MST3K (812)

812 - The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies!!? - The power of a good title. I'm convinced that the only reason anyone has ever heard of this movie is because the title makes people smile. It's certainly not because of the contents of the film. The film is approximately 95.6% establishing shots, unrelated musical numbers and people running down a beach. The titular creatures really don't show up much in the film. And, they haven't really stopped living, so I don't think they can qualify as zombies. They're more like hypnotized living people with bad facial acid burns. Mixed-up? Sure.

"Uncle Stripper wants you." I didn't laugh at the riffing much at all. I think the dullness of the film brought things down. I also have a lot of trouble enjoying episodes when the movie's sound is bad. This film sounded like it was recorded using See 'n Say ripcord. Everything was muddy and nigh-unintelligible. It's hard to get into a laughing mood when you're expending so much energy try to decipher dialog.

The host segments were much better than the last episode. Instead of being tortured with endless bits involving the space children, we're given segments that actually tie into the movie. The kids are relegated to the first and last segments; the latter shows them disappearing, hopefully, forever. In between, we get the first (off screen) poop throwing gag involving Bobo, Crow and Servo attempting and succeeding to scam $0.50 from Mike, really big hair, and a visit from the movie's Ortega. It's been a long time since a movie character made a visit to the SOL. Ortega is no Torgo, but his segment was fun.

"Lesson: have sex with a fortune telling gypsy if she demands it." (6/10)

film d. Ray Dennis Steckler (1963)
mst d. Kevin Murphy (14 Jun 1997)