Reefer Madness
Release Date: April 20 2004
Riffer: Mike Nelson
When this was
first released I was in heaven, hearing Mike's voice again reminded me how much
I missed MST. First things first. This isn't MST3K. There's no Tom, no Crow, no
shadowrama. Mike doesn't go on a full-out riff attack, this is more laid-back,
commentary style.
Comparisons to
his work with Mystery Science Theater are inevitable. In that regard there are
moments when Mike shifts into MST mode and rolls out a riff that had me
remembering the good old days -"And even though they don't exist yet; she
wakes up craving Doritos"- And I admit that I did miss the interplay
between Mike and his robot pals and sometimes, it seemed so did Mike. Poor guy
probably would have liked to have had some interaction (after all, many
commentaries include 2 or 3 folks).
But make no
mistake, Mike Nelson is one of the funniest human beings on this and any other
planet. He does just fine by himself. tackling "Reefer Madness" with
that rich, visionary absurdity, which has always made him such a comedic treasure.
Since its release Mike has gone to bigger and better things and with MST-mates
Bill and Kevin, have re-worked this one with even funnier material. Today this
comes off quaint, fun but not earth-shattering.
Night of the Living
Dead
Release Date: Sept 7 2004
Riffer: Mike Nelson
No one is perfect,
not even Mike. His timing, delivery, and the jokes themselves are pretty weak
here. And it doesn't help that he takes these bad jokes and runs with them. In
the first 30 minutes, he compares the zombie attack to normal life in
Wisconsin... which isn't funny. But he makes things worse by making this
comparison several times! Quips about a woman's wig or how fans of the movie
refer to it NOTLD, aren't funny and don't get any funnier no matter how often
he repeats it.
The piece is
filled with padding, ala the continual "Zombie drink mix" directions.
This is made worse when he misses a shot at a quip (when an obvious dummy gets
whacked by a crowbar.) Out of that first half-hour I only laughed twice: During
a line about how zombie actor Bill Hinsman gets a ride, and one where Mike
spots Jiminy Glick.
The rest of the
commentary is the same. Mike makes some accurate digs about cricket noise and
how the movie is mostly about a guy nailing boards to the wall. But neither is
really very humorous. And when he does find the target -as in his attacks on an
angry guy with a smudge on his skull
Release Date: March 29 2005
Riffer: Mike Nelson
This is the commentary track Mike did for the Legend films release:
Directed by the master of shorts -Herk Harvey- Carnival of Souls is a low-budget cult film that plays like an episode of the Twilight Zone (well, a TZ with constant organ music that is). Herk actually does a decent job in his one foray into full-length feature work. He really sells the isolation and the slow unraveling nightmare experienced by his lead character (played by Candace Hilligoss). The locales contribute to the eerie feeling (Saltair gave me the chills) and several scene transitions are well edited.
Directed by the master of shorts -Herk Harvey- Carnival of Souls is a low-budget cult film that plays like an episode of the Twilight Zone (well, a TZ with constant organ music that is). Herk actually does a decent job in his one foray into full-length feature work. He really sells the isolation and the slow unraveling nightmare experienced by his lead character (played by Candace Hilligoss). The locales contribute to the eerie feeling (Saltair gave me the chills) and several scene transitions are well edited.
There are weak spots, which are exposed with hilarious results. From the stiff non-acting -"Watch, this woman has a minor heart attack"- to the bad foley work. Mike is in top form throughout (though he does draw more laughs during the first half of the movie) as he deftly takes these defects to task.
Another positive aspect to doing "Souls", are the connections with MST. Harvey directed many of the shorts seen on Mystery Science Theater and Mike peppers his informative commentary with reflection, trivia, and humorous nods to the past that will make MSTies smile knowingly. It's not the stellar wiz-bang stuff he will do with Bill and Kevin for Rifftrax, but it's enjoyable.
House On Haunted Hill
Release Date: Sept 6th 2005
Riffer: Mike Nelson
"Is it alright if I'm her date to the morgue?"
I'm a William Castle fan and always hoped that MST would cover one of his
flicks, in particular, the delightfully silly House On Haunted Hill. Years
after the cancellation of my favorite comedy, I get the next best thing, a Mike
Nelson commentary.
Mike does pretty
well with this one too. He's set the movie trivia aside and is going for what
he knows best, riffing. Yup, HOHH is pelted with much more of the riff style
humor than the previous 3 tracks Nelson's recorded for Legend.
The opening bits
are fun -then Mike settles down to a slower pace before revving up again and
shooting off comments that provide one big laugh after another. When a
character bumps his head in an empty room and a young gal meets up with 'Alice
Cooper, I was in stitches and reminded of the great old days on the SOL. Mike
even references TVs "Father Knows Best" and the "Thin Man"
movies.
I watched a bit
of the colorization and it's about the same as the others. Only I think that
showman Castle would have appreciated the effort, the garish purples and greens
fit his style. In chapter 3 I switched over to the more comfy B&W, which
also includes Mike's audio work.
