Briefly, I had a great time, laughed my ass off. The crowd was sparse in my theater near Scranton, Pa. I’ll probably post more later. Have at it!
And remember: if you missed it, there’s a replay on Tuesday.
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RiffTrax Live Open ThreadA thread for your comments on tonight’s show. Please hold off spoilers till the West Coast sees it.
90 Replies to “RiffTrax Live Open Thread”Commenting at Satellite News
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The theater I was in (in Houston, TX) was only about half full, probably the smallest crowd since I started attending the live shows (beginning with “Manos”), including the repeat shows. My guess is that this time, because it was known in advance that there will be a repeat showing next week, there wasn’t the “now or never” sense of urgency that there usually is. Still, it was a good audience, so no complaints.
With all the build up about “special surprises” at the beginning, I was relieved that it just amounted to a Godzilla preview. I was afraid they were going back in the direction of the early shows with special guests who don’t really mesh well with the trio (Weird Al being the lone exception) or some of those (in my opinion) time-killing, momentum-destroying, unfunny Rich Kyanka cartoons.
Because of the seemingly made-to-be-awful nature of Sharknado (and Sy Fy original movies in general), I wasn’t sure how good this show be would. I should have known better. Very funny riffing. I think it works because, even if the filmmakers (using that term loosely in this case) intended it to be a joke movie, Ian and Tara were no doubt NOT in on the joke and were playing it as seriously as they possibly could.
P.S. Which riff got the biggest laughs in your theater? I’d have to say the Bruce Campbell one near the end. Everyone was roaring and applauding.
Oh, and I’m not surprised the producers won’t let a live VOD be released — I bet they hope to sell a bunch more crappy Sharknado DVDs when the guys release an mp3 studio version of their commentary.
Three quarter full theater in Manchester CT last night. Had not seen either Sharknado or the short so, it was especially nice. God-awful movie and the guys ripped it apart as it deserved to be. The crowd was very happy throughout and it made for an outstanding time. Pre show was good although some of the slides weren’t as funny as usual. Of the four live shows I have been to, I would put this one right behind Starship Troopers for overall funniness if there is such a word.
I saw it in Athens, Ohio and the turnout was one of the best I’ve seen for a Rifftrax show. The theater wasn’t full, but it was far from the small crowd I’d seen at previous shows. I’d guess it was maybe about 2/3 full, actually.
I’d never seen “Sharknado” before. I’d heard of it, certainly, but I’ve never had much interest in SyFy (ugh, that name) original movies or crappy self-aware CGI schlockfests in general. That said, I found it entertaining enough on its own (though it almost put me to sleep at about the halfway point). I appreciated the over-the-top wackiness of it all, though at times I kind of wanted it to just get things over with already. My mother, who’s a long-time MST3K, was with me on this trip, and she just found the whole thing utterly hysterical and for the first time even wants to go to the encore show.
The riffing was top-notch, and it led to one of the most appreciative, laugh-out-loud audiences I’ve ever been a part of at a Rifftrax show. Seeing “A Case of Spring Fever” again was great, especially with the updated riffing. I saw Cinematic Titanic live once back in 2010, and I had a bit of a flashback to that experience during “Sharknado.” During the riff of “East Meets Watts,” a.k.a. “The Dynamite Brothers,” Mary Jo had a line during a particularly dull villain scene: “So THIS is what Hannah Arendt meant by the Banality of Evil!” I cracked up, but was the only one in the theater to do so, and I felt like Alf or Mrs. Krabappel belting out a coarse “HA!” all alone in that theater. During the Rifftrix “Sharknado” show, when one of the guys referred to one of the dusty, shark-filled tornadoes as “Kaiju Pigpen,” I totally lost it. I couldn’t stop laughing, but I was apparently the only one in my theater to get the joke.
The right people will get it, indeed.
My fiance and I were right there at the State Theater. We had a lot of fun! It was nice that they threw in a few Minnesota jokes without overdoing it. It was great seeing them back in Minnesota(which, as they pointed out, is where they live)!
