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What’s most shocking about the fact that it’s been 35 years since Mystery Science Theater 3000 began its run on Ktma in Minneapolis-St. Paul is the fact that it’s been only 35 years. Sporting a premise that’s gained added resonance since Covid redefined what it’s like to watch movies in isolation, the series has existed long enough—and in enough iterations—as to feel almost impervious to time, endlessly redefining itself as technology and media consumption mutate and grow, and, more frequently, as circumstances necessitate.

While the show’s hook—a human and their robots joke their way through bad movies—suggests a cynical outlook, its overriding imagination leaves room enough to enjoy both the films being watched and the jokes made at their expense. The classics that MST3K has yielded far exceed the limitations of this list’s format—to say nothing of the multitude of grace notes contained within,...

It’s an unfortunately quiet time for Mystery Science Theater 3000 fans. About a year ago, it was announced that Netflix was not going to be picking up the series for another season. While waiting for the contract to run out so they could move the series elsewhere, creator Joel Hodgson was able to fall back on doing a third tour of live shows through the country. This plan dissipated once Covid reared its ugly head.

As we wait for time to move forward so that MST3K can breathe again, we can at least take solace in Thanksgiving, the holiday where MST3K truly gets to thrive. Since its inception, MST3K has been linked to Thanksgiving and it’s been an annual tradition to celebrate the series with a Turkey Day marathon. Especially in the digital age, Turkey Day means getting to sit down and enjoy six classic episodes of MST3K...

Don’t call them Bad Movies — when something’s this enjoyable, other verbal put-downs are more appropriate. This low-grade German sexploitation horror pic spent its full budget on its roster of frisky Berlin showgirls. After years of study, experts have finally proven that it was filmed with a camera. Severin’s special edition does justice to a cult non-classic with an uncut original German version, plus a second American version and extra alternate scenes. Alexander D’Arcy’s scary horror-face is a childhood monster magazine memory. The creepy title critter looks like a land crab morphed with a really pissed-off Woody Woodpecker.

Horrors of Spider Island

Blu-ray

Severin Films

1960 / B&w / 1:665 widescreen / 84, 79 min. / Ein Toter hing im Netz, It’s Hot in Paradise / Street Date June 16, 2020 /

Starring: Harald Maresch (Temple Foster), Helga Franck, Alexander D’Arcy, Helga Neuner, Rainer Brandt, Dorothee Parker, Gerry Sammer, Eva Schauland, Helma Vandenberg (Helma van den...

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By Hank Reineke

Generally speaking, I happen to watch more bad movies than good ones… and I suppose that any film which includes the breathless line, “It’s too bad we didn’t bring the dune buggy!” suggests I’m likely in the midst of another. In truth, I sort of knew this going into Arch Hall Sr.’s cult classic Eegah (1962), a bona fide drive-in circuit masterpiece. This film has long suffered ignobility partly due to the circulation of tattered prints relegated to the Public Domain. The film’s Pd fate partly explains its inclusion in practically every budget-label 50 or 100 count horror and sci-fi multi-film DVD collection ever marketed. Happily – if somewhat curiously - Film Detective has bravely rescued the film – and its fans - from the gray-market, washed-out, faded and deteriorating prints of which we’ve been accustomed, sharing with us...

*Cue the music* Do, da, do, da, do, da, do, da, six more days 'til Halloween, Halloween, Halloween. Six more days 'til Halloween... I will let our readers finish the rest. Halloween is next week, so what's better than a book dedicated to the Halloween franchise? Taking Shape: Developing Halloween from Script to Scream by Dustin McNeill and Travis Mullins is available now. Also in today's Horror Highlights: a Blood & Gourd animated teaser, the newly restored Eegah (1962) on Blu-ray and DVD, and Red Letter Day Blu-ray release details.

Taking Shape: Developing Halloween from Script to Scream Book Release Details: "Silver Shamrock. Thorn. White Horses. It’s all in here. Join authors Dustin McNeill and Travis Mullins for a deep dive into the evolution of Halloween’s vast mythology. Extensively researched, this is the ultimate guide to the first forty years of Haddonfield history. Rejected scripts, deleted scenes, unused ideas, alternate...

With Halloween only a week away now (how in the heck did that happen?), of course there are a ton of horror and sci-fi home entertainment offerings arriving on Tuesday, ready to get you primed for all your spooky shenanigans leading up to October 31st. In terms of new titles, both War of the Planet of the Apes and Annabelle: Creation hit various formats, and Criterion has put together a stellar release for Olivier Assayas’ Personal Shopper as well.

On the cult side of the genre spectrum, we have a myriad of movies to look forward to, including a quartet of titles from Vinegar Syndrome: The Corpse Grinders, Demon Wind, Blood Beat, and the double feature of Prime Evil and Lurkers. Arrow Video has assembled a special edition set for Herschell Gordon Lewis’ Blood Feast that’s a must-own for any splatter fans out there, and the Warner Archive Collection...

Jonathan Weichsel

MoreHorror.com

Michael S. Rodriguez is the director of the twenty-seven minute short Lamb Feed and the thirty minute short Night of the Sea Monkey. I sat down and interviewed him about his work.

