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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Deadly Mantis-it’s better than other movies I’ve watched on tv. I’m also fascinated by bugs and I’d like to find a mantis this year and get a picture of it. Yes, I take pictures of bugs. :silly:
Earth vs. The Spider-I saw this on AMC and it was definitely watchable, good atmosphere inside the spider’s cave.
Time Chasers-it’s better than 99% of Syfy Channel original productions.
My response to #15 about Gorgo-maybe because more people are into Dorkin than would ever actually admit it? Seriously though, Gorgo is a decent movie, if I’d been alive back then I’d have gone to a theater to see it.
Out of idle curiosity
here’s a list (hopefully not too inaccurate) of selections
on this topic. Only those selected three or more times are listed.
There’s some ambiguity. For example some generically cited Godzilla
or Gamera while others selected a specific movie. Being lazy they
were conflated (whatever that means :-) ).There are some surprises.
Diabolik-17
Time Chasers-15
Godzilla-14
Gamera-14
jack Frost-10
The Crawling Eye-10
The Magic Sword-8
Squirm-8
Revenge Of The Creature-7
Parts: The Clonus Horror-7
Black Scorpion-7
Deadly Mantis-7
Earth vs. Spider-7
Tormented-6
Master Ninja I-6
Master Ninja II-6
Alien from L.A.- 6
I Was A Teenaged Werewolf-6
Space Mutiny-6
Amazing Colossal Man-6
Beginning Of The End-6
Catalina Caper-5
Mole people-5
I Accuse My Parents-5
Horror Of Party Beach-5
Kitten With A Whip-5
Bloodlust-5
Marooned-5
Hercules-5
The Incredible…..-5
Gorgo-5
Village Of The Giants-4
Skydivers-4
Manos-4
Soultaker-4
The Brain That Wouldn’t Die-4
This Island Earth-4
Puma Man-4
Santa Clasus-4
Eegah-4
Village Of The Giants-4
Bride Of The Monster-3
The Green Slime-3
Moon Zero Two-3
A Touch Of Satan-3
OatMB-3
Girl In Gold Boots-3
Riding With death-3
Horrors Of Spider Island-3
Bride Of The Monster-3
Oh yeah, Robot Monster is a movie we purchased on DVD without the riffing AFTER seeing it on MST3K. It’s just that funny on its own and surprisingly watchable kind of like Plan 9 From Outer Space.
My votes go for all the Godzilla and Gamera movies. I grew up watching those things.
All the Hercules movies and I don’t even really know why.
The Brain That Wouldn’t Die was one I’d seen before MST3k and would watch again.
The Beginning of the End. I actually liked the movie. Although I don’t think I could ever watch the “interrogation” scene without remembering how MST3k made me hyperventilate.
This Island Earth isn’t too bad. Watched it unriffed as soon as I found out that was what they were doing for the movie.
And finally Revenge of the Creature. Don’t knock the old Universal horror films. I own them all and every october I happily bust them out.
I would have to say tha the GODZILLA/ GAMERA films are pretty watchable by themselves…goofy, but watchable…I would also like to include those Russo-Finish films like JACK FROST or SINBAD…they are weird, but not really unwatchable.
As a lifelong lover of B movies, I think I could watch almost any MSTed movie in its original form. For my top 10, I’d have to go with (in no particular order):
Humanoid Woman
Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster
The Crawling Eye
The Magic Voyage of Sinbad
Space Mutiny
Night of the Blood Beast
Warrior of the Lost World
Soultaker
The Brain/Head that Wouldn’t Die
Santa Claus Conquers the Martians
Movies I’d watch because they’re actually pretty decent:
Diabolik, Hercules/Hercules Unchained, Tormented, Devil Doll, The Rebel Set, Moon Zero Two, The Brain That Wouldn’t Die, Touch of Satan
Movies I’d watch because they’re so monumentally awful/quirky/silly they hold your attention by themselves:
Anything from Coleman Francis, Manos, Eegah!, Robot Monster, Operation Double 007, Incredibly Strange Creatures, Teenage Strangler (for Mikey!), Teenagers from Outer Space, Santa Claus Conquers the Martians
I gotta say that “Danger Death Ray” is one of my favs, hence the silly screen name and naming my band after it. The movie is bad, but still watchable. I guess if you’re a fan of spy films, you don’t mind seeing some sub-par attempts in the genre. I also kind of like “San Francisco International Airport” because there is something about Clu that entertains the hell out of me. That, and who doesn’t love looking at Pernell Roberts know in his heart that he is above all others?
