Rifftrax Shines A Light On A Hideous Sun Demon

When Incognito Cinema Warriors XP released its first DVD thanks to a prehistoric method called MySpace, it included the trailer for its next possible target, er, feature called The Hideous Sun Demon, about a guy mutated by radiation. When he steps out into sunlight, he turns into the Creature From The Black Lagoon's brother-in-law. It's supposed to suggest the radiation made him evolve in reverse, although that was illustrated better by Devo and Idiocracy.

Sadly, ICWXP never got the chance, but Rifftrax did. It's interesting this movie was produced and directed by budding movie mogul Robert Clarke after he saw another B-movie.  He's also the star as Gil, the scientist who was exposed to radiation because the toy train transporting the material broke down. Yes, really.

It's described as a variation of the Wolfman story, but it's mostly about a guy who loves booze, picks up a really sexy piano player with a mobster boyfriend, and goes nuts even if he's not a demon. His scientist friends are of no help, claiming they can help him until they can't.
What's also notable is the sound mixing where we can't tell what the actors are saying, and the fake night scenes that clearly show the sun. The soundtrack was also recycled by Night of the Living Dead.
In fact, the whole movie was recycled when it was redubbed and edited in 1983, with Clarke's co-operation. Here's proof:



It makes you wonder what's better, riffing or redubbing.

Here's some images:

The "before" and "after" photos of Gil

Gil with Trudy (Nan Peterson), the pianist and prototype for Kate Upton 

Trudy realizing who she slept with last night

Gil getting so desperate, he hides in a shack where a little girl has her tea parties with one doll

Now some of the riffs:

Two doctors and a lab assistant discuss how Gil didn't seem to be harmed after being exposed to radioactive material for six minutes

Kevin Murphy:  I'm guessing, any minute now, boom, extra eye.

Dr. Buckell implies Gil was nursing a hangover because he mixed "whiskey and science"

Mike Nelson:  Oh, come on. Winston Churchill won World War II with a hangover.

Gil turns into the demon for the first time

"Oh, no, it can't be"

Mike:  I've turned into Mickey Rourke.

Trudy sings while "playing" the piano
Bill Corbett:  It looks like she's playing but she's actually kneading bread down there.

Gil turns into the demon after he wakes up from his "dry shameful '50s sex" with Trudy
Bill:  He's late for being Bossk in The Empire Strikes Back

When the police arrive, Gil tries to drive away, and runs over a cop, 

Kevin: I was only 523 months from retirement.

For some reason, Gil's pants are wet when he transforms for the last time
Kevin: Sun so bright, trousers so damp.

Aside from the clip, there's also riffs on YouTube, Broadchurch, Top Gear, James Brown, Ren and Stimpy, Tommy Wiseau, The Fifth Dimension and (again) Nick Nolte.

You can order Hideous Sun Demon, and other Rifftrax movies at rifftrax.com

It's Not Your Older Brother's ICWXP, But Still Funny

If you miss the days of Mystery Science Theater 3000 in its original form, namely seeing a guy and two robots mock bad cinema while dealing with some intergalactic problem or other, those days are back.

Rikk Wolf and his movie-riffing epic, Incognito Cinema Warriors XP, has returned for a second season with a new DVD that was released this week. While Rifftrax and Cinematic Titanic are both content with MST3K alumni mocking movies, good and bad, young and old, without a B-plot in between the movie segments, ICWXP revives the old MST3K version with its own mix of comedy and lousy movies.

For the uninitiated, the jist: Rikk is a soldier named Commander Rick Wolf who's trapped in a zombie apocalypse that has nothing to do with The Walking Dead. He finds refuge in an abandoned movie house where he finds two robots, Johnny Cylon (Zach Legler) and TopsyBot 5000 (Nick Evans, 3rd guy to do this). Anywho, they were forced to watch bad movies sent to them by a mad scientist, but he got replaced by Kincaid, an evil agent from the Ludivoco Corporation who had his own evil iPhone. Now HE'S gone (maybe), and the theater sends its unholy films automatically. A comic book based on the show will be produced to explain what happened. The Satellite of Love never did that.

Apparently there was a five year gap between the fourth DVD and the new one, and Rick doesn't remember what happened, although it did involve battling zombies finally. He was also put in an evil chair where he was forced to riff on Bride of the Gorilla, the first movie of the series.