Jw: I reached out to you to watch your films after you wished me happy birthday on Facebook, because I enjoyed Meghan Chadeayne's performance in Naked Zombie Girl, which I caught at Beyond The Beaten Path, and I saw you had directed a short starring her, Lamb Feed, and I was interested in seeing what else she has done. So I am wondering, what is it like working with Meghan? What is it that attracts you to her work?

Mr: Along with being close personal friends we are also business partners and I find Meg to be a completely focused professional that is an absolute delight to work with. When I call action...

Sad but not surprising. I’d met Richard Kiel several times over the years and he was always in a wheelchair – never saw him stand up to his 7’2” height. He was always super-nice though and posed with my young nephew while pretending to crush his head. He was probably best known for two roles: as ‘Jaws’ in The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker, he was the only recurring 007 villain to be played by the same actor, and the Twilight Zone episode To Serve Man is part of TV folklore. He starred at age 23 as a caveman in Eegah and had roles in the horror films House Of The Damned, Two On A Guillotine, and The Human Duplicators. He had a small part in The Nutty Professor with Jerry Lewis and acted opposite Clint Eastwood in Pale Rider, Burt Reynolds in The Longest Yard (“I think I broke his fucking neck!

Richard Kiel, whose towering height and distinctive baritone voice defined his nearly 50-year career in television and films, most notably as the steely toothed James Bond villain Jaws, died Wednesday afternoon in Fresno, Calif. at the age of 74, TMZ reports. The actor had been hospitalized after breaking his leg earlier in the week, but it is still unclear if that was related to his death.

Kiel’s rep did not immediately respond to EW’s request for comment.

The Detroit-born Kiel, who grew to be 7 feet 1.5 inches, worked various odd jobs, including cemetery plot salesman and nightclub bouncer, before making...

It’s not easy being a 1960’s teen idol, especially when you’re trying to sing a romantic song about the girl you love in a low budget b-movie about a rampaging caveman. Arch Hall, Jr., gives it his all crooning a love song about his lady love, Valerie, even though his lady love was actually named Roxy.

Eegah is a classic of bad cinema whose legacy was fully cemented when it was immortalized on “Mystery Science Theater 3000”. Arch Hall, Sr.’s attempt to turn his son, Arch Hall, Jr., into a matinee idol in this music-filled mix of teenage drama and monster movie may be the source of much ridicule today, but given what a financial hit the $15,000 movie was back in 1962, it’s easy to say they got the real last laugh.

Throughout the film Junior performs romantic numbers about girls named “Vicky” and “Valerie”. That his...

The Sadist (1963) Direction and Screenplay: James Landis Cast: Arch Hall, Jr., Richard Alden, Marilyn Manning, Don Russell, Helen Hovey Arch Hall Jr, The Sadist Say what you will about Arch Hall, Jr. (and I know many people have), but he gives an outstanding performance in James Landis' The Sadist — one that is quite unlike his amateurish appearance opposite his father in Eegah, only a year earlier. In fact, Hall Jr.'s chilling portrayal of a psychotic, gun-toting, homicidal maniac is what makes this "bad" movie so "good." Before the credits are displayed, we see a closeup on his eyes, with the following narration (by Arch Hall, Sr.): "I have been hurt by others. And I will hurt them. I will make them suffer like they have made me suffer." Three treacly sweet school teachers are on their way to a ball game when their car stalls in a...

Psychotronic filmmaker Ray Dennis Steckler lost his battle with heart disease on January 7, 2009 in Las Vegas, Nevada; he was 70 years old. With his passing so goes Cash Flagg, his hoodlum alter ego and star of Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies, The Thrill Killers, Lemon Grove Kids Meet the Monsters and Wild Guitar. We also say farewell to Sven Christian, Wolfgang Schmidt, and Cindy Lou Sutters; other Steckler pseudonyms; there were 12 of them at last count and I am sure we will miss them all.

Steckler started his film career by finishing principal photography on Timothy Carey’s World’s Greatest Sinner. He then went on to capture Arch Hall Jr.’s delinquent delight in 1962's Wild Guitar, and after that he was off and running, shooting films without ever a finished screenplay in hand.

Steckler always did the best he could with what he had,...

Ray Dennis Steckler, the maverick producer/director/writer/actor/cinematographer (and-and-and) who created such cult flicks as The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living And Became Mixed-up Zombies!!? (1964) and The Thrill Killers (1964), died Wednesday night at age 70. At the beginning of his nearly half-century career, the rebel moviemaker was a fixture at Fairway International, the Burbank-based indie film company established by Arch Hall, Sr.

Steckler began as a camera assistant on Fairway’s caveman-on-the-loose-in-Palm-Springs campfest Eegah (1962) and then directed their next feature Wild Guitar the same year. Using his frequent nom de screen “Cash Flagg,” he also co-starred in the latter as the thuggish henchman of a record company executive (Hall Sr.).

The star of Eegah and Wild Guitar, Arch Hall Jr. knew Steckler from the Fairway days until what was his final public appearance on November 14, 2008: a special Los Angeles County Museum of Art screening of No Subtitles Necessary: Laszlo & Vilmos,...