Day Nine: Rifftrax: House on Haunted Hill

I heart House on Haunted Hill.  It's one of the movies I watch every October.....so I thought I'd do the Rifftrax version this year. (BTW, all the Rifftrax discs come with the regular non-Rifftrax version of the film as well).

The Rifftrax version had its moments - I've only seen three Rifftrax films, with Plan 9 From Outer Space being my favorite so far. I'd have to put HoHH in 3rd place - just as MST3K had some movies that lent themselves better to the format than others, the same is true with these films.

I think that maybe this doesn't work quite as well because House on Haunted Hill is actually a good movie. Sure, there's moments to poke fun at, but to me, this is maybe the best William Castle film and one of my favorite Price films.

Also, we have the delectable Carol Ohmart:

She and Price are all kinds of scrumptious.  I wish they'd made at least one more film together.  She's also amazing in another one of my favorite films, Spider Baby.

Still, in the set that I bought, the Rifftrax films came in at under five bucks each - that, with the original version of the film, is a pretty sweet deal. Otherwise, if you're considering buying some of these at full price, I'd hold off for a sale unless you don't already have a copy of this film and you are in all kinds of love with Mike Nelson. Then go for it.

PS
Happy Birthday to Mike Nelson. Apparently he turns 46 today - I had no idea until I read The Halloween Blues tonight.

Day Eight: Black Devil Doll

what can I say about Black Devil Doll?  It's on par with Thankskilling - with titles like these, there's really only two responses.  Either you're rolling your eyes and wondering how our culture could stoop so low (in which case you're probably not reading this blog) or you're all, HELLS YEAH WHERE DO I SIGN UP????

I think you know what side Mama F falls on.  Yes, the side with the extra cheese, please.

Black Devil Doll begins with a killer being put to death in the electric chair - a killer responsible for murdering several women.

Meanwhile, a young woman with big boobies and nothing better to do decides to play around with an Ouija Board:

And wham, bam, before you know it, we have.......Black Devil Doll.

For a while, things go okay between BDD and his new lady love. We know this because we have a montage showing us how in love they are.

 Tell me, who doesn't love a montage - especially one that features a large breasted woman playing with her puppet boyfriend at the park?  But eventually BDD gets bored, and tells his woman to bring her friends over, because he needs something new:

Except BDD has more in mind for these chicks besides lovin' (although he does that too, in just about every way you can imagine)

Make no mistake, BDD is made to offend - it's sleazy, it's nasty, and it's also hysterical.

A couple of posts ago I mentioned that I waited months on an order from Deep Discount - and this movie was the one I was most pumped about. It didn't disappoint - it was just as nasty, tasteless, and as funny as I expected it would be.  Another bonus - a track you can play with the movie featuring the audience reaction at a screening. I thought that was great, and I'll definitely watch the movie again with that playing. There's also a commentary track featuring Black Devil Doll, but I haven't checked that out yet. Should be fun.

Day Seven: The Undertaker and His Pals

I woke up Saturday morning craving a cheese-tastic horror flick, and for my money (and short attention span), you can't do much better than this little film:

With a runtime of just about 60 minutes (!), Undertaker wastes no time getting to the red stuff:

We have Sally Lamb, sitting at home, writing a letter (presumably to sailor boy in the photo on the table)

When she's attacked by three men in leather and motorcycle helmets:

Even sailor boy can't believe it:

Turns out her attackers only want parts of her body.....hmmmm.

Sally Lamb is laid to rest at the local funeral home:

Apparently they opted for the Divine funeral with the ever-popular 'Eyes-Open' feature

And her parents are incensed to find out that the $144.98 funeral they were promised is going to cost much, much more than that (thanks to all the 'extras' that were tacked on).

Meanwhile, a local detective decides to take his secretary out for lunch at a local dive:

And it's only pointed out about a dozen times during this scene that the special is 'leg of lamb' and that a woman named Sally Lamb was murdered recently.  You know, in case, REALLY REALLY slow people are watching the movie.

AND - the secretary's name is Miss Chicken, so you know she's probably not long for this world:

As her boss and other police are investigating her murder, our slimy funeral owner shows up to sell his famous $144.98 funeral - well, the cost before any 'extras', of course.  But the detective fills out the contract bottom line for 144.98 - and tells the funeral owner no 'extras' are necessary.

And then then the slowest detective on the planet goes back to the restaurant to miss out on more huge clues:

In case any of this isn't completely obvious, the three killers are all profiting from the murders - with the restaurant owners serving up the murder victims, and the funeral owner making money burying the 'leftovers'.

I like Undertaker - it kind of has an HG Lewis / David Friedman kind of feel, but with a purposeful tongue in cheek attitude.

