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Weekend Discussion Thread: What Movies Should the Reboot Riff?

Well, what a week it’s been!

The news we got this week is causing all sorts of speculation…so let’s do some more!

What movie(s) do you think would be good fodder for the new MST3K? Obviously they won’t be doing big blockbusters, so keep in mind that the movies will be a lot like the ones they did on the old show.

Have at it!

203 Replies to “Weekend Discussion Thread: What Movies Should the Reboot Riff?”

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  1. imrustyokay says:

    I would like to see them tear apart Captain America. The 1990 film. Also I would like to see them riff on more shorts!

       3 likes

  2. insect man #47 says:

    From Hell It Came. Giant tree throwing native girls in quicksand, dialogue that will put you to sleep, and an Island Chief with a Brooklyn accent.

    I will also second the nomination of “Brain From Planer Arous” Giant flyin’ brains!!!!!!!

    And wouldn’t it also be kinda cool to see them riff “Billy Jack”?

       7 likes

  3. Ro-man says:

    Did I see anyone mention “The Spawn Of Slithis” (1978)?

    I saw this in the theater in my early teens. I still have not been able to wash the smell out.

       2 likes

  4. Ro-man says:

    insect man #47:
    From Hell It Came. Giant tree throwing native girls in quicksand, dialogue that will put you to sleep, and an Island Chief with a Brooklyn accent.

    “Second this one I do” says Yoda.

       1 likes

  5. ern2150 says:

    The Yesterday Machine (this is somewhere quality-wise between Creeping Terror and Killer Shrews, only without a cute monster)

       0 likes

  6. Remmie Barrow says:

    How about some that Rifftrax has already handled, like FUN IN BALLON LAND or TO CATCH A YETI

       0 likes

  7. gary bowden says:

    R.O.T.O.R.
    Kill Squad
    From Hell it Came
    Frankenstein’s Daughter
    Frankenstein Meets the Space Monster
    High Kicks
    Cruel Jaws
    Moment by Moment
    Trog
    Night of the Ghouls
    Star Crystal
    Space Chase

       1 likes

  8. MSTie says:

    How about some of the ’70s disaster films like “Fire!” or “Two-Minute Warning”? The latter would have so many opportunities for Larry Csonka-like riffs.

       0 likes

  9. Son of Peanut says:

    My first pick would be Solarbabies.
    – The script, the acting, the effects – what’s not to riff?

    My second choice is Attack of the Puppet People.
    – Bert I. Gordon + John Agar. That’s MST’s bread and butter.

       4 likes

  10. Keith in WI says:

    Reptilicus
    Konga
    Empire of the Ants

    I love me a giant monster movie, and all of these are super cheesy.

       3 likes

  11. Kenneth Morgan says:

    An unrelated question: I see the comments section is now organized into pages, rather than a long, long run of replies. New feature?

       2 likes

  12. EricJ says:

    MSTie:
    How about some of the ’70s disaster films like “Fire!” or “Two-Minute Warning”?The latter would have so many opportunities for Larry Csonka-like riffs.

    Let Mike riff the 80’s films and the nerd-blockbusters for a cheap gag, if there’s ANYTHING Joel knows, it’s 70’s kitsch. :)
    Maybe they’ll finally have the chance to do “Killdozer”, like they teased with references to for the entire CC series.

    From Hell It Came already has the stigma of being riffed on “It Came From Hollywood”, so that gives it the Plan Nine factor that it’s already too much of a Golden Turkey gag for them to touch, but, errrrr, you never know.
    Attack of the 50 Foot Woman HAS that corny stigma that made us all giggle over it in the 80’s when the Turkeys first came out–Not to mention, how many people rented it thinking it was some kitschy “feminist metaphor” like in Monsters vs. Aliens, and found out it was just an overacted Joan Crawford-wannabe potboiler where a flying saucer was pasted into the script at the last minute? (Which, reportedly, it was.)
    With Joel producing, Joel-era films are a very complicated matter, not just your average RiffTrax games of “Hey, they mentioned this movie in Golden Turkeys and this one on Agony Booth, and I saw this one on Nostalgia Critic!” How many of us had heard of any of the Cinematic Titanic movies, and even then he wants to find cheerier ones.

       0 likes

  13. gary bowden says:

    More The Master and Rocky Jones episodes
    and do some more General Hospital episodes,too..
    A*P*E
    Babes in Toyland with Keanu Reeves and Drew Barrymore
    Bigfoot with Joi Lansing and John Carradine
    Blood Hook
    GI Samurai
    The Mighty Gorga
    Return to Frogtown with Robert Z’Dar
    Test Tube Babies
    Hawk the Slayer
    The Brain…

       2 likes

  14. Green Switch says:

    I’ll echo some of the choices here (The Thing with Two Heads, Yor the Hunter from the Future, Gymkata, Attack of the 50 Foot Woman, Night of the Lepus) and add some of my own.

