely really different from a lot of the female roles that were out there at the time. Compare Coleman’s female characters to Bert I. Gordon’s for example. The former are far more interesting because they’re less well-behaved. And it did give some skilled actresses a chance to play some interesting character types. I seem to remember Beverly Garland commenting about her frustration about playing passive roles, or something to that effect.
I LOVE this episode and for me this was my “It’s going to be all right” moment. I thought that the first few episodes of season 8 were shaky, especially Bill as Crow, but in this one the elements all gelled and, even better, we got an old-school ROGER CORMAN movie! While I admit I would’ve preferred a short to longer host segments I do love the host segments, my one complaint is the GREAT “Observo” bit (complete with Harpo Marx reference) ends with that goofy chase scene. The ever-changing positions of the spoons on the floor are awful. However, the witch changing and Bobo’s sandwich are perfect. LOVED the witch changing into Pearl! And the opening segment (with rare comedy central-era references) and following test segment are perfect with spot-on moments for EVERY character, even Gypsy. One of my favorites of the season and the best of the “front 9”.
I know I’m posting this so late that it’ll likely get no response, but is there a list of each song being parodied on the Digger Smolken album? I didn’t notice one in ward e, and I just don’t recognize what, “Isn’t it rat? Aren’t we a corpse? Losing my coffin, this time of the rat…”, is supposed to be a spoof of. It’s not ‘Year of the Cat’, is it?
Until I saw 806 rerun in the fall of ’97, I didn’t even know there’d been a forth Observer ep, the only one I missed. If I had, this might have replaced She Creature as my personal fav of the first 9 B&W, since it certainly has the most unique feel. “Videohound’s Cult Flicks and Trash Pics” talks this one up quite a bit due to it’s surreal “dreamlike” quality (they’re always nice to Corman anyway).
For favorite riff, I’ll pick: “Corman’s approach to set illimination: Light and get away.” I had several broadcasting classes that covered lighting, and buy a lot of fireworks, so I guess that one hit home. Everyone remembers which U.S. Marines commercial they’re referring to when the knight first rides by, right?
I personally loved every host seg in this one, having a rare balance of story-arc and movie-based sketches. How often do we ever see Tom Servo cranking his hoverskirt up to high and running around in an open space?
I didn’t tape most of Season 8 until reruns in ’98, so mine likely has different annoying commercials, but those same pre-Miss-Cleo Psychic(-al?) Friends Network ads were still going. I refer to them as the “Snackwells-Lady ads”, since the gabbing women remind me of the stars of those other commercials airing around the same time (Hey there, COOKIEMAN!). Never tried the cookies, but I miss those ranch crackers.
There was also one surprisingly catchy video game ad that I can’t find on Youtube: “The future is FORSAKEN! The FUTURE is FORSAKEN!”
Weird coincidence: I was showing 801-809 to a friend this spring, and on the day of The Undead, I also happened to bring a ‘Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea’ comic I’d just found, because he’d said he had no idea who the Richard Baseheart was that Gypsy had a crush on. I explained what little I knew of VTTBOTS from one of those SciFi Channel Lost in Space ads that were just a few seconds of a cast interview, and lo and behold, right after the non-stinger, the very ad I’d just recalled with Bill Mumy explaining how the two Irwin Allen shows frequently swapped monsters-of-the-week was right there to clear it up. Since I hadn’t screened the tape first, that just seemed, what you’d call “weird”.
I was working at a video store when this episode first aired and I ended up watching it on the store Televisions after the 7:30 rush. The people that were in the store during the brain sammich sketch were laughing their butts off. Nobody had any idea what they were watching, but the entire place stopped their browsing to stand beneath the televisions and watch.
Seems to me it was a pretty effective sketch, and remains one of my favorites.
#90 – The Bolem:
“Isn’t it rat…Are we a corpse”, etc., is a parody of Stephen Sondheim’s “Send In The Clowns” from the musical “A Little Night Music”.
Only one of MANY times they used this song as a punch line throughout the series.
“why does he have his head in the roll basket?”
One last thought before discussing The Terror! tomorrow–no, wait, that’s another non-mstied Corman joint–I mean…
*Ahem* …regarding Pen-druh-gone (Tom: “Pen-DRAGON!”) He was indeed discussed in the “Lamest Heroes” thread, but someone raised the question of whether he even counts as the hero of The Undead. Given that the women in the movie account for at least 60% of all action taken, the only 2 men with bigger parts are insane and something of a jerk, respectively, perhaps giving him that title by default. However, a lot of us would be inclined to call him the hero just because he does fulfill the archetype in a typical medieval story: a noble young man concerned with saving the woman he loves. At least, that’s what he SEEMS to be if you overlook the fact that he doesn’t do much of anything; he was so easily coerced by whoever even suggested his next course of action that he just spent the first hour being led around and stored various places by the other characters. If a “hero” is to be judged by the actions he takes, then all we have to go on is the final reel, wherein he decides he’s through being a tool… and stabs Livia, who I guess he finally got through his head was a witch, but was still an unarmed woman.
