After the incredible bummer that was the previous week's meeting (I won't go into it) and the fact that Halloween was no more than a few mere days away, I was definitely excited to go see Rifftrax LIVE! House on Haunted Hill. I had seen a trailer for the event before "Let Me In" earlier that month and I knew that the combination of MST3K-styled riffing and one of my favorite childhood horror movies (kids have those, right?) was something not to be missed. Rifftrax, for those of you unfamiliar, is a group consisting of the former stars of the excellent cult-classic television series "Mystery Science Theater 3000" (Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy, & Bill Corbett). They're riffing, except that they aren't limited to cheesy sci-fi and horror B-movies anymore. No, they also do commentaries for next generation of cheesy sci-fi and horror B-movies, like "Transformers" movies and "Clash of the Titans", in addition to a treasure trove of awfully weird film shorts and public service films.
This was as the title implies a live riff session simultaneously broadcast to theaters across the country. They've done these live events in the past, for such cult-classic staples as "Santa Claus Conquers the Martians", "Plan 9 from Outer Space", and "Reefer Madness". In addition to the main features, they include a number of different shorts, which are loosely connected to the "theme", if you will, of the event.
We got a fanciness-hating grocery witch and a demonic, talking paper bag. Spooky? Maybe. Disturbing? You betcha. Before the show started, though, they projected some "Rifftrax Facts", a series of jokes parodying those awful movie facts (Do I really care which Hollywood leading man has a law degree? No...but just so y'know, it's Gerard Butler), set to the groovy sounds of their Rifftones songs.
The first short, "Magical Disappearing Money" (or the billion dollar stimulus package) was a full-on 70's piece, complete with mutton chop bears and garish wardrobes. It features a penny-pinching witch hanging around a grocery store and trying to get people to consider "smart" inexpensive alternatives to their "fancy" food choices, which translates to shopping as if you were living during war-time rationing. The crew had great riffs for this one, including some great demonic voices for the grocery witch and a funny, but obvious Christine O'Donnell crack. I felt right at home and any doubts I had about the guys' riffing abilities post-MST3K were put to rest.
Then, comedian Paul F. Tompkins came out and did a couple of minutes of stand-up about the standard"monster popping up in the bathroom mirror" scare in horror movies. Good stuff, but I really liked how he lampooned the same lame response actors give interviewers about horror movies ("I did this movie because I think we all like to be scared") -it's a pet peeve of mine. Anyway, the next short, entitled "Paper & I" was hilarious, though, not so much for the riffs (there was a great Ents reference from Tompkins and a joke about a young David Lynch). The reason why it worked well was because it was so damned absurd and disturbing. Essentially, a kid is talked to by a paper bag with a cartoon face who flies him to the South, in the middle of the night, to show him how paper is made and tell him in excruciating detail about the paper production process. Things got really weird when it became clear that the bag was dying and so, to teach everyone a lesson about how important paper is, the bag makes all the paper/paper products in the world disappear. In the end, the kid, Willy, blows up the bag and pops him. I really hope that they post this one online soon because my description hardly does the creepiness of the talking paper bag any justice.
Finally, the main feature began and well, it was pretty damned good. The movie didn't stand up as well as I remembered it as a kid, but then again, I didn't really expect it to. Actually, seeing it again after so many years reminded me that as a kid, I could see the overall narrative problems of pacing and structure, though I probably didn't use those terms (Maybe I did. I don't know; I could tell the movie started to get boring). It lacked towards the end, with certain repetitive jokes getting to be just that: repetitive and stale, but that's because the movie itself starts to suffer from the fact that people spend far too long going in and out of rooms and talking. When the action does pick up, say, with a skeleton marionette, the "good stuff" shows back up again. Highlights included drunk Frank Lloyd, Vincent Price uttering the line "It's close to midnight..." and the subsequent brief, a cappella breakdown of "Thriller", "Seditives", and an extended "LLLLLadies" from the hero/pervert of the film. My personal favorites were the quick, little jokes that come with a quick cut, like "David Bowie" when it cut between characters, or "I'm all set for the first 2 days of Hanukkah-YES!".
All in all, it was a very fun experience. I laughed. I laughed hard. To be honest, I haven't laughed like that in a good while. It brought me right back to those Saturday mornings watching "The Screaming Skull" or "Prince of Space" on "Mystery Science Theater 3000" on the Sci-Fi Channel (not SyFy, ya god-damned green bastards). My face was sore and I was happy. All the stress of midterms, papers, and dealing with "artists" (if you know what I mean and I think you do) disappeared -and it was a great way to kick off the Halloween weekend. In the end, I'm glad that I decided to make the extra effort to go see Rifftrax LIVE! and I'm glad that the rest of The Comic Book League decided to join me because we definitely all had a great time.
That's why I'm giving Rifftrax LIVE! House on Haunted Hill 4 stars. I'd tell you to check it out, but it was a live event, so you can't. You can however go to the Rifftrax website and purchase the riff commentary for the film, as well as the short "Magical Disappearing Money". It was available for free download along with the other "digital goodies", but alas, I never did and now its gone because they're selling it. Besides, if I did and posted it here, it would probably get taken down, like the Youtube version. I'd also suggest you think about going to the next Rifftrax LIVE! event -I guarantee that you'll have an excellent time.
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