Movie: (1971) An aimless young man encounters a rural family that seems to have some secrets.
First shown: 7/11/98
Opening: The bots seek wassail from Mike
Intro: Mike finds a wassail loophole; Steffi the babysitter is left in charge
Host segment 1: Mike learns that walnut ranching is hard work
Host segment 2: Crow tries a test to see if he’s a witch
Host segment 3: Grandma Servo attacks
End: Crow sells his soul to Stan; storytime with Steffi
Stinger: “This is where the fish lives.”
(295 votes, average: 4.52 out of 5)
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• This is a pretty unremarkable and meandering movie, and it’s one of those episode that I remembered as being kind of dreary and not terribly funny, but on rewatching it I found myself laughing quite a bit. The segments are mostly the usual random silliness, but of course they are livened by the appearance of the totally awesome (and deadly) Beez.
• Paul, who at this time was doing a lot of the writeups, offers his thoughts.
• References.
• This ep was included in Rhino’s The Mystery Science Theater 3000 Collection, Vol. 5
• The movie is directed by a guy named Don Henderson. The director and star of the movie “Billy Jack,” Tom Laughlin, occasionally used the pseudonym Don Henderson. Because that, a number of MSTies, including our own Daddy-O, became convinced that Laughlin was the director of this. I was never convinced, and more than a little uneasy about his claims, but I gave him the benefit of the doubt. Laughlin passed away a couple of weeks ago and I scoured the obituaries about him and found zero evidence to back up this belief. We have removed any reference to it in the page for this episode in Daddy-O’s Drive-in Dirt.
• On the Rhino DVD, Mike does a little introduction and calls it “A Touch of Satan,” and makes a little riff on that. But it’s THE Touch of Satan. Kinda ruins the joke.
• Beez’s stint as Steffi the babysitter had a huge reaction from fans, especially young male ones. There was much hopeful conversation about whether she would be a permanent cast member.
• You sometimes wonder what sparks a segment. How did “wassail” come up?
• In segment 2, Mike climbs a ladder and we can see that he is wearing some pretty fruity sandals, if you ask me.
• Several shots of flowery meadows sparks an attack of Tom’s hay fever. Kind of reminds me of when Josh sneezed in the theater back in season one.
• Callbacks: “Stay!” (The Undead) and “You been hittin’ the BOOZE again!” (Giant Spider Invasion).
• In segment 3, Mike, who last week was reading “Bleak House,” is this week reading Henry Kissinger’s “Years of Upheaval.” Where is he getting these books?
• That’s Paul as the voice of Stan Johnson.
• Cast and crew roundup: Special effects guy Steve Karkus also worked on “Parts: The Clonus Horror.” Makeup guy Joe Blasco also worked on “Parts: The Clonus Horror,” and did special effects for “Track of the Moon Beast.” In front of the camera, Robert Easton was also in “The Giant Spider Invasion” and did voices for “Invaders from the Deep.”
• CreditsWatch: Directed by Kevin. This was Dan Breyer’s and Scott Bowman’s last episode as interns, and Nick Prueher’s first.
• Fave riff: “Get off the road, mangoat!” Honorable mention: “I sure hope he said peanuts.”
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If I ever get a cat and a dog, and name them Robert and Andrew respectively, blame this movie. The way Mike says ‘Robert the cat’ just kills me. This is a good episode, not really a favorite but definitely worth rewatching sometimes.
CANNED wassail?!
I’ve given this one a couple of goes before and both times came away feeling pretty neutral about it all. Judging from most of the comments here, perhaps third time will be the charm.
As far as the Brain’s POV goes, i just think of them as always coming from a “midwestern sensibility.” So that may strike some as a little conservative but that doesn’t really fit them at all. They were always willing to take shots at the NY/LA cultural scene as well as Republicans, for instance.