Chiming in on the popular debate, I don’t know how much of Sharknado was intentionally bad and how much of it was just people rushing out something bizarre enough to get peoples’ attention. They clearly must have known that some of the “science” was flat wrong and they seemed to be going for more than a little of an homage to Jaws and various disaster movies. Regardless, I thought there was an honesty to the film. Namely, none of the cast paused and mugged for the camera to give the audience a chance to laughed at the absurd concepts. I thought the Rifftrax was hilarious and that it fit their purposes just fine. I know they can’t do a VOD but I’m hoping they at least release an MP3 for it.
We tried to intercept them for autographs between the stage exit and the buses, but they were understandably in a hurry(my fiance did actually get a quick autograph from Bill). We did get to say “Hi!” and “Great show!”. And there was a crew member who was nice enough to hand us and a few other people. We got some good photos in with those. And someone let go of his and it floating into the Minneapolis skyline giving us our own mini-Sharknado!
I’ve seen a couple of Asylum films before I watched Sharknado, so I think I got a good idea how they work. I get the argument that these movies are intentionally bad, but I don’t agree. If they were intentionally bad, they’d be more jokey and stuff like Lost Skeleton. Or at least fun. I don’t think Asylum movies are fun in any intentional sense, in fact I find them some of the most frustrating movies out there because “they just don’t care”. In the end I think they’re just all about making money, not caring about making a good movie one way or another. So when I say that I don’t think this is intentionally bad, that doesn’t equate to thinking they are trying to be good either. It’s a business focused solely on the bottom line, probably like today’s Lippert Pictures.
Springfield, Oregon. The crowd was surprisingly light compared to some of the other shows (about 1/2 to 2/3rds full), but everybody seemed to be really excited.
To be honest, it got off to kind of a weak start; the Coily short didn’t live up to the original riffing and the Goshzilla sneak-peek also seemed a little limp (I assume they’re still working on the jokes for that one.) However, once Sharknado got started…wow. That was just…wow. There were times the audience was laughing so hard that we drowned out Mike, Kevin, and Bill. And all the talk about this being “intentionally bad?” Total crap; this was just wretched filmmaking. I’ve honestly seen better editing in Ed Wood movies. Hopefully this will encourage Asylum to share more of their “art” with the Rifftrax crew. They really do seem to be a match made in heaven.
It was a little sluggish at first, but thanks again for another awesome night. These live shows are SECOND TO NONE!!!
One more note on the “intentionally bad” debate before we let the horse rest in peace… Compare your typical Asylum movie to something from Troma, home of the Toxic Avenger: Both studios produce films on a shoestring budget, with ludicrous premises and attention-grabbing wacky titles. (Poultrygeist?) But when you watch a Troma movie it’s clear that everyone involved in the production is invested in doing the best work they can and are having a great time, so the audience does too. Contrast that with Asylum movies which are clearly joyless cashgrabs. Riffing a Troma movie would be mean-spirited – and wouldn’t really work – whereas riffing Sharknado is well-deserved, if a little like shooting fish in a barrel.
Speaking of Troma, remember Blood Hook? I still have a VHS copy of that someplace.
My theatre in North Oklahoma City was pretty full, as usual. I was a little leary of this one, but I have to say I think it may be one of their best. I laughed so hard at points it hurt, and I think one of the biggest crowd laughs was not even a riff, but when she says “I hate sharks” and he says “me too”. Wow, just horribly hysterical. And Tara Reid…”Oh look, she’s trying to act..”. And Bruce Campbell and physics and Tasmanians and a rapelling gear and a much better movie. Yes, a good time was had by all. If you didn’t get to see it by all means catch the encore.
Couldn’t go to the show last night. :-( I plan on going to the rebroadcast show on Tuesday.
After then, I’ll check back in, read the comments, and post one of my own next week.