P.S. Has anyone else noticed that Cliff Potts, who played William Sturtevant, the made-for-tv hippie in “San Francisco International Airport”, was also in “Silent Running”? Fun stuff.
Here’s an update. Mainly because I realized I forgot Sampo (oops).
Diabolik-17
Godzilla-16
Time Chasers-15
Gamera-15
jack Frost-10
The Crawling Eye-11
The Magic Sword-8
Squirm-8
Revenge Of The Creature-7
Parts: The Clonus Horror-7
Black Scorpion-7
Deadly Mantis-7
Earth vs. Spider-7
Beginning Of The End-7
Space Mutiny-7
Tormented-6
Master Ninja I-6
Master Ninja II-6
Alien from L.A.- 6
I Was A Teenaged Werewolf-6
Amazing Colossal Man-6
Catalina Caper-6
Hercules-6
The Incredibly…..-6
Mole people-5
I Accuse My Parents-5
Horror Of Party Beach-5
Kitten With A Whip-5
Bloodlust-5
Marooned-5
Gorgo-5
Village Of The Giants-5
Soultaker-5
The Brain That Wouldn’t Die-5
The Brain That Wouldn’t Die-4
Skydivers-4
Manos-4
This Island Earth-4
Puma Man-4
Santa Clasus-4
Eegah-4
Village Of The Giants-4
Bride Of The Monster-3
The Green Slime-3
Moon Zero Two-3
A Touch Of Satan-3
OatMB-3
Girl In Gold Boots-3
Riding With death-3
Horrors Of Spider Island-3
Bride Of The Monster-3
Outlaw of Gor-3
Robot Monster-3
This Island Earth-3
Revenge of the Creature-3
Night of the Blood Beast-3
The Magic Voyage of Sinbad-3
nice work ck, thx.
Jack Frost – I like fairy tale type movies anyway.
Godzilla – But I can’t stand Gamera movies
Girl in Gold Boots – I have no idea why I like this one
The first Hercules movie
Bloodlust – “The Most Dangerous Game” is one of my favorite stories so I like anything that follows that type of storyline.
I’ll add The Dead Talk Back (how could I not since my screen name comes from it), it’s just a goofy movie with so many great goofy weird funny stuff. You got our dorky two-toned hair scientist her with a great catch phrase (Oh, it’s true!) who despite being set up as the main character it’s important until the end and is missing for most of the movie. You have voice over out of nowhere hard ass 50s cop guy that may or may not know every mundane detail about everything that has ever happened in that boarding house. We get to see that you have to hold a fadora on your head while running after a spaz that never should have gotten more than five from anyone. A curtain rod is turned into a bolt and used in a crossbow murder because why would you have any bolts when curtain rods are aplenty! The woman that won’t stop eating! A razor and a wine glass can make a radio! Don’t believe me; ask a World War II veteran, he’ll set you straight! One very bad German accent! Probabily worst jazz music!
In short: enjoyable.
ck #109 – Thanks for the compilation! I’m a bit surprised (and I know I’m gonna get railed for this) that “Manos” got ANY mentions at all. IMHO, MST3K is 99.9% responsible for its popularity and the only reason one would watch “Manos” un-Mstied is because they’ve committed the MST3K version to memory and want to recite the riffs themselves.
Just sayin’…
The British films from Season 9 (Projected Man, Deadly Bees, Gorgo) are each very watchable; as a consequence, I’ve found them to be some of the weaker episodes. I also love the black and white Season 8 movies (especially ‘Revenge of the Creature’). Also I’ve found ‘The Screaming Skull’ to be somewhat intriguing. Perhaps it’s just that I’m a fan of ‘old haunted house’ movies, but I’ve always thought that with better execution the story behind ‘Screaming Skull’ would have made for a very creepy/suspenseful movie. But regardless how much I might like these and other MST movies, I’d never want to watch them un-MSTed because the MSTing has become such a part of the experience for me. ‘Revenge of the Creature’ is fun, but it just wouldn’t be the same without Mike and the bots.