After all, a movie that has pie fights:

Vats of acid - which are labeled 'ACID' so as to avoid any confusion:

And in what HAS to be the funniest scene in the movie (although I can't tell if this one is on purpose or not), the killers make what has to be the SLOWEST escape ever out of window after being walked in during a murder.

Then, after they've literally taken their sweet time getting away, one of the women runs over to the window and pulls out a gun in the table nearby -

What ensues is the strangest, most hysterical bad dubbing of a gun firing that I've ever seen in my life - complete w bizarre hip thrusting by the young woman with the gun.

Oh, and BTW, this is what a $144.98 funeral looks like:

The insanity is worth the price of admission - and btw, you shouldn't have to pay more than a few bucks for this movie. Mine cost a whole DOLLAR when I picked it up a couple of years ago.

Wink-wink,
Mama F.

Day Six: Rifftrax: Reefer Madness

Sometime early last summer, Deep Discount ran their semi-annual 25% sale, and I ordered a Rifftrax box set of 10 movies, along with some other things. DD sent me half my order, and the rest was backordered....and backordered.....finally last week the rest of my order - which was this box set and a handful of other movies, arrived. (I think DD kind of wanted me to forget the order - they kept sending me emails saying they hoped to send it out in a couple weeks, but that I was more than welcome to cancel the rest of the order if I wanted to. I'm all, uh-uh bitches, I want my cheap-ass movies. I'll wait.)

It ended up coming at the perfect time - there's a couple October favorites in the mix.  But I started with Reefer Madness - somehow or another I have managed to never see this movie, and I thought it sounded like fun.

Reefer Madness wasn't quite what I expected - for some reason I thought it would have more of a documentary type feel - but Mike Nelson and co. made for an enjoyable funny evening. Otherwise I think this film would be interesting as a time capsule type of thing, but I don't think it's anything I would watch again.

Rifftrax isn't quite Mystery Science Theater - but it's fun and in some ways, less intrusive than MST - fewer jokes and no silhouetted forms covering the screen.   Not that I mind that during MST - this is just a different format.

Last fall I went to a local theater to see Plan 9 on the big screen with the Rifftrax experience - in that format they frequently cut away to the Rifftrax gang live in the theater, doing their thing.  This format is quieter, more intimate - it's almost like having a couple of funny friends along to watch a movie with you.

By the way, I see Rifftrax will be doing the same thing this year with House on Haunted Hill - and I was set to go until I found that it was the same evening as the NOLD Puppet Show - and I think you all know where my loyalties lay in that regard. 

Yeah, boyeeeeeeeeeeeeee, I'm gonna go see zombie puppets at the Oriental that night.

Day Five: Awesome Halloween Box

Okay, so it's technically day 9, but Mama had a hell of a week, so we've got some catching up to do. Never fear, I've been slavishly watching movies all day just for your benefit (I'm so selfless) so I'll be posting my reviews and other Halloween themed things I've discovered in the last few days.


One nice thing that happened yesterday was the delivery of a package I wasn't expecting (don't you love that!) from Grandma Firefly.


What I got was a little Halloween care package courtesy of Hallmark:

The Dancing Frankenstein was inside the cool Halloween box, that screamed when I opened it. 

Neato!

A nice way to end a long week and a great start to my self imposed Hermit style weekend. It's my last one before I need to pack for my trip, so Mama is putting her feet up and indulging in movies that all kinds of bad for me....including one that's probably bad for everyone....but in a good way.....more on that later.

Boo,
Mama Firefly

Day Four: Krypt Kiddies

I think anyone who has hung around the Firefly Ranch for any length of time knows that Mama likes creepy dolls. I'd have a hard time topping the creepiness of Sam from Trick R Treat (currently haunting my bedroom) or my Zuni warrior from Trilogy of Terror (hanging out in the living room) but I think one of these could give them a run for the money:

Check out Krypt Kiddies -


Not only do they have some jacked up baby dolls:

They also have some CRAZY looking clown dolls.

 If you really want a treat, go to the website and look at the custom made babies.

Day Three : Buried

This was the finale for the Milwaukee Film Festival last night.

All I knew about this movie going in was:
Ryan Reynolds.
Buried Alive.
Cell Phone and Lighter included.

I highly suggest if you're going to see this - and it opens in wide release next weekend - that you avoid knowing much else.  I think letting the events unfold in front of you (vs going into the movie knowing who he is, where he is, and how he got there) will make for a much richer movie experience.

Buried is not a fun movie to watch.  I'm glad I saw it, I'm happy I saw it at the venue I did, but it was NOT an enjoyable night at the movies. And I'll never watch it again.

How's that for a recommendation?

Creeped the F**K out,
Mother Firefly