Saw it in Buffalo NY at the Regal Elmwood, seemed to be about 2/3rds full. I think I’m starting to see the same people at these. We had no sound for the trivia cards, though I think no one really noticed (I noticed that they usually had music but wasn’t sure.) Then when the trailers started there was still no sound. I went out immediately, but we got quite a ways into the performance without sound, in fact missed half of “Spring Fever” riffs before the sound finally came on. This was too bad, but the crowd tried to make up for it, trying to “Live Riff” the silent movie. Fact – Joe Six-Pack can’t live riff.
Here’s my take on Sharknado, this being my first time seeing it: I was concerned about the riff-ability as well, but I also thought the movie would be very “nudge, nudge, wink, wink, ain’t this a stupid movie” when in fact it was really more of a “we’re going to make this completely straight – no matter how stupid the script or how bad the acting is”. Being done straight allowed it to still be riffed well, though that doesn’t mean it’s the type of bad movie I’d want to watch without the riffs. The movie itself is best described I think as “Aggressively Stupid”. I still don’t think that it is as good as a movie that really is trying to be a good movie and utterly failing.
This was the third Live show my wife and I had been to, and I would put it as better than “SCCtM” and not as good as “Starship Troopers”. The riffing was strong, and we laughed consistently throughout – though not as hurt-my-sides strong as with “Troopers”. (God that one was so funny.)
Watching the preview they did for Godzilla it made me realize that Godzilla and Sharknado are almost the same movie seperated only by 200-million dollars. I am really looking forward to Godzilla and especially Anaconda, which I think it the PERFECT movie for Rifftrax.
Oh- and “TrumpyCanDoMagicThings” I also loved the “Kaiju Pigpen” joke, though I found it more clever than funny – which may have been why it didn’t get a bigger laugh.
My wife and I saw it in Mission Valley mall (San Diego) last night and had a blast. It was kind of a rare treat for us, because Cris is an “early bird” and usually goes to bed by 8:30 in the evening.
We arrived about 7:20 and there was already a long line of people waiting to be let into the theater. The theater was either sold out or very close to it. I couldn’t tell if there were any empty seats. The crowd was very enthusiastic. It was fun to see the show with a full house of fans!
Cris loves all the cheesy made-for-SyFy movies, and has seen parts of Sharknado on TV. I’ve never seen it at all. The movie was perfect riff fodder — super dumb, horribly edited, badly acted, the actors a mix of minimally skilled newbies/nobodies and washed up veterans, with a massive amount of visual effects produced on a dime store budget.
The riffs were hilarious and had the whole crowd in stitches. It was also a thrill to see “A Case of Spring Fever” on the big screen, with new riffs. I’m always surprised at how many great new riffs they can come up with on something they’ve done before. On the other hand, I can’t help missing a few of my favorite riffs from the original MST3K version.
As others have said, the jokes during the blank screen technical glitch were further proof of how brilliantly funny these guys really are!
We’re looking forward to “RiffTrax Godzilla” next month!
I laughed. I cried. I wet myself. Pretty typical Thursday night.
Oh, that was fun on so many levels. It was the first live Rifftrax my brother and I (12 and 15) had ever seen, and we were very pleased. It was all funny, but from the entire bomb-making scene (“But it was really sharks in Coast Guard uniforms.”) to the end, we were laughing so hard and so frequently that we could barely breathe.
I think the Coily jokes are better in the MST3K version of “A Case of Spring Fever”, but the jokes in the last half were better in the Rifftrax version. Either way, I never, ever, ever thought I’d ever see Coily the Spring Sprite on a movie theater screen, and I couldn’t have been happier. “The name’s Coily– I’m the one true god!”
The scene in the hardware store, especially where the girl tells her stupid shark story, was my favorite section of riffs. (“And then grandpa bit me.”) All the jokes on the Tasmanian guy were great, too. The “kangaroos in the paddock” running gag only got funnier as it went on.
I will be going to many many more of these in the future. Hopefully those won’t have a guy in the middle of the theater yelling his own half-baked riffs throughout. :-/
Thank you, Rifftrax! (For making us laugh about love again.) :-D
“Who knew the laws of nature are the same as in Super Mario Brothers?”