Really, I don’t think I’d ever want to watch one of my favorite MST movies un-MSTed…
bohowyr #106, how about The Robot vs. the Aztec Mummy?
I’ve been the ONLY one to pick that-everyone must think it is unSPEAKABLE to watch and I quite enjoyed it. More than the riffed version in fact.
So, I ask you, would you watch TRvs.TAM now that you’ve announced that you think you could watch almost any MSTed movie in its original form?
I loved the “Godzilla” and “Gamera” movies as a kid (still do). They had a 4 o’clock movie when I was a kid in Michigan and I would wait very impatiently for monster week so I could see them. There are others but those are the easiest ones for me.
Coincidentally in regards to this topic I had just picked up some used DVDs that included unMSTed versions of episodes. And as one that also enjoys cinematic cheese, this is a great topic! As for films that I found watchable on their own I’d go with:
Robot Monster
It Conquered The World
Attack Of The Giant Leeches
The Giant Gila Monster
The Magic Sword
Bride Of The Monster
Operation Double 007
Angels Revenge
Night Of The Blood Beast
Horror Of Party Beach
Incredibly Strange Creatures
Diabolik
Mitchell does get better slightly if you watch the unriffed version, as others have stated. Castle Of Fu Manchu gets a bit better as well, not terrific but at least clearer when it comes to the plot, what there is of it.
Most of the Roger Corman and Bert I. Gordon flicks I could watch without riffing. Ed Wood and Coleman Francis are tolerable as well. If you treat Coleman as being really artsy and that his vision was that of a muddy world that was badly edited, then the films get a bit better. Granted you have to trick yourself into that line of thinking, but it works. But his films at least are not boring. Ed Wood never made a boring movie and there was always something watchable in his films. Plan 9 always gets bashed, but I know I’ve watched that film more than others that have reaped huge box office and industry awards and still enjoy it.
Now if you want a painful experience, watch Monster A Go Go without riffing. The masochistic part of my brain just picked it up unriffed the other day. Wow. Had to switch to the commentary track that had Bill Rebane talking about the film, which wasn’t much better but it was something.
Someone earlier said it best about the worst sin that a film can commit is to be boring. Granted there were plenty of boring movies on MST where the writers’ job was beyond hard (Starfighters, Racket Girls, Hamlet, etc). On the other hand there were plenty of interesting films that at the very least were fun to watch because you couldn’t believe what you were seeing. And at least in my case the show opened up my eyes to a whole other world of movies that I probably wouldn’t have watched. Would I have discovered the film libraries of Ed Wood, Ray Dennis Steckler, Coleman Francis, Bert I. Gordon, Roger Corman (all for better or worse) or jumped into 50s-60s-70s sci-fi/horror movies or even known who Beverly Garland and Mamie Van Doren and Jonathan Haze and Steve Reeves and Rondo Hatton and Bruno VeSota were?
Probably not, but I feel a mite richer in my knowledge of all of this because of my beloved puppet show.
godzilla movies of course. watched them well before and after seeing the mst3k versions. sea monster is a personal favorite
i assume i would enjoy the gamera movies as well cause i keep meaning to buy the new releases but i havent gotten around to it yet.
I could go with Eegah and Manos. Manos seemed so weird and overall was just such a good example of a crappy movie that I quite enjoyed watching it. I’m not sure how many of the ” Un-MSTed” versions I could sit through. I do have to say that although I have almost all of the episodes recorded now, I haven’t yet had time to watch many of them. I’m sure I would find several more that I could watch and enjoy in their original versions.
@me #115
Hoo-boy! That episode is one that I had a hard time getting through (this is why I said almost any movie, ha ha), but I would attempt to watch it sans riffing. I have, however, seen The Wrestling Women vs. The Aztec Mummy (I would think that it’s in the same trilogy) and enjoyed it. So…I’d give The Robot vs. The Aztec Mummy a second chance.
The Crawling Eye– quite creepy, until the monsters show up (own it!)
Village of the Giants– so campy, it’s hilarious! (One view of Tommy Kirk’s towel-shirt and I’m on the floor)
The Deadly Mantis– ANY of the giant bug movies are winners for me, but this one’s my favorite
The Incredible Melting Man– melting man effects are pretty good, but it’s very fun to riff anyways (I call Ted Nelson “Turtle-Face”)
Have to go with “Gorgo”. Loved it when I first saw it in the theaters and still love it. :rotfl:
Also “The Magic Sword”.