This episode’s a weird one for me. It has plenty of funny moments from Mike and the ‘Bots, and the sketches with Beez as the babysitter are hilarious, but some of the host segments fall flat (the wassail sketch in particular) and this movie just gives off a creepy vibe that has never gone away after multiple viewings. Unlike truly awful movies like Monster-a-Go-Go or Manos, which are so bad they’re ripe fodder for the Brains to riff upon, I don’t think this one qualifies as a bad movie. With better acting it could’ve been a decent horror movie. Overall it’s a good episode but I don’t consider it amongst the best. 3.5 stars out of five.
Yes, I agree with you on that, bad wolf. That’s another reason why it irks me but I get over it quickly since you can’t blame someone for growing up the only way they knew how, even if the sensibility in question appears to be based in bigotry to you. Aside from that, they DO make fun of everybody with equal aplomb.
As far as I can tell from interviews and such, the guys (and gals) at BB were pretty much standard Minnesota-style liberals. But they were smart enough and sensitive enough to realize that if they said something really offensive about the political right or Christianity or any other religion, they would be alienating a huge chunk of their fan base. I’m a born-again Christian and very proud of it, but I have never been offended by anything the guys or ‘bots said. I think they played it right down the middle, as any really smart entertainer would.
According to IMDB one of the alternate titles for The Touch of Satan was The Touch of Melissa which sounds like a lot better movie than the one they showed on MST3K.
And “The Touch of Melissa” sounds like a much better movie than “The Touch of Lucinda”.
BTW. I don’t know if any of you have ever had a Walnut tree, but they are a mess. They are not like pecans. Pecans are in a thin husk that self-splits and falls away with no mess, leaving a dry nut to deal with.
Walnuts form inside a yellowish-green ball of a husk, that’s about the size of an orange.
http://fastgrowtheweeds.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/img_6934.jpg
http://z.about.com/d/forestry/1/0/G/l/bwalnut3.jpg
It’s full of this awful pulp that stains your hands, or anything else it touches, a yellowish green. As a matter of fact, it’s used to create a fabric dye. As they fall to the ground and dry, they turn into these dessicated black balls that, again, stain anything they touch. Running over them with a mower and having them hit something, or stepping on them will stain. Basically, yeah, they’re messy. Still doesn’t explain the need for so much hay.
hmm… Lucinda… Lucifer… think about it, won’t you ?
Mmmmmmmmmmm, Steffi babysitter……… ;-)
Now why could NONE of the babysitters I had growing up, look anything like her !!!!!!!! :roll:
Uh, sorry……………that should have been Steffi “the” babysitter. :oops:
I can’t think of any kind of intro today so I’ll just say “Zaa!”
And it might help that I actually Submit my comments on the day I start typing them (had this ready Thursday morning, just now actually submitting it).
Movie:
* This is one I never got the chance to show my friends on college. I went to a fairly religious school and who knows what would have happened if word got out that I was showing devil movies.
* This is indeed one of those movies that would be hard to watch on its own, but the riffing makes it very worthwhile every time. Not in my Top 3 for this season, but definitely in the Top 5.
* I find it interesting that in the opening scenes the family really does sound like they’re talking about what just happened to the farmer.
* My theory is that Luther and Molly are other members of the Strickland family who were entrusted with taking care of Melissa and Lucinda, but aren’t direct descendants of David Strickland.
* Like Paul says, I look forward to seeing Robert Easton again each time I watch this.
* Called riff: “S’me.” – “Is Captain Hook there?”
* Favorite riffs:
“Well now Andy I think there was a demon in the car!” – Mike
“Talk. Quicker!” – Crow
“I sure love the yelling channel.” – Servo
Host Segments:
* At this point, nothing to say that hasn’t already been said.
* Favorite line: “Enjoy the great taste of wassail. In cans!”
Things I Learned from this Episode:
* Sweat yourself thin with walnut ranching!
* David Spade as Satan really is a good casting choice.
* The fish can indeed tell you where it lives.
* The Warrior of the Lost World’s victory fist is also the sign to summon the devil.