I would agree that the movies have a different spirit than Troma, but Troma films do nothing for me – they are deliberately dumb and stupid. Asylum films aren’t good, but in many cases, they are trying to make a decent low budget movie, just liker Roger Corman and Bert I Gordon used to do. They are simply just B-movies.
And in mose cases, they are far less of a soulless cash grab than the blockbusters they are ripping off.
I took my niece again and she really enjoyed this. She’s almost twelve now. She liked the ending of the movie best, she cracked up when the shark was chainsawed open from the inside and contained two people. I will definitely take her to “Godzilla.” Rifftrax is a terrific way for me to spend time with her.
I loved that they riffed “A Case of Spring Fever” again–that’s one of my favorite shorts. (Butt cracks? Pencil clips??)
We had a great time. Maybe more!
My wife and I took our high school-aged kids out of town for a college visit this week, so I missed seeing this at our usual theatre in Plano, Texas. The last few shows in Plano have been at least half full for crowds, although Starship Troopers had a completely full house. I was worried that in Austin we might encounter a sell out since the people there are generally younger, hipper, and more educated/savvy than in Dallas; they seem to get the MST3K concept more in Austin. However, the Plugerville Tinseltown 20 theater close to our hotel was probably only about half full.
I had never seen Sharknado before. Wow. It was bad. It really was like Birdemic with a bigger budget and would have been unwatchable without the riffing. However, Birdemic had a certain charm to it because it was clearly put together by amateurs on a low budget. Sharknado had more recognized members of its cast and less of a low budget feel. Even Corman flicks have a kernal of an interesting story beneath their exploitation. This one did not.
Awesome show, probably my favorite one in a while. Our theatre in San Mateo, CA (home of Rod and Natalie from Birdemic’s alma mater, San Mateo High) actually wasn’t very full though (the fullest I have seen it was for Starship Troopers). It was maybe 25% full? We had never seen Sharknado before and I thought it was just wonderfully idiotic. And dare I say I feel like Ian “Steve Sanders” Ziering actually kind of pulled off action hero in a barely coherent b movie pretty well! Nice work Ian!
The guys proved they are veteran riffing masters when faced with the technical complications during the Godzilla preview. I ACTUALLY thought that there was no sound on purpose (for some reason) they pulled it off so well.
Thanks for another great show guys!
#65 said: “But it was really sharks in Coast Guard uniforms.”
I must have missed that one in the theater, but wooooww, is that an Earth to Echo riff? They threw that one in last minute, didn’t they? :O
I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a movie with a more cavalier attitude towards continuity, plausibility, narrative cohesion, editing, and the rules of cinematography in general. I think the makers of Birdemic tried harder to do the job right. They didn’t succeed, but they tried harder. Sharknado would be perfect for an Invasion of the the Eye Creatures style “They just didn’t care” segment. Is “Shoot the film. Let God sort it out” the motto of the director?
Mind you, I’ve not actually seen Sharknado, but if it’s as rotten — not in a good way — as I suspect, then Corman may have to sue for libel.
Corman’s pictures were crap, but at least he was right up front about it, not trying to be all straight-faced and self-aware, like so many crappy horror flicks these days.
Perhaps in another twenty or thirty years, movies like Sharknado will have picked up a bit of “patina” and the visual style and effex become so dated that people will be able to watch it ironically and enjoy the unintentional humor the same way we enjoy Attack Of The Giant Leeches today. Perhaps, in the not-too-distant-future, Sharknado will be part of a whole new crop of stinky riff fodder for the artistic heirs of MST3K (MST4K?)
I know I’m a bit late to the party, but here goes.
It was fantastic! I think it’s the best live show they’ve done since Birdemic. I had my doubts about the film as well, mostly because it was a big, loud action movie. I was concerned that the sound would drown out the riffers, and that there wouldn’t be enough space for the riffing. But they didn’t seem to have any problems with that. And as for the technical difficulties, it just showed that the guys are good enough to, quite literally, riff on a blank screen. At this point, I’m just going to stop worrying about what kind of movie they should do and just check out the results.