Once he gets cleaned up, Rick and the bots are back riffing. They first see an Alka-Seltzer commercial that features a pie-eating contest and is described as "the Morbidly Obese Olympics". Then, they see a short about Victory Gardens, which is duller than the dirt the garden grows on. Rikk says in the audio commentary they had to add music to make it easier to watch. Some of the choice riffs:

The short is about the Holder Family and their Victory Garden from 1942. The son is named Dick.

Cylon: So his name is Dick Holder. Ouch!

After some more tips on how to grow a garden...

Rick: Yes, soon you'll be wishing you were old enough to be drafted

A couple more from Rick:

Why, just look at this nutritious crop of crabgrass
Farming's a breeze with your Hitler Youth Pocket Knife.

They get pretty bored after a while (Cylon: How about instead of this we just go bomb Hiroshima?), and instead come up with the names of Professional Eating Teams. The Chicago Oprah Thighs and the Buffalo Wild Wings were very popular.

Afterwards, the gang is greeted by a strange image who calls itself Bottomless Epiglottis. Whoever it is hates Ludivuco ("the enemy of my enemy is my...frenemy"), and wants them to help it bring them down. It helps the guys find a back-up back-up back-up back-up generator to keep the theater going. They also meet a new robot called Flux Namtani (Dave Thompson), who has the ego of Buzz Lightyear.

We also get a preview of the next DVD, which apparently features an intruder being attacked by a super-snowblower. It's called "Where's Your Big Bad Apocalypse Now?"

The extras are also pretty good. You see the whole show with commentary by Rikk and newcomer Nick Evans. They talk about how much work goes into the show, and they also thank the fans for keeping this show together. They even mention a few fans who want the show on Adult Swim. However, with the recent success of online shows, The Guild and Dr. Horrible especially, who needs networks? There's also behind-the-scenes stuff about the new set and Cylon getting legs. We also see Rick re-riff the first five minutes of Bride of the Gorilla, apparently while he was in that chair.

While the show will only riff on educational shorts for now, they do plan to go back to full-length features. They even plan a season finale, and let's hope Kincaid will be around for that. In the show's forum, it was mentioned the original actor, Gregory Wyatt Tinnen, couldn't make it for the new season.

You can learn more about the show, and buy DVDs and event direct downloads at www.icwxp.com. For those who are a little impatient for new Cinematic Titanic DVDs, the return of Rikk and the gang is more than enough to satisfy your movie riffing needs. Welcome back, guys!

The Return of ICWXP: The Return of Rikk Wolf

Three years ago, heavy metal musician and MST3K fan Rikk Wolf decided, with a few friends, to make a little project where he was a zombie-fighting soldier trapped in a movie theatre with two weird looking robots. A mad scientist forces them to watch bad movies, mainly for fun. He admits it's cruel, and sounds vaguely familiar.
It was made into a DVD called Incognito Cinema Warriors XP, and it was sold on MySpace.
Little did he know that he would create an internet sensation, and something that MST fans have been craving for since the Satellite of Love went into TV history.

Now, after two years of weather disasters, technical difficulties, and depression that the Chiefs weren't what they used to be, Rikk is back with a new ICWXP movie. This time, Rikk, Johnny Cylon, Zed the Zombie Head and TopsyBot 5000 face new perils, including the most boring horror movie ever, and a new Big Bad.

Everything about it is new, starting with a live-action version of the old theme, complete with zombies who are looking for brains or a walk-on role in The Walking Dead. Rikk also recorded a new version of the theme, plus other scenes from episodes never shown including an homage to Dragon Ball.
After a sketch that mocks Starbucks, Rikk and the Bots see that Dr. Blackwood, their old nemesis, has been sent off. He's replaced by Special Agent Kincaid (Gregory Wyatt Tinnen), who is so evil he could clearly be Pearl Forrester's male clone. Anywho, he works for the Ludivico Corporation (who probably started this zombie apocalypse because it's so Resident Evil), and he decides to show bad movies more cruelly. He even has an evil smartphone that Pearl would envy.

We start with Ghost Rider, which isn't the Nicholas Cage movie, It's a safety film where a new kid learns about bus safety from a ghost. It's not bad, but it does drive Cylon to sing Jim Croce and TB5K to remark "The dead walk the earth and they want us to read bus safety pamphlets." It also ends with Topsy doing a killer Morgan Freeman.
Then the gang is startled by a famous Lucky Strike ad where cigarettes are square dancing. In fact, we got a lot of callbacks from the short and ad.