This is one of those eps that grew on me after repeat viewings. It’s also one of those films that could be better if re-written at certain points; even with its incompetence, there is a certain creepiness that is conveyed, and I assume that’s what the director was going for. Mike and the ‘bots also do a great job riffing, and the host segments are good for afew laughs.
Final thought: “ZAAAA!” is right up there with “Otchka!” (from Incredible Melting Man) as the funniest nonsensical lines in any MST movie.
It’s my understanding that the books Mike and the bots read on the SoL are intended to be part of the experiment in awfulness. Dr. F and Pearl sent them the awful books that they read on the show. At least that’s how I’ve always understood it.
Wow! The IMDB says that Robert Easton was a “quiz kid” back in the 1940’s and that he’s an expert in dialects and trains other actors how to speak with foreign accents. I knew that I’d heard him speaking with an English accent is some movies. And he was born in Wisconsin but I guess he mostly grew up in Texas.
This one makes me laugh, I think my favorite joke is right in the beginning of the titles when Tom says “The Touch of Satan softens your hands while you do the dishes.” Always makes me laugh. :lol:
“ZA!” would have made a good stinger had there been the, “This is where the fish lives,” line.
“had there not been the,………”
“I’m not going back, Jim!”
Honestly, who wrote the dialogue in this movie? There are so many lines that are so completely ridiculous that even George Lucas would have to step back and say, “Maybe I should rephrase.” “I bet you have nine boyfriends” and “This is where the fish lives” seem like the sort of thing someone with very limited command of the English language would say, and even that’s only because English isn’t their first language. And how did we make it this far without anyone mentioning “fromikidal maniacs?”
The episode as a whole is pretty good. It almost seems to be tailor-made for riffing, what with the long pauses and aforementioned ludicrous dialogue. Plenty of good lines from the guys (agreed with #101 that Mike’s “Robert the cat” kills me every time), but this one seems almost too easy for them.
Host segments are solid. The wassailing sketch is great, and only gets better the closer you listen to Crow’s phone order as part of Mike “severe financial penalties” (what does he need a porcelain cat for?). The dynamic between Observer and Steffi is great, though I too found the “Bobo treated like dog” bit to be a little grating. The others are decent to excellent, and I always enjoy references to Crow being made of molybdenum. While this is probably the episode from Volume 5 I watch the least, that’s mostly because the others are all personal favorites; I’ll still watch this any time over any episode from Volume 3.
Fromikidal! I always forget about that bit until I’m actually watching this episode. The mark of a bad movie–they take a little piece of quaint character development and hammer it to death within 30 seconds.
Add me to the list of Steffi lovers. Damn, but she’s cute! “NO BARK!”
Insect Man, while most of the brains might call themselves liberals, Mike has said in interviews that he considers himself a conservative. For whatever that’s worth.
“Who’s got it going on? ME, that’s WHO!” *Shudder* Old granny-sis mummy scares the beejeebers outta me. Ugh, lol.
I always insert my own riff at the beginning as they enter the theater. The “Dundee Productions” tag seemed like a missed opportunity to me. In hackneyed Paul Hogan voice: “That’s not a production – THIS is a production!”
Old Lucinda is really creepy. I’m glad I never found this movie on TV when I was a kid in the ’80s. I’m sure that I would have been scared of the old lady.
I like the part of the movie when she’s having her freak out.
“They turned me down for the policy! They said it couldn’t happen!”
Then she charges out of the room with that chair and knocks down Luther and his wife.
“I knew I could take ya! I could take the whole family!”
The Gorgo-Mormo thing was also used in one of HP Lovecraft’s stories (The Horror at Red Hook). So that actually might have been the inspiration for its use in this, since he is kind of a famous horror author…
I seem to be the only human alive who thinks the guy actually said, “ZAP!” in the grocery store. That would be more like a witch’s whammy, wouldn’t it?
I just think the soundtrack didn’t catch it very well. Zap.
This episode has one of my favorite host segment bits, where Steffi calls Crow by the name of “Cow” and he subconsciously rolls with it.
Tom: I’m Servo.
Crow: And I’m Cow!
