6.9 | / 10 |
Users | 1.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 2.4 |
Join the RiffTrax® guys as they bring their special brand of rapid-fire comedic commentary to every skeleton-hanging-from-visible-wires, clumsy sexual overtone, and a stunningly inept test pilot whose 'heroics' typically lead him to bloody his own nose after locking himself in a broom closet!
Starring: Vincent Price, Michael J. Nelson, Paul F. Tompkins, Kevin Murphy (II), Bill CorbettHorror | 100% |
Comedy | 76% |
Music | 34% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080i
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.78:1
English: Dolby Digital 2.0
None
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 3.0 | |
Audio | 3.0 | |
Extras | 1.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
RiffTrax might be thought of as Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Next Generation. As I mentioned in my review of RiffTrax’s previous Blu-ray release, Rifftrax: Live! Reefer Madness, MST3K’s Michael J. Nelson and his heckling buddies rather ingeniously skirted whatever copyright laws they might be brushing up against by creating downloadable satirical commentary tracks that consumers could then synch up with their own home video releases of various films and television properties. This post-MST3K enterprise proved to be enormously successful, and of course the next next generation was to “take the show on the road,” so RiffTrax Live! outings have started to appear nationally here and there, and are being memorialized for release themselves on home video (these particular offerings feature only public domain properties—at least so far). Nelson and his compadres, Bill Corbett and Kevin Murphy, delight an audience in Nashville, Tennessee with their running critiques not just of the main feature, the old Vincent Price stalwart House on Haunted Hill, but (as with the Reefer Madness release) a couple of truly outré shorts that in their own way might be more entertaining (in a patently weird way) than the main feature. Adding to the general madness this time around is actor and comedian Paul F. Tompkins, who is mainly on hand to contribute to the second of the two shorts included here, a bizarre featurette on paper pulp and wood products (see below for more scintillating information). While this RiffTrax Live! event certainly provides decent enough laughs as it ambles along, it’s somewhat weighed down by the lugubrious pace of House on Haunted Hill (something of course the guys themselves mention—repeatedly). Without showman William Castle’s gimmick of Emergo (whereby a large plastic skeleton flew over the supposedly scared silly audience at the film), House on Haunted Hill is actually kind of dull and doesn’t fully rise to the camptastic heights that the MST3K guys typically need to completely pillory their subject. But of course Nelson, Corbett and Murphy are nothing if not game, and they do manage to find a slew of poke-worthy elements about the main film and the really weird shorts as well.
RiffTrax Live! House on Haunted Hill is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Legend Films with an AVC encoded 1080i transfer in 1.78 (more or less, read on). Anyone expecting state of the art visuals on a RiffTrax release had better have their heads examined, or at the very least let Nelson and his troupe make some pungent commentary about expectations, for the source elements here are all old public domain prints and as such don't really offer much in the way of videophile wonderment. My hunch is both Magical Disappearing Money and Paper and I were sourced from 16mm, but despite that, they look decent enough, though Paper and I has evidently undergone the Legend Films standby of colorization (as in fact has House on Haunted Hill). Magical Disappearing Money has quite a bit of damage, with a faded image and some scratches and other blemishes dotting individual frames. Paper and I is in much the same shape but might be negligibly better, perhaps somewhat of a surprise considering its greater age. The print for House on Haunted Hill is really rather good, if you can get past the colorization aspect. While there are still occasional dings here and there, overall things look okay if not pristine, with generally good contrast and a decently sharp and well detailed image. In terms of the aspect ratio, as with the previous RiffTrax Blu-ray, what we get is a combination of just the film (or short) playing (in 1.33:1) with audio commentary along with interstitials (in 1.78:1) in Brady Bunch style with the offering on the left hand side of the screen and the three guys "stacked" on the right in little boxes (see screencaps for some examples). The contemporary theater footage of the guys is obviously the best looking of the bunch here, with good color and saturation, and above average if not overwhelming fine detail.
As with the image quality, there's nothing really to write home about with regard to RiffTrax Live! House on Haunted Hill's standard Dolby Digital 2.0 mix, but by the same token, there's not a whale of a lot to complain about either. This is obviously not material suited to a whiz-bang surround mix, and while some might wish for a lossless LPCM 2.0 offering, the Dolby Digital mix gets things done with a minimum of fuss and bother. There are no real balance issues to speak of, with the commentary easily outweighing the original soundtracks of the film and shorts. The two shorts do have some moderate soundtrack damage, but it's really not a big issue as what we're listening to is the commentary anyway. Fidelity for the three (and with Tompkins, four) guys' routines is just fine.
Lovers of MST3K and RiffTrax will no doubt get their money's worth with this release, but what might surprise some longtime fans is just how much funnier (and weirder) the two shorts included here are than the main feature. There are plenty of barbs and dry humor galore sprinkled thoughout the three offerings on tap, though most of the really funny stuff is top weighted toward the two preliminary shorts. While supplementary material here is really pretty sparse, overall this release comes Recommended.
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