My MST3K Movie Collection

Tags

Amazing Transparent Man, Anthony Cardoza, b movies, Bela Lugosi, Bert I Gordon, Beverly Garland, Biker Movie, Bride of the Monster, Catalina Caper, Chick Chandler, Coleman Francis, Commando Cody, Don Sullivan, Ed Wood, Foreign, Gamera, Gamera vs. Guiron, Giant Gila Monster, Giant Monsters, Godzilla, Gyaos, Japan, Jerry Warren, Joel Hodgson, John Agar, John Ashley, Kaiju, King Dinosaur, Larry Buchanan, Lee Van Cleef, Lost Continent, Mad Monster, mst3k, MST3K Shorts, Satellite of Love (Mystery Science Theater 3000), SOL, Unriffed

One day a man decides to start watching the movies on MST3K unriffed.  A little over a year and a half later, he ends up with (possibly) as complete a collection as is currently available.

The hanging pictures represent the digital copies owned.

Season 00

Season 01

Season 02

Season 03

Season 04

Season 05

Season 06

Season 07 and Movie

 

Season 08

Season 09

Season 10

And the shorts

The bots aren’t happy about this!

The following are the 2 movies and 10 shorts I have been unable to locate on DVD/VHS/digital

307Short: ALPHABET ANTICS  (1951, Castle Films)

311Short: The Sports Parade: SNOW THRILLS (1945, Warner Brothers, Silent 16mm version found)

315Short: CATCHING TROUBLE (1936, Grantland Rice Sportlight/Paramount Pictures)

320Short: POSTURE PALS (1952, Avis Films)

413Short: GENERAL HOSPITAL PT 1

415Short: GENERAL HOSPITAL PT 2

417Short: GENERAL HOSPITAL PT 3 (Possibly a 1963-1964 episode)

421Short: CIRCUS ON ICE (1954 Associated Screen Studios)

612-The Starfighters 1964

621Short: MONEY TALKS! (1951, American Bankers Association, Film Counselors Inc, International Movie Producers’ Service)

621Short: PROGRESS ISLAND, U.S.A. (1973, Fucci/Stone Productions Inc.)

1009-Hamlet 1960 German TV, 1962 US release (Audio only German language CD found)

A big big thank you to my wife for taking these pictures!  She is a pretty talented person, visit her photo blog and quilling blog to see her work.

Experiment 605-Colossus and the Headhunters

Tags

b movies, Bad Dub, Bad Liturgical Dance, Bob Newhart, Colossus and the Headhunters, Fake Death, Fire Maidens from Outer Space, Foreign, Headhunters, Hercules, Italian Film, Italian movies, Jason and the Argonauts, Jesus Franco, Lost People, Maciste, Ray Harryhausen, Satellite of Love (Mystery Science Theater 3000), sword and sandal, Teddy Roosevelt, The Castle of Fu Manchu, The Mole People, Useless Hero

“Then what happened?”

My Cheesesteak!

Some things I learned prepping for viewing an unriffed Colossus and the Headhunters:

(All facts subject to your faith in Wikipedia.)

Maciste was created as a heroic character for Italian movies in the 1910s. He’s not some hero from ancient times, unless your definition of ancient refers to a time when Teddy Roosevelt was still alive.

Maciste was originally a solder, angel, Olympic athlete, or anything the plot required. He is a hero in the most generic sense of the word.

During the Sword and Sandal era of Italian filmmaking, Maciste was reimagined as a hero in the classic manner. Because of a lack of familiarity with American audiences, his movies were retitled. Colossus and the Headhunters however neglected to change his name for the voice actors’ scripts.

Hercules against the Moon Men was originally released in Italy and France as a Maciste movie. A missed Cheesesteak opportunity for Joel and the boys.

Jesus Franco, director of The Castle of Fu Manchu, apparently made some Maciste-themed porn films in the 1970s. So there’s that for you if you like.

So, I got one of those movie packs. Ok, so I have several, but that’s not the point. And I’m going through the disc, watching the movies, and I hit a Sword and Sandal block. Four Hercules movies. Suddenly, I’m not in the mood for B movies.

That is kind of my relationship with Sword and Sandal. Not something I really go out of my way to watch. I will stop rather than go on. But that is the thing about MST3K, it covers a wide variety, there is something for everyone. Still, I’d rather have a Eurospy if we’re having Italian.