Mike: Crow.
Crow: What?
Mike: No, you’re Crow.
Crow: Yeah, I know. Of course I’m Crow. I just said I’m Crow, you great feeb!
It’s just such a great interaction between them. The whole movie is great, but that is probably my top moment of the episode.
LOL at the “fruity sandals” comment by Sampo. I always notice when he’s wearing those too, being a long time Chuckers wearer.
One of the great ones…just on the cusp of my top twenty. I’ve watched this so many times I was a little afraid I’d worn it out. But after watching it last night, I can say doubling over with laughter, and laughing so hard I hurt myself is not hyperbole.
Grandma is comic gold. She may not get as much lovin’ as Torgo and Ortego and such, but she is one of my favorite MST characters as far as riffing goes. “Who’s got it goin’ on. Me. I do!” is in my top five ever riffs. Also great: “I like to sleep on the left side.”
Has anyone mentioned Tom Laughlin yet? He’s such a weird director. Both this and his Billy Jack films have an “arty” feeling in terms of pacing and even occasional shots (the camera spinning around Melissa Two Shed’s David Cassid-y hair). Did Tom think “This is where the fish lives” was Bergman-y profound? Really the pacing is sooo odd in this film…not just 70’s slow but down right weird…maybe Tom had seen La Adventura or Zabriskie Point before filming this.
And…even if that were “peanuts” in Luther’s liquor…I mean, peanut liquor? I’ve had homemade vodka made with walnuts before (I’m not kidding) and it’s really quite good though I prefer one I had made from pine. But peanuts?
Luther obviously has some powers because he so easily handcuffs our hero in the barn. But then again our Cali-dude is so easily distracted. But who the hell is he (Luther) if not her father?
A
It’s not peanut liquor. It’s hard apple cider and Luther put some peanuts in the liquor. Maybe they add something to the flavor of the cider or do something for acidity?
Luther and his wife are either related to Melissa or they are part of a long tradition of people who ran the farm for Melissa and know about her pact with Satan. Considering how sweaty Luther gets, I don’t think Satan is helping him out by making life easy on the farm.
“I seem to be the only human alive who thinks the guy actually said, “ZAP!” in the grocery store. That would be more like a witch’s whammy, wouldn’t it?
I just think the soundtrack didn’t catch it very well. Zap.”
NO, “fathermushroom”, you are NOT alone……………every time I hear someone reference the “Za” line, I always find myself thinking, “NO, that makes absolutely NO sense…….he HAD to have said “ZAP” !!!!”
And I completely agree with your assessment………I think it was just poor audio recording equipment (along with the actor’s “over-enthusiastic” delivery of the word) that failed to satisfactorily pick-up that piece of dialogue. Kind of makes sense for a production that didn’t seem to be exactly “flush with cash”……….. ;-)
Peanuts in apple cider? You’re probably right but I’m going to have to do some research on this one. :evil:
Hi, we found this here when i did a fast yahoo search. Fine post you got here! Keep it up!
I didn’t get around to reading all the posts until now, and I don’t want one of the last entries to be a downer, but as good as this one was, it just always felt like it could’ve been a lot better if Mary Jo hadn’t been absent. Not that there was anything in particular missing, but they were such a well-oiled riffing machine by this point that they paid the price when a gear was removed. And though the host segs were all played well, the concept of a babysitter forcing two intelligent characters into a condescending situation always struck me as a bit phoned-in.
Not that I dislike 908; rather, this is my only “background noise” ep. If a show is on that I like, I’ve a compulsion to give it my undivided attention that prevents me from sleeping or doing anything else, but this one was just as enjoyable if doing something around the house, or even running out to the store, and just checking back in on it occasionally.
Maybe it’s also that I’ve seen it so many times, as it’s one they never lost the rights to, and came out in the 2nd SciFi box set. Makes it ironic that MJP was absent to film the segments for Gorgo, whose airings you can count on one hand, and isn’t likely to get Shout!ed anytime soon.
