Rifftrax's first live event of 2014, Sharknado, is now available for video stream or download. It was a big hit in theaters last July, and is likely to be a big hit for those who saw it live, and those who got a second chance this week.
I sent some questions by e-mail to Kevin Murphy about this movie, and what's coming up later this year.
First I asked if he and the rest of the crew were surprised about how popular the Sharknado show has become? He said, "I was surprised and delighted in how many people liked this show, I mean it was nuts."
As for whether they'll take on Sharknado 2, he just said, "We'll see."
Actually, that may be more likely this summer. More details here.
I also asked if he heard from the two stars, Tara Reid and Ian Zierling, he said "I know Ian tweeted about the show, and was a good sport about this." As fans remember, Dina Meyer tweeted about the live riff on Starship Troopers more than a year ago.
Earlier this month, the crew did a live show as part of Sketchfest in San Francisco. "I love doing the Sketchfest shows," he said. "Always a great audience, and we get to work with some of our best show biz friends" (Actually, he may have tried to type "bestest" there). Rifftrax taped the 2013 show, but no word yet on whether this year's show will also be available.
Here's the trailer from the Sharknado show, which is available at the Rifftrax website:
Next Sunday, America will honor the best movies of the year with the Academy Awards.
Before that, Rifftrax fans will get a second chance to honor one of the most bizarre movies ever made.
Last July, the Rifftrax crew (Michael J. Nelson, Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett) did a live riff of Sharknado, one of those incredibly-mixed-up movies made by the SyFyChannel. It's best known for such classics as Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus, Mega Python vs Gateroid (actually a proxy war between '80s singing stars Debbie Gibson and Tiffany), and Frankenfish. Sharknado got a lot of buzz from Twitter users in the summer of 2013, and even was shown in theaters.
Now, fans can buy their own copies of the gang's riff of this movie starting Wednesday, February 18th. We got a sneak preview of this movie, and it is worth every penny. It's one thing when Rifftrax takes on B-movies like ROTOR, Wonder Womenand The Dark Power, but it's another when it's an incredibly cheesy made-for-cable movie featuring two former teen stars.
What's also great is that the show takes place at the State Theater in Minneapolis, where they presented This Island Earth in the first MST3K convention in 1994. There were a lot of Minnesota jokes, especially about meat raffles.
The plot? Barely exists, but it's basically nature gone amok creating a situation that's a cross between Jaws and Twister. Between the bad editing that causes weather that makes no sense, and the really strange special effects, there's a lot to riff about.
It starts at a fishing boat where there's a dispute over paying for some shark, which is described by Mike as "a dark, gritty reboot of Gilligan's Island". Then, a storm brews, and for some reason it helps some sharks get on board and start eating the crew.
Later, we meet Fin Shepherd (Ian Zierling), former surfing champ and owner of a restaurant on the Santa Monica pier. He's often mistaken for Luke Perry or Jason Priestley. When the storm brews, some people in the water get eaten while the people on the shore don't notice. Then the waves get bigger, allowing the sharks to burst through the windows, causing what Kevin calls "Road House with sharks."
Tara "if this doesn't work, I'm leaking a sex tape" Reid plays April, Fin's ex-wife. He tells her to get to higher ground, but she refuses. So, he goes to her house, and the sharks get there through the sewers. They literally burst through the manholes, and chomp on her new boyfriend. Anyway, it all culminates with an attempt to stop the twisters by dropping bombs into them. The plan includes Nova, a trigger-happy waitress who hates sharks. The final battle is too bizarre to be described. After you see it, you will think maybe we owe Hal Warren an apology...and if you don't know who Warren is, the Master would not approve.
Now some riffs to expect:
The opening shot is a bunch of sharks trying to out-swim an oncoming tornado
Bill: You guys want story? Go read Judy Blume or something.
April won't let Fin take their daughter to higher ground
Kevin: There's a hurricane, you nitwit substitute for apple pie.
They get set to use a helicopter to toss bombs into the twisters
Mike: If Auntie Em has one of these, the Wizard of Oz would have been a much better movie.
The best riff, though, was this response:
Fin responding to the road rage: I just can't sit back and watch this Kevin: Yeah, I feel the same way.
There's also riffs on The Shining, Johnny Depp, The Little Mermaid, Uwe Boll, Semisonic, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, FEMA, Russian traffic, Burning Man and Def Leppard.
Before the movie, the gang presented a short called A Case of Spring Fever. It's about a guy who wishes springs never existed, and a demon named Coily grants that wish. It takes about five minutes for the guy to realize what a bad wish he made. It's reversed, and he spends the rest of the short telling his golf buddies how humanity would be doomed without springs. The short was shown before in the next-to-last MST3K episode, Squirm, The Rifftrax version has riffs on Jenny McCarthy, Christopher Walken and gluten-free diets.
That was followed by a preview of Sharknado 2, which features sharks somehow attacking fans at a Mets game. The fans are ready, attacking the sharks with baseball bats.
That movie, by the way, was also shown in theaters for one night shortly after it aired on SyFy last year. Of course, there will be a third Sharknado, and let's hope Rifftrax riffs the complete trilogy.
Sharknado is available for pre-order at the Rifftrax website for $12.95, or $14.95 for the HD version.
Also, the mp3 riff of Anaconda, which was made possible through last year's Kickstarter campaign, will be available next month.
It's been nearly 15 years that SyFy, when it was called the Sci-Fi Channel, cancelled Mystery Science Theater 3000. Maybe the channel was afraid Mike, Tom Servo and Crow would eventually riff on some of its original movies, starting with Mr, Stitch. From that moment, many fans hoped that one day, Mike and the bots would get their revenge.
That day will come July 10th.
Nine months ago, SyFy aired the cheesiest movie ever made on cable: Sharknado, where Los Angeles is attacked by a water spout filled with sharks. Our only hopes to survive: Tara Reid and Ian Zierling.
Of course, this is even dumber than Mega Python vs. Gateriod, and that doesn't include having Debbie Gibson and Tiffany in the movie.
So what happens? Sharknado gets popular, very popular. Granted, it could be because people wanted to mock it with extreme prejudice. Then, two weeks after it aired on SyFy, it was shown at 200 Regal Theaters in midnight showings which just about sold out. Yes, people paid money for this. Were there people who heckled the movie in the theater, too?
Well, this summer, the Rifftrax gang will have its chance. It'll have a live show where they target Sharknado July 10th, three weeks before the sequel escapes to SyFy. Expect a lot of American Pie and 90210 jokes in this production, and maybe some Wizard of Oz jokes. If you bought the Wizard of Oz riff, you notice they ask during the twister scene "where are the sharks". This may have been a hint that the movie had been in their cross hairs for some time. Maybe they're curious how it holds up against Birdemic, where people use coat hangers to battle attacking video game birds.
Edited to add: Conor Lastowka, one of the Rifftrax writers, has an explanation on why it's taking on Sharknado, although some are worried it's like shooting sharks in a barrel: it's just like a summer blockbuster, only with 98% less budget and star power--and it came from TV. Anyway, here's his Tumblr post that will say it better than anyone.
Fathom Events will have this at hundreds of theaters nationwide and Canada. It will be shown again on July 15th, but tickets will be on sale starting May 2nd.
Meanwhile, Rifftrax will spend April Fools Day riffing on nature shows for the National Geographic channel betwen 8 and 11 PM East and West, with another go-around between 11 PM and 2 AM.
