Here’s the press release:
RIFFTRAX AND MST3K FANS GET A FREE EXCLUSIVE SNEAK PEEK AT NEW MOVIE
RiffTrax and Mystery Science Theater 3000 fans will get a sneak peek of the new indy sci-fi / action movie “Axcellerator” by Director David Giancola, whose film “Time Chasers” and many others have been staples of the channels. Fans will have exclusive access to stream the movie for free on the RiffTrax Streaming Service for a limited time on Friday, April 10th and Saturday, April 11th. The movie will also premiere on the RiffTrax Twitch channel at 5 PM Pacific Friday, with an encore matinee on Saturday and 12:30 PM Pacific at twitch.tv/RiffTrax
“Axcellerator”, which is also available for rent and purchase on Amazon has been called “Zingy, humorous, and inspired 80s-style fun”, and “An indie gem with its heart lodged in the 80s” by critics. The movie is chock-full of 80s stars like Sam J. Jones (“Flash Gordon”, “Ted”) Sean Young (“Blade Runner”, “No Way Out”, “Ace Ventura: Pet Detective”, “Stripes”), John James (“Dynasty”), and Maxwell Caulfield (“Grease 2”). “Axcellerator” has garnered awards and praise at numerous film festivals including Sitges and the Boston, London, and Austin science-fiction festivals.
Edgewood Studios opted to forego releasing in movie theaters due to the COVID-19 pandemic and is distributing the film early to digital platforms such as Amazon and others. Giancola says this is the company’s “Thank You” to fans to help alleviate “Extreme Self-Quarantine Boredom.” “The guys at RiffTrax and I actually have a great relationship and we decided to partner up their platform and my new movie and give back something to the fans who have been so loyal to us,” said Giancola. “It’s the first time they have ever released a new movie un-riffed, (After five riffed movies, I think I earned the one break this time). But seriously, we know everyone could use some fun, escapist entertainment right now more than ever”.
“Axcellerator” is the story of a car thief who stumbles onto a teleportation device and the girl of his dreams. They soon find themselves being chased across the globe by the F.B.I., the C.I.A., and a rogue assassin – all of whom want the device at any cost. To stay alive, they must discover the device’s secret before they’re caught. The invention of the century takes them on an adventure of a lifetime in the film which Director Giancola describes as “a bit of ‘Back To The Future’ meets, like ‘Hobbs & Shaw’ – on a waaaay smaller budget”. The film’s cast also includes young newcomers Ryan Wesen and Laura James (“America’s Next Top Model”, CBS’s “S.W.A.T”).
Giancola is known worldwide from the cult success of his first feature “Time Chasers”, which was given a major boost by being featured first on Mystery Science Theater 3000 in the 90s and then RiffTrax in 2016. He has directed and produced over 35 feature films since 1989 and has allowed many of them to be fodder for RiffTrax, of which he professes to be a fan. “I am really excited to be able to share our film with RiffTrax audiences first” reflected Giancola, “these fans really ‘get’ genre movies and are really passionate about them”. “We hope they have just as much fun watching it as we had making it!”. To see the film viewers must go to RiffTrax.com or twitch.tv/RiffTrax on April 10th and 11th, or to Amazon for streaming rental or purchase thereafter.
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wait, I’m confused.
so this is a brand new movie, that’s being released unriffed?
sounds kinda lame but whatever
I’m looking forward to watching this tonight. Kudos to David for letting us screen it for free!
He seems like a really sweet guy who “gets the joke”. I think this is an amazing way to demonstrate affection for the fans. I was won over when I ordered a Castleton shirt from Edgewood a few years back, and it came with a whole host of extra swag, including a VHS box cover of Time Chasers (or Tangents), autographed by Giancola himself.
As many movie people (actors, directors, etc) have balked at their MST3K notoriety, I find this all incredibly charming. And what a crazy cast! I’ll definitely have to check this out.
I posted our observations in the rifftrax forum, but I’ll copy them here too:
It starts off good, but gets derailed when it attempts wacky humor for waaaay too long.
The best thing is Flash Gordon’s laugh. Cracked me up every time.
Nice touch with the cameo. Not an actor, but an article of clothing.
I was sure Sean Young was going to be stuck to her car seat for the whole film.