I think Jason and the Argonauts ruined other S&S for me. None of these muscle men movies could muster the effects of Harryhausen.

As sleepy and misdirected as the Hercules movies could get, it is hard to think of a movie with a more random beginning than this one. Maciste just happened to be walking on a doomed island, just as it is getting doomed?

Should I be bothered by what appears to be ever shrinking numbers on the raft? Maciste isn’t losing any muscle mass on the open seas.

This is one of the few instances where I think the SOL had a better print than I did. The color is very washed out in many places on this print. Almost like the film was overexposed.

It is not just that Maciste lays there breathing, but he starts to sit up before the soldiers are fully out of frame.

I know they just lost their island, but these poor people have a lot invested in a guy who literally just showed up.

I often wonder with the dubbed films of this era how much better voice acting would help them out. Too many of these voices are just reading lines, not really doing anything to make characters. Of course, there are plenty of English language movies better music (or any at all) would improve. That isn’t to say the music cues in this film couldn’t use help by the bushel full.

So, Maciste thinks it would dangerous to stay at the village and help fight the headhunters, but thinks it is ok to go onto the headhunters turf to find ‘safety’? He needs someone to do the thinking around here. Shouldn’t Ariel speak for his people, not Johnny come lately?

Bob Newhart had a more believable fight scene than the headhunter attack. It would seem the attack would kill all the people Kermes is trying to rule. I don’t know if that is a metaphor or just poorly thought out.

And just as Queen Amoha’s people are subjugated, Ariel’s people show up. It is a never ending cycle. On the plus side, now there is lots of available real estate for Ariel’s people.

This whole movie feels like it is missing scenes. Like there are key set up points we weren’t allowed to know.

41:51 into the movie, Maciste pushes in a wall. The second thing he’s done in the movie. A wandering hero, I. Hercules would have been in at least 3 good natured brawls alone by this point.

During the jailbreak, Maciste and Ariel manage to engage everyone but the two people they needed to stop. I’ve got my doubts about Maciste’s ability to go about and a-hero.

So, what do the headhunters get out of this deal? Kermes becomes king, and they get to leave? I somehow don’t buy it. Headhunters are into it just for the heads. It is what they do.

I just love that the hero feels the need to be updated on the plot. Good to know I’m not the only one whose attention was fleeting.

Worse Liturgical Dance: The wedding dance from Colossus or the sacrifice dance from The Mole People? The Fire Maidens dance gets at least an honorable mention. I honestly think this poor girl had to improvise the dance on her own. Nothing could be choreographed that spasmodically. Around 3 minutes of that ‘dancing’.

So, do the Uris troops massacre the headhunter village? I know we just see soldiers dying, but things like this get out of control quickly. And they did torch the village.

I do like the arrow to the face.

Just not well done fight scenes. As if there wasn’t any fight training and everyone was scared to hurt one another.

And of course, Maciste shows up just as things are breaking up. Just in time heroes really need to rethink how they live life.

And pushing over that tower accomplished what? This is a whole new level of meaningless daring do. None of the good guys have put any level of thought into what they want. They are consumed by several immediate small goals, but there does not seem to be any plan. Heck, Maciste doesn’t so much save the day as he shows up just as everything sorts itself out. Ok, he killed the villain. That is something.

Wow, Pee-Wee level death scene. If dying is easy, I guess that is one unfunny actor.

See era of strife is over. They did massacre the headhunters.

If there is one thing royalty likes it is rafting out on the Mediterranean on an open raft like a Huck and Jim of the classical period.

Watchability: 1 of 5. Not a genre I like, but this wasn’t even a well done example. Bad voice acting, poorly thought plot and a bad print to boot. Not a lot to like here.

Missing the Riffs: 3 of 5. I know this is a ‘raw nerve’ episode for many MSTies, with the Nummy Muffin Coocol Butter bits, so I knock it down a bit for that. I suppose a big Kirk Morris fan would have to watch this without the SOL, but I don’t think anyone else should.

 

Short 603S-The Selling Wizard

Tags

ice cream freezer, MST3K Shorts, Odd Helpers, Philadelphia Pint, Satellite of Love (Mystery Science Theater 3000), Season 8

Unlike “Once Upon a Honeymoon” this ad makes it clear what it is selling and to whom.

Apparently all ice cream was generic back then.  I suppose in 1954, freezers in the home weren’t as spacious as we have now.