I remember seeing I Accuse My Parents back in the day, and I liked the redemption of Jimmy and happy ending. Even then I noticed how much Jimmy had screwed up is own life, but was drawn in to the story of the web of deceit as he gets further in trouble, and cheered for him at the end.
Not so much with Coleman Francis movies. Ouch! The ‘radioactive monster’ 50s movies are innocent and fun by themselves; and the Russo films are such a spectacle, they are sort of watchable. I watched some Bill Rebane movies recently (director of Giant Spider Invasion) and they were awful–stay away.
Tormented was good just for Richard Carlson; I’ve been a fan ever since I Led Three Lives. Plus the movie never dragged, and featured the menacing Joe Terkel; plus real character development! No wonder the bots were crying at the end.
Time Chasers is an entertaining film on it’s own. The riffing is just icing on the cake.
Werewolf: Natalie & nudity FTW.
Add me to the Jack Frost bandwagon. Even without Mike and the ‘Bots, the film is still a hoot thanks to amount of over the top moments.
BTW, anyone check out the iPad game that’s inspired by this movie?
Ben #117 – I agree with you and Gummo about Mitchell. The cut scene (SPOILER!! Where Mitchell brains Deaney with a rock) is very important to the movie, or, I guess as important as that plot was to the cocaine plot.
I also totally agree that the worst movie is a boring movie! (Andy Warhol, are you listening?) This brings me back to “Manos”, which is included in one of my Mill Creek box sets. I have it Enshrined at my review site, but un-Mstied it’s boring as hell!
Chief?McCloud! #126 – Yeah, buddy! Would it be totally crass to ask Sampo to hook us up with a “Deleted MST3K Movies Scenes that had the Best Nudity Payoff” Weekend Discussion Thread?
I would second (and third, etc…) those who have mentioned movies such as “Deadly Mantis”, “Giant Gila Monster” and even “Leech Woman”. They all have a dark, noir-ish feeling like some of my favorite Tom Baker-era Doctor Who episodes.
@ Joe Clemm #127: What is the name of this game and is it available for Android?
One of the more underrepresented films is Stranded in Space. The premise is pretty decent and it’s a shame it never became a series. It’s only real crime is the icky veneer of Seventies-ness, which could hardly be helped back in the Seventies.
Time Chasers but only because I had a crush on the female lead. :P
“The Undead” — Allison Hayes had to have been sewn into that dress, Pamela Duncan’s wasp waist is mesmerizing, and you can literally see Billy Barty spitting out well-chewed bits of scenery. Now that’s a Saturday afternoon well spent. Thanks again, Mr. Corman!
Overdrawn At The Memory Bank
Time Chasers
Warrior of The Lost World
Soultaker
Space Mutiny
Boggy Creek II
Parts: The Clonus Horror
The Puma Man
Final Justice
The Final Sacrafice
Werewolf
Forgot to add Squirm, which I own.
Catalina Caper. It’s so campy and bad in a great way. Mitchell, pure 70’s cheese. And I can sit through Danger Diabolik for the similar reason as Catalina Caper, that and Eva. I think half naked girls play a big part in being able to watch a crap film. hmmmmm,
Watching any of these films unMSTied is a sacrilege. You should all be ashamed of yourself. Now go read a comic book.
The first one that came to mind is Boggy Creek II. I like those kind of horror movies set in the woods. (I really liked the Blair Witch Project.)
Also, I’d agree with those saying Catalina Caper. Those goofy 1960s beach movies are just too much fun.
I could never watch those Hercules movies on their own. In fact, I find them so boring that I rarely watch the MST3K episodes.
A movie like Catalina Caper is not a genre that I’m interested in. So I really wouldn’t say that it is a bad movie, just not something I like.
In a shocking development Godzilla-san and the citizens and officials of Rutland, Vermont
have diabolically pushed Diabolique to third place. Voters have also apparently forgotten
(as Ken would put it) that Gamera is friend to all children.