    There might be some overlap with previous suggestions:

    Killdozer – they referenced this killer bulldozer movie often during the Joel years

    Starship Invasions – Mary Jo Pehl mentioned this Christopher Lee sci-fi film as one of the prospective season seven episodes in the Amazing Colossal Episode Guide, but that obviously didn’t pan out

    Mosquito – cheesy giant bug film starring the late, great Gunner Hansen

    Mac and Me – this E.T. ripoff could be the Pod People of the new season

    Frankenstein Meets the Space Monster – never saw it, but this low-budget filmed-in-Puerto-Rico sci-fi film was ranked #7 in the DVD documentary The 50 Worst Movies Ever Made, so take that as you will

    Wild Guitar – never saw it, but Mary Jo Pehl mentioned it as a screened but rejected film for season seven in the ACEG. Ray Dennis Steckler’s directorial debut apparently has Arch Hall Jr doing the Cabbage Patch Elvis thing again.

    Bog – never saw it, but according to Wikipedia and IMDB, a 1983 PG-rated creature movie filmed around Harshaw, Wisconsin about a bloodthirsty prehistoric gill monster that’s revived after dynamite fishing? That sounds MST3K-ish enough.

    Hercules in New York – Arnold Schwarzenegger’s debut, and if the MST3K crew could afford the film rights, this piece of cheese would be perfect

    More generally, maybe they can find another sword-and-sandal movie like the Hercules films or another wacky Russo-Finnish film?

    I’d mention Bert I. Gordon’s Attack of the Puppet People, but that’s an American International Pictures film, so Susan Hart probably has a steel grip around that one.

       5 likes

  15. ready4sumfootball says:

    Some people are suggesting movies that Rifftrax has done, which is fine, but I think as much as possible it’s better to avoid a whole lot of crossover. If I had to guess, I’d say a lot of us probably became MSTies by coming for the movies and staying for the riffs. There’s nothing quite like discovering a dumb old movie you’ve never heard of before, which is why movies like Birdemic and Miami Connection are so popular in our circles even without riffing. The riffing just makes it more fun. So I think as much as they can find some obscure turkeys we all most likely haven’t seen before, that’s what ought to happen.

       4 likes

  16. Goshzilla says:

    I’m hoping for a selection a bit better than Cinematic Titanic’s. So many of those “films” were so dreary and scuzzy it was hard to watch, and it felt like they had to try too hard to wring the funny out of them. (With some exceptions: Later entries like East Meets Watts, Rattlers, and Astral Factor were good material. And Wasp Woman. You can’t go wrong with Roger Corman in coasting-on-fumes mode.)

    Maybe another Don Dohler movie? CT’s Alien Factor and RiffTrax’s Galaxy Invader are both a lot of fun.

    Number One on my personal list is Reptilicus. I had even half-planned to do an iRiff for a long time but the MGM DVD was out of print. Now Shout Factory recently put out a Blu-Ray, so it may very well be within the new show’s reach. *fingers crossed*

       2 likes

  17. Johnny's nonchalance says:

    Something with the Paper Chase guy, he’s the Gintiest:

    The Retaliator (1987), aka Programmed to Kill, a Cyborg action film with a young Paul Walker in one of his first screen appearances.

    Or Golan-Globus?

    Masters of the Universe is a 1987 American science fantasy action film directed by Gary Goddard, and stars Dolph Lundgren, Frank Langella, Jon Cypher, Chelsea Field, Billy Barty and Courteney Cox.

       1 likes

  18. Goshzilla says:

    Green Switch:

    I’d mention Bert I. Gordon’s Attack of the Puppet People, but that’s an American International Pictures film, so Susan Hart probably has a steel grip around that one.

    RiffTrax has a VOD of Puppet People, so she definitely doesn’t own that one.

    Wild Guitar would be a great choice, but I’m pretty sure it’s public domain and Joel has said none of the movies he has his eye on are PD. (Part of why they need to raise so much money.)

       0 likes

  19. Bance says:

    They should definitely cover Miami Connection from 1987. That movie is so bad, it’s good.

       0 likes

  20. Green Switch says:

    Goshzilla: RiffTrax has a VOD of Puppet People, so she definitely doesn’t own that one.

    Wild Guitar would be a great choice, but I’m pretty sure it’s public domain and Joel has said none of the movies he has his eye on are PD. (Part of why they need to raise so much money.)

    I wasn’t aware of either situation, so thanks for the info!

       0 likes

  21. Chris says:

    Cathy’s Curse fits all the necessary criteria.