And even stranger is “Gorgo” getting mentioned here, an ep before his MST debut! And someone pointed out the fish moving to Florida, possibly to star in Devilfish…and that guy phoned the devil in Space Children…man, this was the only season I saw in order from start to finish, and I somehow never noticed the great continuity! Who needs a season-8-style story arc?
Also, does Carnation still make ice cream? I remember seeing ads for their instant breakfasts when I was younger, (“…you’re gonna’ love it in an in-stant!”), but that’s all.
And I can’t believe I missed a near-flame-war about our feelings on religion. Makes me appreciate the peace of mind I get from knowing which comic-book writer created the god I pray to every night.
And I’ve used “ZA” in Scrabble for years. Did Carnation ever do frozen pizzas? Maybe that’s what Jodie was hungry for?
What’s a “prop diva”? (#61)
Since no one (I don’t believe) answered you “ck”, I’ll take a shot………..although the detailed background information can actually be found right here:
https://www.mst3kinfo.com/satnews/brains/beez1.html
“Prop Diva” refers specifically to Beth “Beez” McKeever, which evolved from her official title as “Prop Assistant” on the show, and basically meant that she was involved in all aspects of prop use (procurement of, construction of, use of, etc., etc.).
If you’ve seen this episode (TOS), you’ve already witnessed her finest hour as ( sigh!!! ) “Steffi” the babysitter, in another of her many duties, that of occasional performer…..
I love following heroes episodes, it started from boring into a fine tv series now. After watching first few eps, Thought, its another xmen . Now its really thrilling, I really hope the new season will be released soon.
“There’s tons of varnished bread laying around in there. Just push it out of the way.”
This is a weird episode for me. You’ll notice below I have a fair list of favorite riffs yet on the whole it is a blah episode for me. I guess the whole is somehow less than the sum of its parts.
The Rhino DVD menu has the Shadowrama outline of Joel instead of Mike as it should be for this episode.
I have a farming background. (dairy/beef not walnut) So I really loved the first host segment. There are many days I looked and smelled like Mike at the end of the day. You’ll also notice many of my favorite riffs were surrounding the concept of applying livestock farming to walnut farming.
Anyway I think Mike summed it up best: “Man, if you can’t trust the devil…”
Favorite Riffs:
Jodie questions why Melissa doesn’t have a boyfriend. Melissa “We live on a farm.” Crow “We don’t raise boyfriends.”
Jodie “I’ve never been on a walnut ranch.” Tom “How many head of walnut do you have?”
Mike “Man, if she doesn’t love him after riding in his Maverick she’s a total ice princess.”
Molly “She’s a pretty girl isn’t she.”
Jodie “Yes she is”
Mike “Yeah I can’t imagine where she got it.”
Luther is moving hay bales. Tom “These walnuts are tearing through the hay.”
Jodie and Melissa share a kiss shortly after she shows him where the fish live. Crow as Jodie “This is where my tongue lives.”
Tom as Jodie “Nice door. I’d like to see it crumpled up next to my bed… oh wait.”
Jodie sees Lucinda for the first time in his room. Crow as Lucinda to Jodie “I usually like the left side of the bed if that is okay.”
Melissa “They say in this town I’m a witch.”
Jodie “a witch?”
Crow as background store patron “It only rhymes with witch.”
An establishing shot of Melissa’s witchcraft shack in the prairie. Mike “Cabin 5 is not on the lake per se.”
Jodie is doubled over throwing up:
Crow as Luthor “Hot dog, French fries, ramen noodles… look at him go.”
Tom “Ya know a vomit stained Maverick was hardly a rarity in those days.”
The Bechdel Test results for The Touch of Satan are rather ambiguous. While the conversation between Melissa and Lucinda appears to be male-free, it’s not certain as the latter is impossible to understand. There’s also the possibility of when Melissa pledges her soul to the Devil, as Satan had a female voice in that scene. But again, it’s inconclusive.
The witchburners seemed to be rather apathetic in their chanting.