We take these big freezers for granted, they had to come from sometime.  Heck, I was at the store today, and the display hasn’t changed that much in 60 years.

Gentlemen, you must all be distracted the pretty girl.  Why, it is amazing the film got made with a pretty girl involved.  Frozen smile for frozen food.

I don’t get why the freezers are set up at an angle.  I never worked in a grocery, so there must be a reason.  Or is it just to show off the interior more?  No, because it is done with closed ones too.

The diagram of how the freezer works looks just like the diagrams in my old science books.

What is a Philadelphia Pint?  The internet doesn’t help me much with that question.  If it was just a pint, they would call it a pint.

Who knew A-B made something other than beer.

Short 623-The Days of Our Years

Tags

Amazing Transparent Man, Bad Priest, Depressing Movies, Least Favorite, MST3K Shorts, Safety Films, Union Pacific

This is the first short I’ve gone after, and it is a downer.  Honestly, when watching The Amazing Transparent Man, I usually skip this short.  I have even told my wife we can skip over this short when our watch through gets to this experiment.

Now I appreciate safety.  Safety keeps us, well, safe.  But this is like the liturgical version of Scared Straight.

The priest looks almost depressed.  And it sounds like he wrote his own script too.

In the first story, about Joe and his gal, they make it hard to like a selfish guy like Joe.  It isn’t just the burden on his gal and his own struggles, he put two coworkers in danger.

And not a comforting word from the priest to any of these people when he comes across them.  Nope, just their tragic stories and depressed looks.  Like, couldn’t the priest try to get old George and his friend’s family together to talk things over?  Isn’t that what priest do?

It seems, in the ‘gentle pressure’ bit, that Charlie’s co-worker really held that torch in Charlie’s eyes.  Granted, I never handled a welding torch like railroad workers would handle.  Maybe your natural reaction is to bring that torch up to face level and move it back and forth.

If I drank, I’d need one now.

Watchability: 0 of 5.  Trust me, stay away for your own mental health.

Missing the Riffs: 0 of 5.  I don’t want to watch it with the riffs.  This is my least favorite thing they watched on MST3K.

Experiment 623-The Amazing Transparent Man

Tags

Cheap Effects, Crawling Hand, Dallas movies, Douglas Kennedy, Giant Gila Monster, Ivan Triesault, James Griffith, Killer Shrews, Larry Buchanan, Little Shop of Horrors, Marguerite Chapman, Myrna Dell, Satellite of Love (Mystery Science Theater 3000), SOL, The Crawling Hand, The Giant Gila Monster, The Killer Shrews, The Little Shop of Horrors

“He’s dangerous and locks mean nothing to him.”

Another Dallas-area quickie in the grand tradition of The Giant Gila Monster and The Killer Shrews.  That is also the area Larry Buchanan worked in with his subpar remakes too.

For a movie that clocks in at under 60 minutes run time, the SOL still edited a bit of Faust’s escape.

Sometime I don’t know if I can believe the internet, but I’ll pass this along from Marguerite (Laura Matson) Chapman’s IMBD Page: She and actress Myrna Dell are credited for creating the idea of traveling autograph conventions.  Geeks and nerds everywhere owe her a debt of gratitude.  She also has plenty of photos on the net.  She is easily the biggest ‘star’ in this movie.

Ok, Douglas (Joey Faust) Kennedy has more credits.  James (Maj. Paul Krenner) Griffith has even more than that, but that’s not the point.

Much like The Crawling Hand, it seems the production team came up with the cheapest sci-fi gimmick they could think of.  Yet, this is the kind of ‘cheap’ effect that looks cheap without even trying.  Nothing isn’t the same as invisible.

I feel more like I’m watching an episode from an anthology series, not a movie.

We get such a quick sketch of Faust and Krenner, I don’t understand why we have to spend so much time on the backstory of Dr. Ulof (Ivan Triesault).  I’d say the Major and our thief, even Laura, have more intriguing backstories.  Dr. Ulof, well, that story had to be a cliché by that time: the European scientist fleeing his past.

Movies like this are always frustrating: a decent idea but little in the way of execution.  It is like the filmmakers asked the wrong questions.  I want to know more about why Laura is with the Major, what does he have on her?  Faust was betrayed by his wife, and that is ignored until our exit speeches.

I will give the actors credit, they do a pretty decent job of getting ‘beat up’ by an invisible Faust.  As long as Faust isn’t handling anything, it cheapness isn’t too terribly obvious.  But a little thing like the sound of footsteps would have added a layer of detail this movie really needed.