I started getting Icebreaker flashbacks when they went to Chile-ngton. Funny how all of the signs were in english.
A teleporting vibrator is an interesting plot device.
Pseudo-Jesse Pinkman and B-grade Olivia Wilde make an odd couple.
A good portion of their budget went into wrecking cars.
Bartcow:
Good for Giancola. Nice fellow.
However, when one thinks of the careers of some of the cast, it’s a little dispiriting.
Sean Young was having a great career until that mess with James Woods happened. From what I’ve read, he was as much to blame, but Ms. Young got labeled a “crazy b—.”
Maxwell Caulfield was in the early 1980s being hyped as the next John Travolta or the next Richard Gere. Then “Grease 2” happened.
Sam J, Jones was in a film called “My Chauffeur,” which opened well at the box office, as it was marketed as a screwball comedy and not the teenage sex comedy it was.
It’s the director kissing up to M&tB, and saying “Won’t you nutty guys riff my movie, since you riffed every other movie I’ve made since Time Chasers”?
I guess that’s why they were also doing the Hobgoblins show–To put us in mind of Rick Sloane again.
If it’s on Twitch, we can just riff it ourselves in chat.
Mmmmm….check out imdb and Wiki. Sean Young was, unfortunately, the prime cause of her little vacation from the movies. Wiki gives a polite but brief version of some of what went on; the full “Catwoman” story was pretty weird. And she finally checked into rehab in ’08, which seems to have helped, because according to imdb, she, having turned sixty a little while back, has been working like a field hand for the last ten years.
Sam Jones has been running an apparently very serious security company, Inner Cordon; after his gigs in the “Ted” movies, it looks like he’s doing little movies, but still working (at age 66). And he looks like he’s taking care of himself, at least.
I have no idea why they didn’t do about another fifteen “Flash Gordon” movies with the same cast. Of course, I’m still p.o.’d that “The Rocketeer” was one-and-done.
gottogetbacktothejudorange:
According to Wikipedia:
“Young appeared in The Boost (1988), with James Woods. Woods later sued her for harassing him and his then-fiancée, alleging that, in addition to other disruptive behavior, Young left a disfigured doll on his doorstep. Young denied the allegations and claimed that Woods filed the lawsuit out of spite. Young stated, “It was a crush being turned down, that’s all …. So sue me! And he [Woods] did.” The suit was settled out of court in 1989. Young was awarded $227,000 to cover her legal costs.
Young was next cast as Vicki Vale in Tim Burton’s film Batman (1989), but during rehearsals, she broke her arm after falling off a horse and was replaced by Kim Basinger. In an unsuccessful attempt to win the role of Catwoman (which was originally offered to Annette Bening but, after Bening became pregnant, Michelle Pfeiffer was cast) in the sequel Batman Returns (1992), Young constructed a homemade Catwoman costume and attempted to contact Burton and actor Michael Keaton during production. She appeared on The Joan Rivers Show in character as the Catwoman, campaigning for the role and making a plea to Tim Burton.”
I remember Siskel and Ebert (miss them) defending Ms. Young at the time, stating it was a fun idea to do.
Sean Young had a well received stint on the “Young and the Restless” for over a year.
Good for Sam Jones.
“Flash Gordon” was done in by mixed reviews.
As for “The Rocketeer,” it was really screwed over by Disney, especially Michael Eisner.
CASTLETON LIVES !!
Watch for The Resurrection of Castleton on a t-shirt near you (i.e., the wardrobe of Ryan Wesen, as “Dane”) !!
And YES, that’s a ‘shout out’ to all Easter Sunday aficionados…..
I watched it and thought that it was pretty fun. Definitely worth a couple hours of your time.
My favorite part of it was noticing connections to other Giancola movies, which become increasingly obvious toward the end of the movie. I’m not going to give anything away, but if you’ve seen the other movies you’ll get it very quickly. I got several good laughs toward the end of the movie from those connections.
Giancola’s writing and direction have matured over the years, that’s for sure. I wasn’t sure how fond of RiffTrax he was after watching the behind-the-scenes for the Time Chasers live show, but good on him for obviously taking it in stride. Thanks for the gift of entertainment during these weird times!