Personally, I think Green Eggs and Ham is one of Dr. Seuss’ more overrated works.
This Guy #81: When Jodie is looking at the bookshelf, Servo says “there’s a copy of the NecroMONicon,” mispronouncing NecroNOMicon. It isn’t a real book anyway, but still.
Unless you want to count all those trade paperback versions.
@ #85: I would say it’s just that Hollywood screenwriters as a group generally have as firm a grasp of theology as they do of science.
@ #109: Must be why walnut ranching got Mike all sweaty while Servo was able to take it easy with the pecan farming.
Favorite riffs:
You know he’s Satan because he didn’t signal his turn.
“They catch the guy yet?”
Nope, I’m still at large.
“Because I wanted to see what was at the other end.”
And your end was at the other end.
This is where my tongue lives.
Signed copy of the Necronomicon there.
Ah! It’s a hideous thing made of skin! Oh, it’s just me.
Look out! Walnut stampede!
“Well, hello John. What brings you out this way?”
And if you say, “My squad car,” I’ll chainsaw you in half.
I like this place because they have bulk eye of newt.
After the movie, remember to pick up some CARNATION ICE CREAM!
A killer grandma, locked in a barn. Something’s not right here.
Ha! Look at them go, you yellowbelly. oh, you’re not.
Caleb, what kind of charcoal did you use?
Mike, what were you guys doing during the Seventies? Making witch movies and inhaling huge clouds of marijuana with bug ugly flared pants on.
We had to do something.
May the Dark One hold your soul in his clutch– Uh, I mean, safe trip.
[As the camera closes in on Jodie and Melissa humping]
Okay kids, the picnic is this way. AAAAAHHHH!!!!!
This is a good-but-not-great episode for me too. The first time I saw it I didn’t care for it much but the next time it grew on me a little. Since I spent all my (thankfully Satan-free) teenage years in the ’70s, I really like seeing all the terrible clothes, hairstyles, and home dec. Overall it’s typical of the made-for-TV movies of the time, washed out and not as exciting as you’d hoped from the title. I think the movie needed more than just a touch of Satan. Maybe “A Fistful of Satan” would have been better.
Eh. Just a so-so episode for me. I liked the opening credits stuff, and the riffs related to the current domicile of a certain ichthyoid.
As for the host segments, I loved the wassail bit, and Servo’s murderous grandma was also funny. However, I just don’t get all the hype over the babysitter stuff. Nothing against Beez, but I never found any of it all that funny. Then again, I don’t remember ever having a babysitter as a child, so maybe that’s it (unless you count my older sister).
Haven’t seen this mentioned, but the Director of Photography on The Touch Of Satan is Jordan Cronenweth, who went on to be Ridley Scott’s DP in the incredible visual feast that is Blade Runner. Well, I guess you gotta start somewhere.
P.S. ??? I love you Steffi! ???
I’ve decided to finish Tom’s song, with apologies to Burt Bacharach and Hal David.
What do you get when you fall from grace?
You only get cast into perdition
That’s what you get, it’s a tradition
I’ll never save a witch again,
I’ll never save a witch again
Don’t tell me what it’s all about
‘Cause I’ve been cursed and I can’t get out
Out of these chains, these chains that bind me
Walnuts and fish are here to remind me
Oh, what do you get when you lure a guy?
You only get Zaa! and toil and trouble
A sister who kills to burst your bubble
I’ll never save a witch again,
Don’t you know I’ll never save a witch again
You gotta love Grandma Dried Apple Head!! “Oh, good day. Took a walk, got that dress sewn, killed.”
what will we watch in 19 weeks, I wonder
softens your hands- while you do the dishes…
This is where my tongue lives.
@ #1- I always thought Mike was referring to another Fritz Crisler:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fritz_Crisler
My old post circa #85 is a little botched since there are explicit references to the devil in the movie, but the whole thing really does seem to be theologically confused. I like this one. 2nd tier but solid. Have a Swayzie Christmas and a Happy Holiday all. If that’s OK with you.