The Major can’t handle one invisible—excuse me—transparent man, how does he think he can control an army of them?  The flaw in this plan is the planner.

Giggle Water.  If I drank, that’s what I’d call it.

One thing I do find believable about this movie: Faust would be that quick to turn on his employer.  It just seems like he didn’t take enough cash to make the robbery worth it.   I also don’t think parking a 1960 Buick Titanic in front of a bank is the best escape plan.

I think the cops in The Little Shop of Horrors are more attentive than the cops in this movie.

A halfway decent fight at the end.  Shame the budget ran out and Faust couldn’t go transparent.

And they all died, the mark of a lazy screenwriter.  Sometimes it makes sense, but mostly it is a way to avoid having to deal with difficult questions.

Watchability: 2 of 5.  Not really worth watching, but no harm can come of it.  A thought or two are evident, but not enough to overcome the errors throughout.

Missing the Riffs: 3 of 5.  The only reason I don’t go lower is the short this movie is paired with on MST3K is so depressing.  Skip the short, I’ll go to 2 of 5 on missing the riffs.

Experiment 616-Racket Girls

Tags

Ed Wood, explotation, George Weiss, Pippi Longstocking, women wrestlers, Wrestling

“Well, I am his confidential bookkeeper.”

Is there any credit creepier than “Produced under the personal supervision of George Weiss”?

The first line of dialogue comes 8 minutes into the film.  A six minute wrestling match followed by 2 minutes of wrestling practice.  Personal Supervision indeed.

The trailer promises non-stop action.  I’m guessing 2-3 minutes of non-wrestling footage in the first 12 minutes.

Wrestling and workout footage.   There is even more than the SOL showed.  The amount of wrestling in this movie puts Samson/Santo to shame.

George Weiss really loved his Peaches.  Why, he doesn’t even get to our gangster storyline until we’re about 1/3 into the film.  Maybe the extend workout/wrestling sequences are there because there wasn’t enough story to make a movie.  More likely, the story is there to keep this from becoming soft-core porn.

The ‘catfight’ last a surprisingly short 5 minutes.

It would seem wrestling with two long Pippi Longstocking braids would not be a smart thing to do.  Clara Mortensen/Rita Martinez championship bout goes close to 10 minutes.

This isn’t night for night, it’s blackout for night.

And like that it is over.

Watchability: 3 of 5.  Very hard to place.  Way way too much wrestling and unattractive women, but there is this wonderful Ed Wood style sleaze about it.  Yeah, I’m going to watch again.

Missing the Riffs: 2 of 5.  I do love the riffing on this episode.  It is another movie where there is so little dialogue some good riffs are needed to fill the spaces.  The wide wide open space.

Experiment 624-Samson Vs. The Vampire Women

Tags

Bad Parents, Dubbed, Foreign, mst3k, Racket Girls, Superheroes, Vampires, Wrestling

“Take off his mask”

I wish I understood Spanish, because I would like to know how different the story is or isn’t in the original language.  That comes up with the Japanese movies too.  Well, I’ll do the best I can with the English language version.  I have to work on the assumption this is a faithful translation.

I was never really into American wrestling.  I would watch with friends, and knew the big stars, but I probably haven’t watched more than 10 minutes of it over the last 25 years.  El Santo (Samson’s real fake name) was a legendary wrestler in Mexico, spawning movies and comic books.  I suppose this is akin to a Jon Cena or Rock action movie.  El Santo was nearly 30 years into his career when this movie was made and would finally retire in the early 80’s.

It isn’t healthy to just keep telling your daughter she’s imagining things.  Way to undermine the girl’s sense of self.

Scenes cut for MST3K include: The Doctor recording a message to Samson and a Tag Team Wrestling match.  A very long tag team match.  Samson’s team wins and he then dishes out another whupping when the losers rush him.  And then after waiting for a few moments the crowd enters the ring and hoist Samson upon their shoulders.  And there is additional wrestling around the Samson/Vampire bout that is cut as well.  I’m not complaining about that.

There is very little cut for the SOL.  The odd jumps, the quick entrances by Santos these are all in the original.

I would have more respect for the Doctor if he was a vampire hunter, not a vampire waiter.  People offer to help and he won’t do anything but let the prophecy happen.  Sometime you should make your own destiny.  But no, he’s got to be a gloomy Gus about everything.