The main event: Werewolf in a Girls Dormitory, an 1961 Italian horror movie which is self-explanatory. After very sexy horror flicks like Lady Frankenstein and Bloody Pit of Horror (yes, even that Crimson Executioner guy), we get 87 minutes of droning talk between the characters about blackmail, gossip, funerals and zzzzzzzzzz, etc. We barely get three minutes of werewolf, and it's not even a good one. In fact, it's described as a "were-Michael C. Hall". We're supposed to wonder who the werewolf is: the Peter Lorre caretaker, the teacher who could be a young Frau Blucher, the handsome new teacher, an old guy who's having a near-affair with one of the students, his creepy wife, or maybe whoever came up with this movie. Rick and the gang have to muster all their strength to come up with some good riffs to keep from dozing off.

Some examples:

Opening titles show the "horror" of the monster: "It's the Satan Platypus!"
The new teacher shows up: "I think I'm going to live it here on Wicker Man Island."
Alfred goes home after talking to Mary, the student who's blackmailing him: "He's gonna lay low in Paul Lynde's house for a while."
The caretaker sneaks into the girls' bedroom: "Ben Roethlisberger, your wet dream is here."
When the real werewolf is revealed in a "plot swivel", he then attacks one of the students: "This makes me feel like a teen wolf again."

The host segments include Cylon and Topsy mocking Ghosthunters, with a surprise cameo, Topsy doing something so disturbing it excites Kincaid, and the worst surprise party ever. There's even a callback to the letters segment MST3K did way back when.
It's clearly a triumphant return to form for ICWXP. Sadly, it's also the last movie they're going to attack. They're switching to short subjects that could be even worse than any movie Nicholas Cage is in. But we're left wondering what is Kincaid's deal, where he got that evil smartphone, and whether Dr. Blackwood is gone.

Actually, we get a few clues in the extras: Rikk has a commentary on the host segments, and reveals a few tidbits on what's to come. He also includes a couple of music videos from his band At the Left Hand of God. There's a Q and A session with Rikk, Tinnen and Zach Legler (Cylon). They even answer a question I forgot I ever sent them. I do find out Rikk didn't start this show because he worked at an AMC theater. We also see how the bots were made, and a quick tour of the studio. It's more cramped than Best Brains in its early days, but it shows how damn good humor can spring from humble beginnings.

They have a new website at www.ICWXP.com, where you can get past DVDs, YouTube bits, including the new theme, links to Twitter and Facebook, apparel, and even a hint on what season one will be all about. I'm praying for Robo-Blackwood, personally, or maybe the zombies will make their own TV show about how they battle the hideous threat of the living, and call it The Walking Braaaaaaaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnssssss.
Until then, pray for Rikk Wolf, Johnny Cylon, Zed and TopsyBot 5000..and for more adventures to come.
Maybe they can throw in their version of Alice from Resident Evil, or whoever Kate Beckinsale plays in Underworld, who helps them out because she is an even bigger MST3K fan.

That Heavy Metal Riffer Is Back!

It's not easy to live up to the tradition of Mystery Science Theater 3000, or even make something that is a worthy successor.

But a Missouri Heavy Metal dude named Rikk Wolf did it with Incognito Cinema Warriors XP. Despite delays related to equipment, weather, or other things, it's become very popular. The third release, Bloody Pit of Horror, was finally available last Sunday.

For the uninitiated, the premise is Rikk Wolf is trapped inside an old theater surrounded by zombies in some post-apocalyptic world. With him are a popcorn maker named TopsyBot 5000 and a robot usher named Johnny Cylon. Their "Forrester" is Dr. Blackwood, a crazy long-haired guy who delivers the bad movies to them. The structure of the show is similar to MST, including host segments. This is especially true in the latest release. We even get a new character, a zombie head named Zed who sounds quite educated if not for his occasional rants where he vows to kill them all.

For the first time, the crew riff on a traffic safety movie called "The Talking Car". This was offered separately in their MySpace site. It's a strange short about a kid who had to prove to three cars in a weird dream he knows the "see and be seen" traffic rules. It's more "out there" than the "X Marks the Spot" movie the MST crew mocked.

Before the main feature, we see Rikk repairing the head of Cylon after, according to Topsybot, he turned into a were-gorilla. There are some problems, like Cylon being stuck speaking Spanish and Rikk getting sick from eating 40 year old donut holes. They also find Zed among those old donut holes. Dr. Blackwood isn't faring much better: he's trying to make a time machine out of a bunch of Magic Markers. "So far," he says, "the past is light-headed and blurry." Actually, it's the fumes of Time getting to him.