       0 likes

  22. M. S. Ward says:

    What about some Charles dance Dennis hopper “Space Truckers”

       1 likes

  23. ready4sumfootball says:

    One other that I haven’t exactly watched beyond some clips, but I am familiar with it: They Saved Hitler’s Brain. Why hasn’t this been done? Does something about Hitler being in the title make it too controversial or something? There’s also a version of it called The Madmen of Mandoras. Anyway, it’s from Crown International Pictures, so it should be cheap.

       2 likes

  24. ScottB says:

    Prometheus (though I doubt Ridley Scott would allow it) and, as others have mentioned, one that creates kind of a bridge from the original MST3K to the new — instead of Gamera, why not riff on Godzilla (1998) or Transformers (2007 – a wealth of riffs to be had at Shia’s expense!). For horror, I’d submit Maximum Overdrive…or how about a decent but greatly flawed horror franchise like Scream, if getting the rights isn’t too costly.

       0 likes

  25. MarcusVermilion says:

    “Blood Beach” (They can edit out the attempted rape scene).
    “Invasion of the Bee Girls”

       1 likes

  26. MSTie says:

    Green Switch:

    Bog – never saw it, but according to Wikipedia and IMDB, a 1983 PG-rated creature movie filmed around Harshaw, Wisconsin about a bloodthirsty prehistoric gill monster that’s revived after dynamite fishing? That sounds MST3K-ish enough.

    That one sounds absolutely perfect. The ’80s, Wisconsin, a gill monster, and dynamite fishing. Yee haw!

    I’ll chime in yet AGAIN and say I don’t think the reboot should do any movies that have been done by Rifftrax. I want all new stuff.

       1 likes

  27. Shark says:

    White Fire

    Starring Robert Ginty and Fred Williamson from Warrior of the Lost World and the guy who played Babyface in Secret Agent Super Dragon.

       0 likes

  28. Bill says:

    Chained Heat. Linda Blair AND a Women’s Prison movie

       3 likes

  29. Steve Dixon says:

    Navy vs the Night Monsters.

       1 likes

  30. Steve K says:

    SOMEBODY has got to do Pieces at some point, but I fear it may be a little too risqué for for RT or MST…

       3 likes

  31. Carl says:

    “Kings of the Sun”

    Yul Brennar plays a native American in the MesoAmerican themed movie set during the Spanish conquest….

       0 likes

  32. Green Switch says:

    MSTie:

    I’ll chime in yet AGAIN and say I don’t think the reboot should do any movies that have been done by Rifftrax.I want all new stuff.

    I would prefer the reboot to take this approach as well.

    Sure, anything the new MST3K would cover would be done hilariously and memorably, but I want them to cover all-new ground and open our eyes to film selections that most people haven’t heard of/anticipated.

       1 likes

  33. Daniel L says:

    I have a fondness for Hillbillies In A Haunted House. It’s got songs (Both kinds – Country AND Western), stars (Basil Rathbone! John Carridine! Lon Chaney Jr!), Spies and a freaking gorilla! I saw it on You-Tube not long ago, and it’s eminently riffable, and that’s not even a word!

       1 likes

  34. Happenstance says:

    I cannot believe The Giant Claw isn’t listed yet (EDIT: It was! The paging of older comments threw me off.) but there are a lot of other fine suggestions. There are still scads of crappy monster movies they could nail: The Creature Walks Among Us, The Brain From Planet Arous, Night of the Lepus, Twisted Brain, Without Warning, Mutant

    Irwin Allen’s The Swarm is probably well beyond their grasp but I wish Rifftrax would lay the smack on it someday.

    Suffice to say I’d love to see them take on more Bert I. Gordon films and anything from Irwin Allen’s diminishing stage. Fire! would be nice, but Flood! is far more riffable.

       1 likes

  35. EricJ says:

    Happenstance: Irwin Allen’s The Swarm is probably well beyond their grasp but I wish Rifftrax would lay the smack on it someday.
    Suffice to say I’d love to see them take on more Bert I. Gordon films and anything from Irwin Allen’s diminishing stage. Fire! would be nice, but Flood! is far more riffable.

    The Swarm is way too Golden Turkey’ed to be out of RT’s cheap grasp, but anything from Allen’s post-Swarm “decline”–When Time Ran Out, Beyond the Poseidon Adventure–would be decade-symbolic enough to be right up Joel’s street, and obscure enough not to bring any gag-baggage with it.
    (In addition to their TV-like retired-star casts, both have climactic “Okay, cross this bridge of certain doom, and you’re in the club” scenes that just have Women of the Prehistoric Planet written all over them.)