So because that was the only thing he truly DID, and we already did “Lamest Hero in a MSTed movie”, perhaps Pendragon could be better discussed alongside J.C. from Sidehackers in a “Most absurdly despicable character in a MSTed movie” thread. Not that he necessarily is, but it bears consideration.
This one has some good moments, but most of the Cormans don’t really do it for. Just average.
B
In regards to Corman’s “feminism,” is it bad to think that Angels Revenge would have been a better movie if Corman had directed it?
Oh, I can’t believe I forgot Corman’s most visionary masterstroke in this film: He gave us Satan’s cheerleaders years before ‘Satan’s Cheerleaders’! Woohoo! Spartan Spirit!
I was looking for articles on hypnosis, believe it or not, when I came across your great post which got me thinking and lead me to what I was looking for. Strange world isn’t it.
this one is near impossible to sit through without the riffing. with it it’s still pretty rough. Roger Corman, shame on you. i’d love to STAAAAAAYY but i have to go…walk the imp…yeah that’s it.
Pert and pretty Brooklyn-born (December 28, 1924) actress Pamela Duncan made brief movie news in the 1950s as a “B” level performer and would be best remembered for her damsel-in-distress participation in two of Roger Corman’s cult turkeys — Attack of the Crab Monsters (1957) and The Undead (1957), both co-starring Richard Garland. She played a dual role in the latter. Known for her exceptional fresh-faced beauty, she won several local pageants as a bobbysoxer on her way up. Deciding to pursue a movie career, she made her debut in Whistling Hills (1951) and appeared in small bits for the most part. In addition to her two prime sci-fi roles, she also enacted the role of Mike Hammer’s secretary in the low-budget film whodunit My Gun Is Quick (1957).
Pamela was also a decorative presence on many major TV programs, especially westerns, such as “Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok” (1951), “The Roy Rogers Show” (1951), “The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin” (1954), “Colt .45” (1957), “Laramie” (1959), “Death Valley Days” (1952) and “Maverick” (1957). She also provided pleasant distraction on crime-solving dramas including “Perry Mason” (1957), “Peter Gunn” (1958), “Mr. Lucky” (1959) and “The Detectives” (1959). Following her brief “15 minutes” of fame, her career quickly phased out in the early 60s. Out of touch for decades, she appeared out of nowhere in the Oscar-nominated documentary Curtain Call (2000), a documentary that focused on the lives and careers of the residents of the Lillian Booth Actors’ Fund of America Home in Englewood, New Jersey. She lived there for the last ten years of her life. The 80-year-old Pamela suffered a stroke and died at the home on November 11, 2005.
Favorite lines:
Roger Corman’s “Backdraft”…Smokey says, “only you can prevent Roger Corman.”
[Satan/Richard Devon] Peter Pan, antichrist…Satan, the Prince of Cabaret.
[Diana/Pamela Duncan smoking] He’s offering her a hand grenade.
Dirty, greasy walls—a short lived design fad.
He’s not hypnotizing her, he’s merely boring her.
“I am nowhere.” Oh, Nebraska.
[Helene under body in coffin] Weekend at Bernie’s the early years…This is how Anthony Quinn’s wife must feel.
[cat becomes Livia/Allison Hayes] Wow, she still coughs up hair balls though…I’d like to flea bomb her, I’ll tell you that.
[Livia kisses Pendragon] Her breath smells like Fancy Feast.
Please get me out of this film…I’ll go back to waitressing, I promise.
[old witch/Dorothy Neumann] She’s hitting happy hour with Margaret Hamilton…Are you hiring strippers?
[Imp/Billy Barty] Now I understand dwarf tossing. Good old fashioned nightmare fuel.
We need a flowchart for this movie.
[Livia kills Scroop/Bruno Ve Sota] If this was a Coen Brothers film he’d be in the woodchipper so fast.
“Wake the Emperor of Hell.” You know Michael Eisner?
[three graveyard dancers] The June Taylor Corpses.
If you pledge your soul, you’ll get a Satan totebag.
This guy was never in heaven, he was cast out of Community Theatre.
I’ve never known more about what isn’t going on in a movie.
Outdone by Bob Fosse in a Peter Pan hat.
Final Thought: Allison Hayes is hot. I give this one 3 out of 5 stars.