But being blurry may have helped him deal with Bloody Pit of Horror, supposedly based on the writings of the Marquis de Sade. It opens with someone called the Crimson Executioner being sent to the Iron Maiden, the device he used to torture and kill his victims in the 17th Century. Before he is sealed inside, he vows revenge. About 300 years later, the nightmare, I mean the plot, begins. A group of models, with a photographer and other people, stop at what they think is an abandoned castle. After they find a way in, they discover they are not alone. A guard carrying a candalabra find them, and one of them meets the owner, played by Mickey Hargitay (Mr. Jayne Mansfield, and Mr, Universe, too). He tells them to get out, until he sees one of the girls. So, they can stay the night..if they survive. Oh, and stay away from the dungeons.

So how does the ICWXP crew deal with this?
"Filmed in Pyschovision"...Filmed by your ex-girlfriend.
They go inside the lobby, which inspires Rikk to do a killer riff on Resident Evil.
The owner knocks over his chess pieces...Invisible Chicken Beat Me Again!!

Well, the crew snoops around for good wine while the editor, Parks, tries to sneak a peak at the models while they're undressing. Typical Italian horror movie...until the horrifying photo session with POLKA MUSIC!! This shocks Rikk and his friends until they thnk of worse things like Knight Rider 2008, then sing a happy tune ("It's the worst film ever made, ever made, ever made.."). Then, shocking accidents and deaths occur among the models and crew. There's also a skulking figure who apparently is behind it all. Edith, the non-model of the group, discovers it's the owner, who she had planned to marry years ago. Now, he delcares, he is the Crimson Executioner..although he looks more like a Mexican wrestler who'd never get past being jobber. Still, he comes up with interesting ways to "punish" those he thinks are impure. He even ties one of the models to a spider web, facing death either by a robot spider (Wes Craven's Little Miss Muffett) or a thousand arrows aimed at her. Seeing Rick, the writer, try to save her is something to see.

Meanwhile, the host segments are getting more complex. In one, the gang take a nap, and become haunted by the grouchy car from the traffic safety short. In another, TopsyBot and Cylon practice for a poetry slam before things get out of hand. The final one is a real surprise, because it's an update on the old Hexfield View Screen...and also very funny. This show is making an effort in recreating the classic days of MST3K, and is succeeding very well, Remember, this is a mom-and-pop operation from deepest Missouri.

Lately, there's been some changes behind the scenes, but this latest release shows ICWXP is making progress in great movie riffing. They have a new character, and some new writers like Josh Way, who has become a MySpace star thanks to Fun With Shorts and a couple of movie riffs, too. They have another movie coming soon called Werewolf in a Girl's Dormitory, followed by a fan choice which seems to be Hideous Sun Demon. While Rifftrax and Cinematic Titanic are getting the attention in maintaining the comedy tradition of MST3K, ICWXP also deserves the attention for its efforts. Let's hope it won't be too long before their next release is ready. Even if it is, the new stuff, especially now, is always worth the wait.

Heirs to the Satellite of Love

Four weeks from now, it will be the 20th anniversary of the first episode ever of Mystery Science Theater 3000...and I will be celebrating it hopefully in Culver City and in a movie house on Sunset Boulevard. I will pause to toast the Satellite of Love, and its efforts to avenge movie goers who had to endure bad movies.
Before that, I will have the 20th anniversary DVD set, complete with Crow figurine, from Amazon. Although the four movies featured are already in my library, the extras are worth the price, especially the Comic-Con event featuring everyone from the show. It marks the first time, and maybe the last time, the living history of MST3K is in one room. The crew has since split into two groups, Cinematic Titanic (featuring the cast from KTMA and season one, plus TV's Frank and Mary Jo "Pearl Forrester" Pehl) and Rifftrax/Film Crew (Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy, Bill Corbett).

I thought it would be interesting to compare how these two groups approach the traditional method of ripping bad movies apart.

Mike Nelson was first with Rifftrax, when he discovered if you recorded a "commentary" for any movie, new or old, and put it in your iPod, the variety of targets, I mean movies, grows dramatically. That's why we will all skin Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull alive just in time for Christmas--or should. Before that, he, Kevin and Bill came up with the Film Crew series, which was supposed to be released by Rhino in 2005 until Jim Mallon stopped that plan. They went to Shout! Factory instead in 2007. Only four movies were riffed, and they were of the sort of stuff you'd see skewered on MST3K: bad seedy drama (Hollywood After Dark), cheesy sci-fi (Killers from Space), sword and sandal (Giant of Marathon) and just plain oddball (Wild Women of Wongo). They also went towards things that were familiar to them, such as Peter Graves and Steve Reeves. They didn't have skits like MST3K, but they did have interesting lunch breaks. The DVD extras did have comedy bits related to the movie.