P.S. In the phraseology of polling, this poll has a plus/minus of three. :fingersxd:
Godzilla-19 :victory:
Time Chasers-18
Diabolik-17 :devil:
Gamera-16 :alien:
The Crawling Eye-12 :cyclops:
Jack Frost-11
The Magic Sword-9
Squirm-9
Catalina Caper-8
Space Mutiny-8
Parts: The Clonus Horror-8
Deadly Mantis-8
Revenge Of The Creature-7
Black Scorpion-7
Earth vs. Spider-7
Beginning Of The End-7
Tormented-7
Hercules-7
The Incredibly…..-7
I Accuse My Parents-7
Master Ninja I-6
Master Ninja II-6
Alien from L.A.- 6
I Was A Teenaged Werewolf-6
Amazing Colossal Man-6
Bloodlust-6
Soultaker-6
Bride Of The Monster-6
Gorgo-6
Mole people-5
Horror Of Party Beach-5
Kitten With A Whip-5
Eegah-5
Village Of The Giants-5
Marooned-5
Manos-5
Village Of The Giants-5
The Brain That Wouldn’t Die-5
Puma Man-5
The Brain That Wouldn’t Die-4
Skydivers-4
Boggy Creek II-4
This Island Earth-4
Santa Clasus-4
Robot vs. The Aztec Mummy-4
Werewolf-4
This Island Earth-4
OatMB-4
Girl In Gold Boots-4
The Green Slime-3
Moon Zero Two-3
A Touch Of Satan-3
Riding With death-3
Horrors Of Spider Island-3
Outlaw of Gor-3
Robot Monster-3
Revenge of the Creature-3
Night of the Blood Beast-3
The Magic Voyage of Sinbad-3
The Dead Talk Back-3
Angels revenge-3
Operation Double 007-3
The Undead-3
The Final Sacrafice-3
Un MSTed ones I have on DVD:
The Crawling Eye (aka The Trollenberg Terror)
Hangar 18 (also had this on VHS)
The Deadly Mantis
The Black Scorpion
Earth vs the Spider (also used to be on AMC a lot)
And I actually remember watching that Ninja show as a kid.
Has No one said City Limits yet? Kim Catrell, Post-Apocolyptic, Motorcycles, James Earl Jones
What about Zombie Nightmare? Heavy Metal Soundtrack, Zombies, Tia
Here’s my ’10’. All seemed to have a pretty good story, but had either a low budget, or needed some further script work, or could’ve done with better casting.
Time Chasers
Tormented
Soultaker
Parts: The Clonus Horror
The Girl in Lover’s Lane
The Rebel Set
Bloodlust
Overdrawn at the Memory Bank
Swamp Diamonds
Final Justice (I know, I know…)
The Russo-Finnish movies (The Day The Earth Froze, The Magic Voyage of Sinbad, The Sword and the Dragon and Jake Frost) are the only ones that I consider truly watchable and imaginative, no matter how laughably cheesy their plots/subplots are.
It saddens and disturbs me that so few of you picked The Final Sacrifice. How could you do that to Rowsdower? HOW?!
Lucas D – pretty easily, actually. :-D
I’m a bit late, but better that than never. Going to shoot for at least one per season.
106: The Crawling Hand – Just plain not that bad of a movie.
111: Moon Zero Two – Silly fun.
211: First Spaceship on Venus – I actually prefer this one WITHOUT the riffing.
321: Santa Claus Conquers the Martians – Really, the name alone is enough to make it awesome.
411: The Magic Sword – The best of Bert I.
508: Operation Double 007 – Even went and tracked down an uncut copy.
607: Bloodlust – Another one that really isn’t bad.
624: Samson vs. the Vampire Women – Another one that deserves to be seen just because of the title.
703: Deathstalker and the Warriors from Hell – Fun in a funny way.
820: Space Mutiny – A given.
903: Pumaman – It’s a better movie than the 1970s Captain America films by far.
1007: Track of the Moon Beast – As cheezy as it is, I just can’t dislike it.
1. Master Ninja I
2. Master Ninja II
3. Alien from LA
4. Squirm
5. Boggy Creek II
I have no idea why, maybe that the production values and plot are pretty good for MSTed movies. Oh, and I watched the entire run of The Master when it was made in the 80s (the original series title for Master Ninja), so I have a soft spot for it. If only Joel & the bots could have riffed Misfits of Science, Tales of the Gold Monkey, or The Powers of Matthew Star… ;-)