I saw Sharknado once before the show, and it was pretty funny even without riffing. So the guys were able to really go to town on it. It had bad editing, preposterous weather effects, ridiculous science, and a script that would embarrass Ed Wood. Speaking as someone who has experienced several tropical storms, as well as a REAL Hurricane David, I can tell you they are nothing like they are portrayed here. For one thing, there are very few hungry sharks flying around attacking guys who were carrying chain saws. :)
Can’t wait for Godzilla!
I saw it in Longview, Texas.
I got there 30 minutes early in order to see all the pre-show title cards.
Only problem was, Transformers was still going. The digital sign outside the door even said Rifftrax, but Transformers was going. So I went back and stood by the door and saw groups of people come to the same realization. I don’t think it was until 15 til that Transformers was fully over.
Did anyone else experience this – not even the chance to see the full 30 minute pre-show cards?
It’s never happened before at this theater.
Theater employees were no help. I saw an employee in uniform standing close by using her phone, so I asked about it – “I just got here, no idea.” No, I will try to find out for you, just didn’t care and went back to her phone.
Then another girl, who I guess had the job of walking up and down the hall looking for trash over and over (?) was walking back and forth talking to 2 teenage guys. I didn’t even bother asking this employee.
I don’t think the theater was even half full, but this is a fairly small town. There is no advertisement via newspaper or anything else to my knowledge, so you would just have to know about it already in advance or just happen to click on the Events thing on Fandango to find out about it.
That said, I am super happy that they hold these events. I guess I have been to at least 5 or more now. If they ever stopped having it, it would be too far to go to the next closest venue.
I would think the studio would want Rifftrax to be able to sell VODs as I would assume the studio would have to get a cut of each download since they own the rights to the movie. That would be more money for the studio than them selling DVDs which I don’t see a lot of people running out and buying. For me no VOD means nobody is getting any money I’m afraid. The sharknado right’s owners need to realize if they allowed a VOD then everyone would be making money including them.
Full house in Fairfax, VA during a thunderstorm. We lost the video connection during most of the Spring Fever short, but had the audio, and honestly, most of us there had seen Spring Fever enough times to know what they were riffing on. Video came back on in time to lose it again during the Sharknado 2 sneak preview but that was State Theater’s fault then. Now shopping online for corrugated tin to help out during the imminent apocalypse.
The theater in Beavercreek, OH was maybe two-thirds full. In my opinion, the show was overall very good, marred only by the technical difficulties in the Rifftrax Godzilla preview. I thought the riffing for A Case of Spring Fever was good, not great, and actually inferior to the MST3K original, but still very funny. Sharknado itself was absolutely hysterical. It seemed to start out a little slowly, but once the titular storm itself began, the riffing went full-throttle funny. Totally loved it!
Went to the Stonecrest Movie theaters in Charlotte, where we have seen EVERY Rifftrax. Arrived 7.30 for the 8pm show…..looked up at the movie times, and lo and behold….Rifftrax…..SOLD OUT !! Confirmed at the ticket booth…….although there are always good crowds here ( 75-80% sometimes ) first time a Rifftrax has been sold out ( not even Plan 9 was sold out ! ). Oh well, on Long Island, NY now and will go to see the repeat tonight in Farmingdale. Will arrive extra early !
Well, the comments here are really encouraging and there’s a new theater in driving distance, so i’m on for the show tonight. Looking forward to it!
You know, folks here always say that they’re more interested in KTMA episodes than new Rifftrax material, but from the comments it looks like interest in Rifftrax is definitely still growing.
I did indeed go to the repeat showing, at a nearby movie theater. And lo and behold, Kevin Murphy was there! He was with a fairly large, inter-generational group. (Family, perhaps?) Talked to him briefly after the show, and told him how much I enjoyed it.
