Night Of The Living Dead (1968)
Directed by George A. Romero
“Well who elected you President, Barack?”
After a double-dose of sci-fi, the best genre to turn to is horror. And that’s just what RiffTrax did, too — turning to one of the world’s most famous and iconic B-horror movies ever, Night Of The Living Dead. Now some of you may be just the teensiest bit in arms over them riffing a classic like this (more on that feeling later), but let’s be honest kids: the original Night Of The Living Dead makes for some funny moments as is, so why not?
It’s the beginning of the zombie apocalypse: an unexplained epidemic is bringing the recent dead back to life and they are-a-hankerin’ for human flesh… and the whole world is their buffet. With no alternative but to board themselves up in a Pennsylvania farmhouse, several doomed outcasts (Duane Jones, Judith O’Dea, Karl Hardman, et al) try to make it through the night without being eaten by the zombies or killed by each other.
George A. Romero’s dark social commentary of a world eating itself alive has since gone down in history to horror and non-horror fans alike — but mostly horror fans who probably skip over the social commentary thing entirely.
Speaking of commentary, you won’t want to skip over Mike, Kevin and Bill’s exchange of witty banter as they give NotLD a light riffing with jokes like “They really locked into something here, stumbling into the home of a woodscrap collector ... This is what Neil Gaiman feels like in his hotel room at Comic-Con” and “George Romero invoked Corman’s law: leave nothing on the cutting room floor.” My personal favorite line though is probably “The role of Barbara will now be played by Chance the Gardner” as Bill reflects on O’Dea’s performance as a woman in extreme shock. Rating: B-
House On Haunted Hill (1959)
Directed by William Castle
“You know, this is back when millionaires knew how to spend their money. Now they just throw it away on senate campaigns.”
Toning the horror down a notch, we wander into the extremely campy reaches of actor Vincent Price and director William Castle in one of the latter’s many patented “gimmick” films. An eccentric millionaire (Price) invites five total strangers (Richard Long, Elisha Cook Jr., Alan Marshall, Carolyn Craig, and Robert Mitchum’s sister Julie) to survive one night in an allegedly haunted house full of creepy caretakers on roller blades, the severed head of Charlie McCarthy, and a walking skeleton on wires that emerges from a vat of acid (“He’s managed to exactly simulate the experience of jury duty!” quips Kevin). The great Carol Ohmart co-stars as Price’s money-hungry wife who’s up to her pretty little neck in dastardly secrets.
Article comments
1 - Phillip Winn
Snorticle! I too miss MST3K, and I hadn't realized RiffTrax had covered so many films. Nice work.
I downloaded their audio-only RiffTrax for The Matrix, and I've been sold ever since. Funny, funny stuff.
2 - Luigi Bastardo
Thanks, Phillip. I haven't heard the RiffTrax for The Matrix yet...I can't bring myself to watch that movie again. I did manage to check out their commentary for Twilight a few weeks ago and that movie most assuredly had it coming.
3 - Zack
They recently riffed the sparkly vampire movie Twilight... it's the best they've done thus far, I think.
4 - Luigi Bastardo
My significant other was rather obsessed with Twilight a while back (poor thing) so I jumped at that RiffTrax just to break the monotony if nothing else. The "Benny Hill" moment was wonderful.
5 - Corn Job
I also think that their treatment of the dreadful movie The Happening is extremely funny, and very well deserved. That movie is so incredibly awful that I was already laughing constantly when I originally watched it on it's own, and I knew right away that it would make for an excellent Rifftrax.