After that, they concentrated on Rifftrax, which now has a wide variety of targets, even Heroes (which has been asking for it lately) and Lost (which hasn't any more). They've also added some pre-riffed shorts, just like the MST days.

To spread the word about Rifftrax, they did live shows. I was at a couple of them in San Francisco and San Diego, and both were hits. The need for Man to strike back against bad media is eternal, and these guys know that in spades. What's more, even good movies that are cheesy enough to be riffed are not safe, not even 300 or Iron Man. I bought the Rifftrax for both, and have every intention to checking them out. I should get the Lost pilot, too. That will be for later.

Anyway, it was almost a year ago that Joel Hodgson started a blog announcing that he would revive the tradition of MST3K with Cinematic Titanic. He says it was due to the fact that people were buying the DVD's, either released by Rhino or circulated through other means, and that fans were keeping it alive. Of course, that would include Film Crew, which had just released its last disc, and Rifftrax. Anyway, after a tryout at Lucasfilms Studios, they released their first movie, The Oozing Skull. They riffed in silhouette, just like the old days, although the arrangement was different. On one side was Josh (J. Elvis) Weinstein), Joel and Mary Jo, and TV's Frank Coniff and Trace Beaulieu (Clayton Forrester) and the other. Aside from that, it was like old times.

The premise, however, is different: apparently they are chosen by some group or other to protect the "digital scaffold" or all digital media will be destroyed. Lately, the crew is getting a bit skeptical about this explanation, especially since someone has put a tank in front of the main exit. Aside from that, it's riffing on bad movies, just like the old days, whether it's cheap sci-fi (Doomsday Machine), even cheaper horror (Legacy of Blood) or Roger Corman (Wasp Woman). They also have skits in the middle of the movies. Sometimes they feature dead musicians, or an over-reacting security force who hates gum.

The business model is also a little different. Cinematic Titanic is family owned-and-operated from the start. You can download the DVD, or get the fancy version if you don't trust your computer to burn the movie to a blank DVD. Besides that, you get a nice note from the crew with the DVD, complete with autograph. They fulfilled their plan to release four movies this year, and plan to do so again in 2009. Like Rifftrax, they also got their act together and put it on the road. They recently appeared in Minneapolis, slamming something called "Blood of the Vampires". They will be visiting St. Louis next week and Chicago a month later. Who knows that movie they'll bring? I just hope San Francisco, where it more or less began, will be on the itinerary soon.

For now, it looks like CT and Rifftrax can exist in good-enough harmony. CT can maintain the traditional method of slamming bad movies, while Rifftrax can be the "home game", where people rent or buy the DVD, then download the commentary for their iPod or similar device. Everybody wins.

But is there room for those who think they can riff with the best of them? The best example is Incognito Cinema Warriors XP out of Missouri. A guy named Rikk Wolf is trapped in a movie theater surrounded by zombies, and has to endure bad movies with two robots...only this time one looks like Twiki's grandson while the other is a popcorn machine. They had four movies planned out, but have released two of them. One was Bride of the Gorilla, which is about as close to an MST copy as you can get, except for the laugh track (which is only on the original copies), and Lady Frankenstein, which is racier than MST could ever dare to be. I found these guys in YouTube, which is already loaded with MST wanna-bes. One of them, Josh Way, has been recruited in the ICWXP army. They've had problems with equipment and severe storms, but hope to release more movies soon, and much quicker. It already has the support of Mike Nelson, who has featured ICWXP in his iRiffs section.

Rest assured that if there's a movie out there that's so bad, it's awful, someone out there will avenge those movie goers who were unlucky enough to spend 12 bucks on it, or a little less. Maybe when November 24th rolls around, someone will mention the fact that it's the 20th anniversary of MST3K. If not, we should remember them, the crew and the mad scientists who delivered the bad movies to us. Seeing Manos, Bride of the Monster, Laserblast, Hobgoblins, or even a Rifftraxed Iron Man while nibbling on that turkey drumstick will be the best way to honor the Satellite of Love, and all that it stands for.