ARTS REVIEW: RIFFTRAX LIVE: 'REEFER MADNESS'
One Whiff and You'll Be Hooked on Laughter!
I have to be honest. Whenever I hear the term ‘cult following,’ my skin starts to crawl. Generally, the term refers to either a movie or series that never took off with the public or with critics but somehow found a niche audience of loyal fans. That said, I never really got the fascination with such cult hits as The Rocky Horror Picture Show, The Room, or Twin Peaks.
That was all about to change the night my 13-year-old son perused the Netflix docket for something to streamline to our TV screen one boring Saturday night. We both reacted, intrigued by a list of movies under the moniker Mystery Science Theater 3000 or, as it’s known among its legion of fans, simply MST3K.
The premise was incredibly simple. In the not-too-distant future, a man (Mike Nelson) and his robots (Tom Servo, played by Kevin Murphy, and Crow T. Robot, played by Bill Corbett) are trapped on the Satellite of love where evil scientists force them to sit through the worst movies ever made. What makes these dated stillborn efforts from the ’50s through ’80s watchable is the hysterical commentary that ensues between the three.
Within moments of watching MST3K’s take on Soul Takers, my son and I were hooked with a constant barrage of sidesplitting laughter. I wondered, almost angrily, why I never discovered this brilliance almost two decades earlier during the show’s original 1988-1999 run. The show was so popular, it spawned a theatrical feature. It was all we could do but gobble up as many MST3K’s genius every Saturday night.
After the show’s demise, the team continued their paralyzing sarcasm on a slew of other classics under the name RiffTrax. Throughout theaters across the country, legions of fans converge during their RiffTrax Live performances on stage. Via satellite, audiences are treated to watching the guys do their audio magic LIVE.
I had no idea what was in store last Thursday, August 19, 2010 when I took my son to the Santa Monica Cineplex for a RiffTrax performance of Reefer Madness. Seated amongst other loyal followers, mostly male, we stared up at the screen to find a string of parody takes on the ‘Movie Facts’ and ‘Did You Know?’ pop-ups that typically clutter the screen before a film starts. “Did you know the floor of the theater is covered in stickiness because Nick Nolte spent the night there?”
‘Famous Movie Quotes’ took on a whole new meaning with absurdities like, “Sure, I’d like to star in a movie called Furry Vengeance.” – Brendan Fraser.
The audience was primed, and by the time the lights dimmed and by the time Nelson, Corbett, and Murphy took the stage, we were all in store for an all-you-can-laugh buffet of utter absurdity, starting with three shorts. The guys were in prime form, showing no signs of wearing with zingers to delight their eager followers.
Next came the colorized version of the 1936 marijuana classic, Reefer Madness, originally intended as a cautionary tale featuring a fictionalized and highly exaggerated take on the use of marijuana. A trio of drug dealers lead innocent teenagers to become addicted to “reefer” cigarettes by holding wild parties with jazz music where all hell breaks loose.
Tailor made for the talents of the RiffTrax trio, the laughs were constant and unrelenting. My son and I laughed so hard, our voices were hoarse by the time the film’s end credits started rolling. What made the occasion all the more memorable was that we were sharing our laughter with an audience that laps up the same absurdity with equally insatiable appetites.
If you’ve never watched MSTK3, do yourself a favor and fill up your Netflix or Blockbuster docket and get ready to dive in. If you’re like the millions of fans worldwide, you’ll immediately get hooked and will undoubtedly want to see the guys perform live.
I can promise you my son and I will be there come October, when Nelson, Murphy, and Corbett set their sights on the Vincent Price classic, House on Haunted Hill. For more information, or if you’d like to find out more about the guys, check out RIFFTRAX.com.
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