       1 likes

  36. A Flat Minor, Mr. B's cousin says:

    A turkey I saw recently. IFO, so bad that it could be identified

       0 likes

  37. Prime Minister Jm J. Bullock says:

    Master Ninja 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 please! Spread out over time, of course
    Also would love to see:
    Convoy
    Russkies
    Bela Lugosi Meets A Brooklyn Gorilla
    Savage Beach (lol yeah, right)
    1990 – Bronx Warriors
    the last 3 Radar Men episodes
    Hell Night
    Inglourious Bastards 2
    Combat Academy
    Nemesis (Albert Pyun film)
    Blood Shack
    Blood Tide
    Remaining old school Gamera (Viras, Super Monster, Jiger)
    Trick Or Treat (1986, with Ozzy and Gene Simmons in tiny roles. I really want to see them tackle this one!)
    The Astral Factor (never saw the CT version, but this movie, wow, ripe for riffing!)
    UFO Kidnapped
    Wacko (classic Joe Don Baker!)
    Dudes (John Cryer)
    White Comanche
    Pandemonium

       2 likes

  38. eegah says:

    Top Ten:
    Wild, Wild Planet
    Starcrash
    Mutant Hunt
    Death Ray 2000
    Knock Off
    A Very Brady Christmas
    Samurai Cop
    Hard Ticket to Hawaii (probably too much T&A)
    Revenge of the Ninja
    The Swarm

    Honorable mentions:
    A*P*E
    Destination: Inner Space
    The Specialist
    Skyline
    Captain America 2 (w/ Reb Brown)
    Sssssssss
    Hercules (w/ Lou Ferrigno)
    Rage of Honor
    Starcrash 2 aka Escape from Galaxy 3
    Baffled!
    Stargate: The Movie
    Yor, Hunter from the Future
    Message from Space
    The Bad Seed
    The Concorde: Airport ’79
    Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo
    You Got Served
    Cyclone (w/ Heather Thomas)
    Mega Shark vs Crocosaurus (with Urkel!)
    Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (and Death of Kirk’s Son)
    Disaster on the Coastliner (w/ The Shat)
    Bulletproof (w/ Gary Busey)
    Death Wish 3

       1 likes

  39. radioman970 says:

    gary bowden:

    Star Crystal

    Star Crystal! yeah! I have that on my shelf right now. pre-mst3k I rented that and my mother was laughing so hard I got worried.

       1 likes

  40. Gab says:

    The Man Who Saves The World, Also known as Turkish Star Wars (Might be hard gettng the rights to it since you know they didn’t bother getting them)

       0 likes

  41. Johnny's nonchalance says:

    EricJ: The Swarm is way too Golden Turkey’ed to be out of RT’s cheap grasp

    You would know cheap

       4 likes

  42. L says:

    The 50′ woman.
    Sharknado

       0 likes

  43. Prime Minister Jm J. Bullock says:

    Hider In The House! More Busey!
    @88 I’m with you on the Andy Sidaris flicks, like Hard Ticket To Hawaii. A little trimming, and they’d be a good fit.

       0 likes

  44. Rebecca says:

    The 1999 Horror/Thriller movie called Bats!!!!

       0 likes

  45. PrezGAR says:

    Return of the Killer Tomatoes, with a young George Cloney and an old John Astin. Or any of the other three Killer Tomatoes movies.
    Ator The Fighting Eagle ( the movie that came before Cave Dwellers) or the sequels Ator: The Iton Warriors and The Hobgoblin/Quest for the Mighty Sword. (It’s known by either of those two names.)
    Either of the Lou Ferrigno Hercules movies, or the Ferrigno Sinbad movie.
    The made for Starz movie Escape from Atlantis.

       0 likes

  46. Herandar says:

    On the AMA, Joel said:
    “I CAN tell you that all of the new films will finally be widescreen (or academy aperture 1.85), but we’re still interested in maintaining their crappiness.”

    I think that alone will disqualify most, if not all 70s TV movies.

    For those that did not read the AMA, this quote is also VERY relevant to the conversation:
    “We’d love to do more shorts. They’re such a key part of MST3K. I’m not sure whether they’ll be part of this new season, but I’d love to include more of them in the future.

    We love The Room, but I think MST3K does best when we steer away from movies that are famous for being bad. That’s why we never did “Plan 9 From Outer Space” during our original run. “

       0 likes

  47. Marley Roberts says:

    Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band: starring Peter Frampton, the Bee Gees, Alice Cooper, Earth, Wind and Fire, Steve Martin and Aerosmith. It is awful, and the covers of the original music is even worse!

       2 likes

  48. McH2O says:

    Zardoz. Please please do Zardoz. The gun is good, the penis is evil.

       3 likes

  49. Droppo says:

    For the love of all things good in this world…..Master Ninja 3!!!!!

       3 likes

  50. Dickweed1 says:

    I’ve always thought Rifftrax or CT should do the “lost” episodes. The Green Slime, Invaders From The Deep, Revenge Of The Mysterons and the Mylar short. Now with the reboot there may be a chance to see them! What do think, sirs??!!

       5 likes

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