My first time at a replay showing since I’ve seen all the other ones live, in Burlington VT. The theater was probably 75% full and very responsive which was nice. I agree with the comparisons to Birdemic, Sharknado was just more awful and cynical with a larger budget. I loved the riffing, especially Mike’s Nic Cage impression, “and more!” Darkest riff: Bill saying over footage of flooding “Brownie shows up and does a heckuva job.” I laughed, no one else in my theater responded!
Went to the repeat tonight. It wasn’t showing at the Rialto in Westfield, so I saw it at the Regal Commerce 18 in North Brunswick, NJ. By my count, at least 40 people braved the severe thunderstorm and flash flood advisories for the show.
About the only difference between this and the original showing that I could see was that we could clearly hear the State Theater audience reaction to the opening title cards. That may just be the way the sound was mixed at the Commerce, though.
I just saw the repeat of Rifftrax Sharknado, and it was everything I hoped it would be.
Does anyone know where I can get a list of the songs (mostly shark related) that played during the pre-show? I’d love to try to collect them all so that I could have a Sharknado soundtrack.
The second showing in Fargo, ND nearly sold out, and was well-received by the audience. I must admit I never thought I would see Coily on the big screen. When they introduced the Godzilla preview and suddenly had a blank screen, it proved how skilled these guys are. Kevin nervously singing “Godzilla” by Blue Oyster Cult was a highlight.
I had never seen Sharknado before, and now I know why. The filmmakers clearly came up with the title first, then built a movie around it. Having survived two real hurricanes (Francis and Jeanne in 2004), I laughed hardest when the film conveniently ignored the laws of physics to place the heroes in peril. The riffing was second-to-none. I understand there will be no VOD for this one, but I hope they at least release an MP3 so those who could not attend can enjoy it as well.
My local theater got the encore after all. (Or else Fandango was really buggy last week.) Light turnout for a Tuesday. This movie baked my noodle. Shaky cam gave me a slight headache. It makes Manos look like a Kurosawa film! And they ripped off more than one Spielberg movie. My ribs didn’t hurt from laughing as it did for Santa Claus Conquers The Martians, but had a great time. I did bust a gut over the Billy Zane riff.
I recognized Robbie Rist as the school bus driver right away. And yet not one Cousin Oliver riff…
And Coily will be haunting my nightmares once again. ;)
It was a good good show with great riffing. Through the Godzilla ad was a bit of a cheesy move, but still a great show and hopefully will be on DVD soon.
Wasn’t able to attend the original broadcast but I made it to the encore presentation last night.
I’ll be honest, the pre-movie stuff has been the worst since the Plan 9 show. The re-riff of A Case of Spring Fever wasn’t nearly as funny and the Godzilla clips felt totally unnecessary.
The movie, however, more than made up for it. If I wasn’t laughing at the riffs, I was laughing at the movie. So many “Crosses the Line Twice” style jokes whenever someone got eaten really sold it. And, admittedly, there were a lot of legitimately cool moments: Fin and Nova were both pretty bad(at sign-dollar-dollar) and the moment when Fin sliced the incoming shark in half with his chainsaw was definitely the movie’s crowning moment of awesome without also being hilarious at the same time (like his jumping into the last shark at the end).
Favorite Riffs:
“But is it a knife?”
“Welcome to Taradise!” (My real last name is actually just one letter away from matching that.)
“Oh, from downtown!”
The really scary thing though, is after getting into my car after the show, the odometer read 90210!
After watching the repeat, and remembering one of Bill’s riffs during the flight school scenes, this occurred to me: anyone care to wager that “Sharknado 3” will be a crossover with “Snakes on a Plane”? I can easily see this happening.
@83 I can tell you that the two Weird Al songs that played during the pre-show are “White and Nerdy” and “Nature Trail to Hell”. Both of them can easily be found on either iTunes or Amazon.
I made it to the repeat show on the 15th. The projectionist didn’t cue up the show until right at 7:30, meaning he fast-forwarded through all the fun stuff before the main event. I now hate that projectionist as much as I can possibly hate anything.