RiffTrax is a spin-off of sorts from the old Mystery Science Theater 3000 show. Made up of most of the same guys, including Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett, the group riffs on old and new movies alike, selling the "riff trax" for you to sync up with your own DVD or download of the film.
This show tonight, a riff on Ed Wood's Plan 9 From Out Space, was done live from a theater in Nashville, where the trio sat on stage and riffed on the movie as it played. Occasionally, they were shown on the left hand side of the screen, reading their jokes and having a good time.
Before the movie, we were treated to a riff on an old short about Airline Stewardesses, a couple of songs from a guy named Jonathan Coulton, and then a Plan 9-related song from the riffers and Coulton together. Fun stuff!
The movie was cheesy, as usual, but the riffs and heckles from the trio made it highly watchable and there were A LOT of laughs! I think I laughed more at this show tonight than many of the so-called comedies I have seen in theaters recently.
I loved it, as did my family and, from what I heard, the entire theater. I really hope they do this again sometime. I would definitely be there!
RiffTrax Official Site
Fathom Events - The company that puts together these theater events
Jonathan Coulton's Official Site
UPDATE:
Invasion of the B Movies did a post on the show, as well!
Oh this movie is in the catagory 'so bad its good'. Like 'Robot Monster' I have a real love for this picture. Ed Wood was either a mad genius or just simply mad. But he played it straight down the middle. "You see? You see? Cause all you of Earth are IDIOTS!" THAT was some fine acting. You can't teach that level of committment to the project. The ONLY way to see it is with people riffing on its awesome stupidness. The cop scratching his head with the gun still cracks me up to this day. Just pointing it at his head and other people to direct them around the crappy graveyard. Oh yeh...that is GOLD! I envy you. Your enthusiasm for this kind of stuff reminds me of my Dad's own enthusiasm for these kind of great pop culture artifacts. Guarenteed your kids are gonna be raving about you in the same way I rave about my father every chance I get. Its the effort they remember and cherish. Hey, I just noticed something. We have the exact same number of followers. First one to 100 owes the other a prize.
ReplyDeletei used to love to watch MST3000...may have to check this one out.
ReplyDeleteTheir Star Trek VI riff is pretty good.
ReplyDeleteMST rocked...I think I wept when it went by the wayside...this could be interesting...cool post !
ReplyDeleteI love the riff thing. We used to have a group that did it here for a while to old spaghetti westerns and classic foreign gladiator movies. Much like Hercules Returns . .hilarious.
ReplyDeleteCal: Well, I hope they do enjoy them, too. They seem to! And as for the 'first to 100' bet? Oh, it's on like Donkey Kong, dude!
ReplyDeleteBrian: Well, hopefully they do it again, as this was just a one night thing, so far.
Jeff: Never listened to that one. I am on the fence on whether to listen to their Halloween riff. Might be to cringe-inducing to have them do it to my favorite flick!
King: Oh, it was very cool. Not true MST3K, but definitely the next best thing!
Baino: Sounds like that was a blast, too!
Just curious, what theater were you in?
ReplyDeletebut how could Plan 9 be improved upon? must look into this...
ReplyDeleteAJM: The Regal Cinema at Solomon Pond Mall in Marlborough MASS. :)
ReplyDeletelettuce: Plan 9 the plan or Plan 9 the movie? HAHAHAHAHA
Hey..'Plan 9' the PLAN was flawless baby. The screw ups came from the execution. Oh, and those stupid hoomans. Its always the hoomans. We just like to gum up the works don't we?
ReplyDelete