MST3K (809)

809 - I Was a Teenage Werewolf - Despite being the ninth frelling horror movie from the 1950s in a row, I was looking forward to this one. It's famous. I've seen clips from it in tons of documentaries covering everything from "the rise of the teenager" to Boomer horror to the E! True Hollywood Story on Michael Landon. It was the movie that scared the crap out of Richie in It. So, it's especially disappointing to discover that it's just one of those tedious horror movies populated by unlikable characters where little of interest happens.

Did the riffing rescue it? Not really. I was up for plenty of dog jokes, but it turns out most of those weren't really that funny. The funniest bit from this episode wasn't even a contribution by the SOL crew. After getting in a fight at school, Teen Wolf explains to the policeman: "People bug me." The policeman replies: "That's right, hide behind jive talk." Wow. Why this hilarious line wasn't the stinger, I have no idea (the line he says immediately after was: "People bug me too.").

Not a big fan of the host segments, either. I hate when making fun of then-current one-hit wonders is used as major joke in a host segment. They last did this in 608 with Mike playing the lead singer from the Crash Test Dummies. This time, he's the lead from Counting Crows. Apparently, he was really repulsive. *Shrug* Sure, whatever. I did like the fact that Servo wore his facehugger through multiple theater segments. The idea that the crew was going to have to make omelets our of and eat the alien eggs stuck to the ship was pretty amusing as well.

On a personal note, this episode first aired on the day I turned 20. I didn't watch it then, so it doesn't really mean anything... but there it is.

"Please don't sniff dad's crotch, ok?" (6/10)

film d. Gene Fowler Jr. (1957)
mst d. Kevin Murphy (19 Apr 1997)