RiffTrax Live: Reefer Madness and House On Haunted Hill Blu-ray Reviews
RiffTrax makes its debut on the Blu-ray format, but is it worth the extra money?
If you’re looking for a comedic show that delivers plenty of laughs, you needn’t look any further than “RiffTrax Live: Reefer Madness.” In my humble opinion, this is the single funniest show I have seen in 2011. The simulcast special (which was shot in San Diego and broadcast in movie theaters across the country) consists of three goofy short films (“More Dangerous Than Dynamite,” “At Your Fingertips: Grasses,” and “Frozen Frolics”), two animated shorts (“The Story Of The Fairy Mermaid” and “The Story Of The Glitter Doll”), and a feature length film (“Reefer Madness”).
To be honest, two of the three shorts here are as good as the best shorts from the MST3K era. ‘Dynamite’ is a safety film of sorts about the dangers of gasoline and fires (and the danger of washing clothes in gasoline). The overly dramatic and cheesy presentation of the short is so absurd that it’s funny even without the gut busting cracks by the RiffTrax gang. The second short (“At Your Fingertips: Grasses”) is even better. The short doesn’t really seem to have a point other than to display the various creative uses of grasses (such as building a scultpure or headdress out of grass). The short also raises the important question “Is corn grass?” and yet never answers it much to the disappointment of Bill Corbett. As for “Frozen Frolics,” it’s by no means a classic, but it still offers up some great jokes (see the Michael Vick and Seal bits). ‘Frolics’ can be best described as a Disney influenced cartoon (supposedly based on “Aesop’s Fables”) about dancing arctic animals. That about sums it up really.
The two cutesy animated shorts (“The Story Of The Fairy Mermaid” and “The Story Of The Glitter Doll”) by Rich Kyanka and his daughter Lauren are by no means bad, they just seem rather pointless and out of place in the show. They felt more like a time filling break for Kevin, Mike, and Bill (which they do deserve).
As with “House On Haunted Hill,” “Reefer Madness” has been previously riffed before, but it doesn’t make a difference here as it’s one of their finest riff jobs to date. However, RiffTrax fans should know this live version of ‘Reefer’ does offer up many new jokes in case you were on the fence about purchasing it again.
“Reefer Madness,” for those that don’t know, is a legendary serious propaganda film turned cult classic about the dangers and consequences of marihuana (as the film states). It’s a ridiculous, over-the-top morality tale complete with lousy acting, goofy narration, and plenty of pointless long, drawn out scenes.
I could go on and on about the great jokes Mike, Bill, and Kevin spout about Kramer, Double Rainbow, the creepy Ralph character, and eating, but I honestly feel that knowing as little as possible about the jokes makes watching this special a more enjoyable experience. You just need to see it for yourself.
Note: This is probably shameless self promotion, but I should mention that you will see my name in the credits as well as a joke of mine featured in this show. Last year, I entered a RiffTrax joke contest and the Michael Bay joke I wrote was chosen to be used in a scene (it’s around the 90 minute mark to be exact). It was a true honor to know that Mike, Bill, and Kevin deemed one of my jokes worthy enough to be used in this show.
“RiffTrrax Live- House On Haunted Hill” was a Halloween simulcast special that was shot in Nashville and broadcast in movie theaters across the country. The movie, which has previously been riffed before by the RiffTrax gang, revolves around a millionaire (played by legendary actor Vincent Price) who offers 5 people a nice chunk of change to stay in a suppsoedly haunted house for one night.
Despite some fantastic jokes by Mike, Bill, and Kevin about everything from Jehovah’s Witnesses and Ben Roethlisberger to the idiotic ‘House’ character Lance and M. Night Shyamalan, the movie itself isn’t the best choice for a special like this (especially since many RiffTrax fans have already seen it before on a previous DVD release). The main problem is that the movie’s pacing is so dreadfully slow. It’s fairly easy for an audience to watch a bad movie that goes by quickly, but it’s hard to endure a bad flick that is so slow that not even great comedy provided by RiffTrax can help it go by faster.
On the bright side, there are two shorts here (“Magical Disappearing Money” and “Paper And I”) that are definitely worth watching. ‘Magical’ is a hilarious short about a grocery store “witch” who lectures consumers about savings. The short is made even funnier due to a stand-out comedic performance by Bill Corbett. I’m not exaggerating when I’m saying Bill is at the top of his game here. Every joke he utters is pure gold. He just seems so energetic here and his enthusiasm and effort really shows.
“Paper And I” is another bizarre short about an animated talking paper bag that teaches a young boy about the importance of paper products. Comedian Paul F. Tompkins joins the RiffTrax gang for this short (he also appears briefly during a sketch on ‘House’), but he sadly doesn’t bring much to the table. These forced comedian integrations always seems so awkward on the screen and shouldn’t be included in the live shows. Tompkins aside, however, the short is so freakishly weird that you can’t help but swept up in it. The jokes about the short’s material only add to the fun.
Video/Audio:
The main question most RiffTrax fans will have is “how do the Blu-ray discs look and sound in comparison to the DVDs?” First off, the picture quality is a definite improvement over the DVDs. Both “Reefer Madness” and “House On Haunted Hill” look a bit fuzzy, but the colorization is much more refined on hi-def. This is especially evident in the smoke colors in ‘Reefer’ and the flickering candles in ‘Hill.’ Basically, both films have never looked better in their colorized forms.
As for the shorts, it’s hit-and-miss. Amusingly, some of the shorts actually look worse in terms of quality because of the hi-def conversion. The scratches, grain, dirt, and faded colors are much more noticeable on shorts like “Magical Disappearing Money” and “At Your Fingertips: Grasses.” The shorts that benefit the most from being in hi-def are the three animated shorts (“The Story Of The Fairy Mermaid,” “The Story Of The Glitter Doll,” and “Frozen Frolics”). ‘Fairy’ and ‘Glitter’ are much more glossy while ‘Frozen’ looks a lot more fluid than it did on DVD.
The best video improvement, however, is on the riffers themselves. Despite the presence of grain, the on stage antics (and the sidebar) are much sharper looking on hi-def. Just look at the clarity of Kevin’s scruffy bear to see what I’m talking about.
In regards to the audio, it is only slightly better. The riffers sound better than ever, but the audio on the features and shorts is mixed to say the least. “House On Haunted Hill” sounds pretty solid, but you might have to crank up the audio to hear the film’s dialogue more. In my opinion, the “Reefer Madness” audio track actually sounded a tad clearer on the DVD for whatever reason. The Blu-ray sounded a bit more garbled. ‘Dynamite’ and ‘Paper’ had some poor quality audio whereas the audio on ‘Magical’ and ‘Grasses’ was acceptable. The two Kyanka animated shorts obviously sound the best here since they are both brand new.
There is not too much in the way of extras here. “Reefer Madness” only has a new intro by Mike, Kevin, and Bill while “House On Haunted Hill” has 2 RiffTrax commercials, a fake movie trivia slideshow, and a brief behind the scenes slideshow.
Summary: If you are a RiffTrax fan who has held off on picking up these two discs on DVD, you’ll be happy to know that the Blu-ray discs are worth the wait. If you have to pick only one disc, however, your best bet would be to pick one of the best discs of the year in “RiffTrax Live: Reefer Madness.”
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