I’m so glad voice acting has improved over the years.  There isn’t a whole lot of acting, just voice.  I suppose there is a bit of a story here, but the dubbing is very distracting.  Oddly (or maybe not, I don’t know copyright law) the song in the nightclub is sung in Spanish, not the dub of the MST3K version.

Why did the crowd panic when the lights went off?  Why did the Vampires lay Diana down for Samson to save?  Why do vampires always forget about sun up (for that matter, why do they bother with basement windows)?  There are lots of actions and choices in this film that make no sense in any language.

Scary words before any wrestling match: “No time limit.”

Way way too much wrestling and it is really in only two segments, the tag team and vampire match.  I have a feeling Racket Girls will feel like this.  I suppose there is a passable vampire story in this movie but I just can’t see it for all the Samson.

Watchablity: 1 of 5.  I did not need the over long wrestling scenes.  I get why they are there and that the person who paid for a ticket to this movie expected wrestling.  I would rather have a better vampire story.

Missing the Riffs: 1 of 5.  The MST3K version has cut out the wrestling and little else.  It is a much better watch that way.  A movie that the MST3K cuts actually help.

Experiment 619-Red Zone Cuba

Tags

Coleman Francis, Cut Scenes, Military, Monster A-Go Go, They Saved Hitler's Brain

“I’m Cherokee Jack.”

First uncut/unriffed viewing.

The SOL cut “Night Train to Mundo Fine!”

Stuff cut for MST3K includes: An extended scene where a gas station attendant tells Cook and Landis about Cuba (real secret invasion plan) and a grocery list is read.  Griffith is shown under the tarp sweating profusely.  Few minutes here and there at the training camp.  Makes Griffith more of a jerk.  Extended training bit cut for clarity.  Some dirt thrown on dead bodies in Cuba cut from the SOL.

You know, it’s almost 20 minutes before Coleman speaks.

Why did they cut the covert soldiers sailing through a marina on what looks to be a big fishing boat (but I don’t know boats)?  That’s pure gold!

The invasion took longer to fail, and I think there was traffic in the background.

Worse portrayal of real dictator: Castro in Red Zone Cuba or Hitler in Madmen of Mandoras/They Saved Hitler’s Brain?

The attack on the old man is a bit more ‘violent’ in the full version.  There is a poor overdub of dialogue when he is being attacked.  And then . . . well, Griffith is a depraved man.  Be thankful for some cuts, it was a ‘family’ show after all.

They did just park the car to hop a train!  At least you could make an argument for most decisions, not that one.  Fight sequence between Landis and Griffith trimmed down.

This version doesn’t have the end narration (“A penny and a broken cigarette”), copyright hits again.

This to me is almost a perfect BLC movie.  A grand premises, recurring themes, a certain ingenuity when dealing with the budget, bait and switch star, something actually shocking, and-oddly enough-passion.  There is not a moment in any of these three movies that isn’t entirely Coleman Francis.  Of all the movies I thought I would never see uncut, Monster A-Go Go and Red Zone Cuba were 1 and 2.  The reaction to seeing them was different kinds of joy.  MAGG for being exactly what I thought it would be and RZC for giving me more than I expected.

I’m so glad the SOL put these movies out there.  The total Coleman Francis experience was something else, like looking into the soul of a madman disguised as an artist.  There is something about the dark cynicism at the heart of all these films that appeals to me.  Coleman had his finger on something about the human condition, or maybe just his, which he wanted the world to know.  Maybe someday, I’ll understand what he had to say.

Watchability: 3 of 5.  Not for everyone.  The cut scenes help a bit, but they mainly shows us how low Griffith has sunk in his life.  Again, this gets bonus points for Coleman Francis and the loooong wait to finally see it.

Missing the Riffs: 3 of 5.  Another instance where I could watch either version and be happy.

Experiment 609-The Skydivers

Tags

Coleman Francis, Music, The Beast of Yucca Flats

“You ought to, it’s fun!”

I was in college.  It was late, and Paul suggested playing a MST3K tape.  It was The Skydivers.  “Coleman Francis,” Paul said matter-of-factly, “he directed Beast of Yucca Flats.”

A bolt of lightning from the past hit me.  Tor drew me in, but it was Coleman Francis who was the man behind the camera.  It was one of those times I was trying to watch the movie in spite of the riffing.  (You can imagine my further joy when I found out about the existence of Red Zone Cuba).  Tonight is my first unriffed viewing of the movie.

