MST3K (414)

414 - Tormented - I am generally against this remake kick that Hollywood is on, but I think this flick could be really cool if it were amped up with modern FX and sensibilities. The ghost FX are already pretty good for the era. The apparition of Liz was appropriately see-through and had a gown that flapped around in a spooky ghost-wind. Throw in a couple of shots of her doing the "Librarian from Ghostbusters" thing and it's gold. Similarly, the wedding scene -- where the flowers wilt sequentially as the invisible ghost walks up the aisle -- was nice. It'd be better with, maybe, some digital, Silent Hill-style wilting of the entire room. That'd be neat.

Milkman: "Five thou" Joel: "'sand dollars." Once again, I have no complaints about the riffing. The guys are really on a roll now. The MST3K machine is well-oiled and humming along the tracks at a steady pace. I suppose four years of practice will get you to that point. There haven't been any gut-busters like my beloved 303 yet, but season four has been solid as a rock so far. "Wait a minute. Were you just walking on all fours?"

I thought that the repeated "Sessions Presents" compilation CD parody riffs might start to get old, but they didn't. They were all very well-timed, fast paced, and perfectly performed. There were a lot of long shots of the beach that lingered for too long; something had to be done with them all. It was fun to hear the guys constantly taking turns singing one line from a song.

After four years, Jim Mallon temporarily retires from the director's chair with this episode. Maybe he wanted more time to concentrate on the development of Gypsy? At any rate, I could barely detect any difference in the host segments. I did especially like the finally segment. In that one, JatB sing a completely goofy, cheerful song to shake the lingering bummer feeling the movie left. You can't go wrong with a goofy song on this show.

"Seems like a really nice guy. Just wish he wasn't blackmailing me." (7/10)

film d. Bert I. Gordon (1960)
mst d. Kevin Murphy (26 Sep 1992)