RiffTrax, the Mystery Science Theater 3000 spinoff whose creators dare to make fun of good movies, is taking down a set of horror and sci-fi classics.
Bill Corbett, RiffTrax commentator and former star of the movie-mocking show famous for tackling B-movies, is joining fellow MST3K alums Kevin Murphy and Michael J. Nelson to record a series of commentaries on fright flicks like Night of the Living Dead and The House on Haunted Hill -- available for $4 a pop.
The final title in the series, the low-budget cult classic Carnival of Souls, arrives online Tuesday.
It's a return to an old haunt for Nelson, who did funny DVD commentary tracks for Legend Films' genre titles in the days before RiffTrax. Now Corbett (pictured, center) and Murphy have joined Nelson to give Legend's titles the full RiffTrax treatment.
"It seems that the (RiffTrax download of) Plan Nine From Outer Space we did together was a big success," Corbett said. "So Legend Films wanted to transform some of their other titles. Most of these originals were done in a very different style by Mike, before RiffTrax became what it is today. More conversational, with trivia, information about the actors, etc. They were sort of like goofy versions of actual DVD commentaries, as opposed to riffing the movie."
RiffTrax is attracting an impressive following, and some of that might be credited to the team's controversial decision to riff on high-quality movies. While MST3K and Cinematic Titanic, Joel Hodgson's movie-mocking DVD line, focus exclusively on B-movies, RiffTrax has gone after well-received recent hits Casino Royale and The Dark Knight, as well as all-time classics like Raiders of the Lost Ark.
"The decision (to riff quality movies) was an experiment to see if we could make some good movies funny," Corbett said. "So, we went after films that were well-received by the public -- and by us. For some people, it doesn't work. I enjoy doing the cheesy movies more, but I enjoy the challenge."
Corbett's roles as Brain Guy and the second realization of movie-mocking machine Crow T. Robot on the final three seasons of MST3K put him in a position to branch out into RiffTrax. A new DVD set from Shout Factory, Mystery Science Theater 3000: XIV, features two episodes ("Final Justice" and "Soul Taker") from Corbett's time on the show.
Corbett, a Minneapolis-based teacher and playwright, took a long path to the movie-mocking profession. He originally came to MST3K when the show was well into its run on Comedy Central. Corbett knew several of the long-lived series' regulars from the local comedy and theater scenes, and worked up the nerve at a party to ask Nelson if he needed any writers.
"He said to come down and try it out," Corbett said.
Corbett clicked with the team and worked on the show's final, stripped-down season on Comedy Central before its cable network contract ended, leaving him to believe his Satellite of Love adventure was over. He moved to Los Angeles, but was quickly pulled back into MST3K's orbit.
"Mike called me and said The Sci Fi Channel had picked up the show," Corbett said. "Would I want to return as a writer? I wasn't finding anything in L.A., so I moved back to work on Mystery Science Theater."
Trace Beaulieu, the puppeteer who originally operated and voiced Crow T. Robot, had moved on from the show. That left the robot lacking a voice and a personality. While there was some talk of introducing a new robot, it was decided that Crow's design was too well-known to replace -- so Corbett stepped in as the character's performer and operator until the show's conclusion in 1999.
RiffTrax and its tackling of the horror classics are at the center of Corbett's universe now, and he's enjoyed taking on the famous titles.
"(The commentaries) have been rewritten and added to pretty substantially, as I can attest since I wrote whole big chunks without referring back to Mike's original work," he said. "Night of the Living Dead -- and newest, Carnival of Souls, had never really been 'riffed' in our style before."
Images courtesy The Film Crew, Best Brains
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