Some very minor cut scenes missing (picnicking families, that sort of thing) and some of the skydiving is pared down by a few minutes at least.  Seems like the procurement of the acid takes a little longer than in the episode, but thankfully nothing exceedingly tawdry is shown.  It is still unpleasant to watch, but I guess Coleman liked her.  The only big chunk removed for MST3K are a few minutes before the dance party with Coleman refusing his daughter’s request to learn skydiving leading to an extending waving sequence.  A quick scene were a witness ids the slut and her boyfriend was cut for the SOL.   The ‘hunt’ for the slut and boyfriend was cut short too.  The Jimmy Bryant segments do not appear to have been cut

This movie is so much better than Yucca Flats.  It is better from a technical aspect, and there is more of a story.  Having sound helps.  And Jimmy Bryant’s music does rock.

Was Coleman trying to have some of that ‘beach movie’ cutaway humor?  If the implied tension was actually there, I could see needing the humor, but Coleman out Ed Woods Ed Wood.  His vision, his words, his everything.

It is all Coleman’s movie, and he still tells it wrong.  The man had fixations: light aircraft, coffee, skydiving, shooting people from the air even if you don’t know who it is, leaving corpses where they lay.  If I was a smarter man, I would say these three movies could tell all you ever wanted to know about Coleman Francis.  His hope and fears in a little over 3 hours.

And yes, the credits do roll silently along.

Watchabilty: 3 of 5.  It is such an improvement from this first film.  Maybe the overall best of the three.  I give it an extra point for my Coleman Francis fascination.

Missing the Riffs: 4 of 5.  Didn’t need the SOL, but I waited a long time to see it, so factor that in.

Experiment 621-The Beast of Yucca Flats

Tags

Anthony Cardoza, Coleman Francis, Ed Wood, John Caradine, Monster A-Go Go, The Creeping Terror, The Hellcats, Tor Johnson

“A man murdered.  A woman’s purse.”

Note: I’m watching the version without the 19 second nude scene.  The full version (if you really need to see the boobies for ‘integrity’) is available at archive.org.  The edited version is usually the one in the budget bins/collections.

The ‘making of’ this movie is a fascinating story.  This interview http://www.bmonster.com/profile37.html with Producer/Actor Anthony Cardoza (in addition to the 3 Francis films, he produced/acted in The Hellcats.) does a better job than I ever could.  Be aware, the Coleman Francis story didn’t have a happy ending.

It’s all Tor Johnson’s fault.

I was an Ed Wood fan.  Bride of the Monster, Glen or Glenda, Plan 9 From Outer Space.  Loved them, as well as the B-movies (that’s what I thought all pre-1970 scifi/horror was) on the Early Show and Late Late Show.  But I was at the video store in 1984, probably That’s Rentertainment, when I saw the VHS.  Tor Johnson in a non-Ed Wood movie?  The idea blew my mind.

I thought I knew what a b-movies were.  Thought I had seen low budget films.  Thought I knew how to define ‘cult’ movie.  The Beast of Yucca Flats changed everything.  Now I was lucky to live in a university town with a great rental story.  There was a whole new wall of choices for me.  Midget Westerns!  Jungle Capers!  Well Oiled Hercules!  Rubber Monsters!  The Cor-Man!  The Ro-Man!  Heck, they even had a 1970 movie called Bigfoot, staring John Caradine and produced by Antony Cardoza! (or maybe I have my Bigfoot movies mixed up)

But nothing else by Coleman Francis.  His name never showing up in the Monster Movie mags and Zines of my day.  The Beast was always ‘that Tor Johnson’ movie.  Hell, I probably couldn’t tell you who directed the movie.  I just assumed this was his one shot and, it didn’t go too well.  After all, who would let him make another movie?

But I was wrong, it wasn’t Tor Johnson’s film.  It wasn’t Tor Johnson that changed everything for me.  It was Coleman Francis.  I just didn’t know it yet.

Almost a decade later I finally found out.

Watchabilty: 1 of 5.  It is in the discussion for worst movie ever.  Definitely in Monster A-Go Go, The Creeping Terror range.  Never trust a movie that’s narrated (except Blade Runner).  A big movie in terms of my development as a fan.

Missing the Riffs: 3 of 5.  I like both versions, don’t make me choose.