RiffTrax Live! Octaman, Star Raiders and The Giant Spider Invasion Blu-ray Reviews
3 new RiffTrax releases come home just in time for the holidays.
Over the past year the RiffTrax gang (made up of “Mystery Science Theater 3000” alums Bill Corbett, Kevin Murphy and Mike Nelson) put on 3 live shows in which they riff (AKA crack jokes) on three cheesy movies along with some shorts. The first movie they tackled was a dopey rubber suit monster movie/expedition adventure called “Octaman” (which actually runs 96 minutes and not 120 minutes as the case says). The film is accompanied by an educational short titled “McGruff’s Drug Alert” which features some amusing riffs about everything from vaccines to “The Room.” As for “Octaman,” it’s a rough movie to sit through due to a lack of action, some of the worst lighting in cinema history, and many scenes of characters wandering about. There’s also an excruciating cave sequence that also happens to be a highlight due to a great bit with Bill Corbett. The movie itself is made bearable thanks to plenty of uproarious jokes about the film’s numerous shortcomings (including the baffling cat noises), Corbett’s flubs, and pop culture references involving SeaWorld, Elon Musk, and Bela Lugosi.
The second show features what is essentially a new movie- 2017’s corny space opera “Star Raiders” (AKA “Star Raiders: The Adventures of Saber Raine”). The cheap, poorly scripted Casper Van Dien starring movie looks like it’s from the 90’s, but no, it really is recent. Truthfully, it’s a bit of a slog to get through even with great jokes about “Starship Troopers,” Chipotle, and lip bleeding, but it picks up in the last half hour as the action ramps up and Gary appears. ‘Raiders’ is preceded by another educational short titled “Values: Telling The Truth” which is barely about truth. However, the short is the highlight of the show thanks to some hilarious riffs (including a ‘Birdemic” joke).
Last, but not least is my personal favorite of the lot. It’s an oldie but a goodie- “The Giant Spider Invasion.” This B-movie monster movie riff is comparable to the “Mystery Science Theater 3000” version. There also may or may not be callbacks and references to the Packers (no spoilers here). What’s special about this particular riff is that this release contains the full uncut version of the movie so fans get to see more (for better or worse) of this opus of alien spiders invading a small Wisconsin town. Of course, Bill, Mike, and Kevin mercilessly mock this one and crack wise about Alan Hale (of “Gilligan’s Island” fame), the gross characters (namely Dan), Arby’s (naturally), the movie’s misogyny, and, yes, even Ron Jeremy. As if that weren’t enough, viewers also get a marionette filled short about telephones titled “Adventures In Telezonia.” It’s as creepy as it sounds.
RiffTrax Live! Octaman, Star Raiders, and The Giant Spider Invasion are now available to purchase on Blu-ray, DVD or digitally via the RiffTrax site at the links below:
Video/Audio:
Presentation: Widescreen. How do they look? As one might figure, the movies and shorts vary in quality while the actual live shows look crisp. “Star Raiders” is in the best shape because it’s the newest. ‘Spider’ looks passable while ‘Telezonia,’ ‘Values,’ ‘McGruff,’ and ‘Octa’ are a bit on the grainy side.
Audio Track: Dolby Digital 5.1. How do they sound? The riffs always sound sharp which is what matters the most. The audio on ‘Star’ sounds the best while the remaining shorts and films are at least audible.
Extras: Subtitle options and Pre-Show videos with comical faux trivia/fact slide shows are included on each of the three discs.
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