Mike Nelson meets
William Castle. It's a dream come true for me and while this will be improved
upon as a Rifftrax offering, at the time this was a fun one that didn't
disappoint.
Plan 9 From Outer
Space
Release Date: June 27 2006
Riffer: Mike Nelson
Ed Wood's classic B movie gets the colorized treatment. And
while I've never been a fan of the process, here –as with the William Castle
release issued late in 2005- it fits. Vampira looks cool in color, Ed's cut-rate spacecraft shines like chrome and when an alien is struck, his flesh
turns a lovely shade of green. This version also includes the auction winners,
the folks who bid to have their image or names blended into the flick. These
additions add an extra layer of cheesy goodness, with the cherry atop this
mixture being the commentary by mighty Mike Nelson.
Nelson starts off sharp, lobbing hilarious quips that had me doubled over. But he soon
tapers off. There are patches of silence, which disrupts the comedic flow and
makes it a lesser effort all told. It's not that the narration interferes, Mike has worked with denser narration on movies like
Monster A-Go Go and Creeping Terror, and he's very funny poking fun at Criswell
during the opening bits -- it's that he says little or nothing on a few scenes
that beg for comment. Tor's breakout performance, which required that he
actually speak a few sentences of dialog, is a riot and an easy target. But
Mike doesn't level the comedic kill shot.
I don't mean to
say he isn't clever, he is. When a group of people sitting on a patio hears a
noise, they don’t get up to investigate but start staring intensely. This
inspires Mike to suggest… ”Maybe if you look harder you'll hear something”.
Mike also
narrates the extra, "Plans 1 through 8", an amusing trifle that
provided a smile or two. The extra I laughed at most was the faux deleted
scenes. Mike isn't involved with these but they are rib ticklers and worth
watching. The cover art is eye-catching and the menus are a delight (Watch for
a waving Mike). The limited autographed edition came with a saucer air
freshener which was another nice cheesy touch.
Little Shop of
Horrors
Release Date: June 27 2006
Riffer: Mike Nelson
Corman's cult-favorite receives the Legend/Nelson treatment:
The end results? I didn't feel the colorization works as well here as it did
with Haunted Hill and Plan 9 - Corman's sets are drab and even the color
couldn't seem to brighten things up. Not only that, but the movie is a horror
to sit through. I know it has its fans, but the forced wackiness just set my
teeth to edge. The film strains to be humorous and fails on every level.
Thankfully Mike's
commentary provides a few laughs. For example, Mushnick sits down for dinner
but has lost his appetite after witnessing Audrey's (the Plants) eating habits.
Mike cleverly admonishes... "He shouldn’t have ordered the Soylent
Green". Before that, he levels a richly deserved shot at Kevin Federline
and taps into "Memoirs of a Geisha" for a laugh. Where Mike loses
points is with the bad puns and some of the forced delivery (as when he's
apologizing for a bad pun).
The disc also
includes a couple of silly extras. One which gives a lesson on killer plants,
the other is a short film titled "Man-Eating Plant", which was
painfully dumb.
Rifftrax Complete:
Swing Parade
Release Date: March 27 2007
Riffer: Mike Nelson
"Wow, she's lucky. An old guy gave her fifty bucks and
she gets to keep all her clothes on"
Released in 2007
from Rifftrax: Imagine if, during Season 3 of MST3K, the gang suddenly decided
to throttle back and launch into KTMA style hijinx? That’s what kind of happens
here as Swing Parade has much in common with the earlier, sparse commentary
tracks Mike did for Legend film (and from what I've read, this is a holdover
from those releases, which is why I'm including it here). And while I enjoyed
those a lot, he’s since come a long way baby during the RiffTrax incarnation.
The delivery is
often laid back. Even to the degree that Mike sometimes sounds asleep at the
wheel – as he tackles this 1940s 3 Stooges musical (Though featured prominently
on the box art, they are co-stars at best), Never the less,
as with the KTMA eps of lore, and the legend colorization commentaries, there
are genuine laughs to be enjoyed. The early running gag about a blind mule is
as funny as anything in Mike’s growing catalog of humor. The mental image of Nelson
and wife Bridget, worrying over their own mule, was a kick!
In addition to
that, Mike has fun with the Stooges (Spooning with Larry – A sexually charged
Curly has seizures), a guy named Moose, and a gal who never moves! Mocking the
musical numbers put me in mind of similar scenes in “I Accuse My Parents” –
Only the set design in this club must have cost somewhere in the millions (At
least in the world of Rifftrax). Mike leaves no stone unturned or unriffed in
these sequences: The lyrics (Caldonia), the giant immobilizing costumes (“Under
her skirt she’s doing a killer dance routine”) as well as the oily, male singers.
Though not a
glowing success, there is enough good humor to keep “Swing Parade” from being a
total train wreck.
