Weird narration for the WIN.
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What I asked the henchmen to do for me, nude:
PAINT MY HOUSE!!
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I was watching Devil Fish from the vault picks last night and realized ā not for the first time ā that itās such an unremarkable blob of nothing that I never even remember it exists. Every time I see the title, I put it on expecting Blood Waters of Dr Z, and then Iām surprised to realize that itās a completely different movie.
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Thatās funny, Devil Fish is one of my go-to episodes. But it makes a great double feature with Dr. Z!
Imagine if Morgan Freeman had done itā¦
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Well, both movies are also rife with misogyny. [sigh] While Devil Fish does have a record number of fashion crimes (especially hair-related), I do give it a slight advantage for not looking nearly as all-over grubby as Z. (Also noteworthy that both movies have one Black character, who buys the farm for no good reason. 
)
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A bad movie made better by Sanna Ringhaver. She was actually really cute, and the poor marine biologist that dies trying to defend her. A really weird movie with a really ambiguous ending. I donāt understand it, and Iām not really trying too!
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I expected a reference to Coming Home at Z's conclusion. (āPoor Bruce Dern. So sensitive about his skin condition.ā)
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Nude Glengarry Glen Ross.
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When you get down to it, most mad scientists arenāt insane in the clinical sense. Theyāre just overly enthusiastic about pursuing and expounding on unorthodox theories, with some occasional bitterness over the rejection from their colleagues. This is particularly the case for the wacky mad scientists common in the 1980s. Listening to his inner monologues, you get the sense that Kurt Leopold suffers from some genuine mental illnesses.
But even taking this into account, his scheme is a bit silly, as he spreads a mutagenic substance in the local waters to make the aquatic wildlife bigger and meaner which will somehow allow him to rule the universe. With this taking place in Florida, perhaps he expected his fishy minions to take over Cape Canaveral. He also uses the mutagenic on himself, though his new form doesnāt look especially fish-like. His main opposition comes from a couple of agents from an outfit with the unfortunate acronym INPIT. Thereās also a redneck sheriff and a black marine biologist where the intent appears to be to mimic In the Heat of the Night, but it doesnāt really work out.
The aspect that really sticks out (in a bad way) though is the cinematography. With these indy movies from the 1960s and 1970s that are in color, the cinematography tends to look a bit off. Mostly this comes from getting the lighting wrong or using substandard film stock. Itās even worse in the case of this movie, as thereās this brownish haze over everything. Perhaps it was a deliberate choice, or maybe the print used here was kept in less than ideal storage conditions. It could even be that this part of Florida just naturally exudes brownness. Whatever the case, it makes that part of the state look very unappealing. I certainly canāt imagine wanting to swim in that water. As well as looking absolutely filthy, it is surely full of leeches, water moccasins, and maybe some alligators.
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Blood waters? Sounds like Dr. Z has a little kidney problem!
This was a good episode of MST3K. The staff at Best Brains really picked a winner here for Mike and the bots.
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Hey, what Zaat?
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Was it filmed in LA? Because if it was filmed in LA in 1971 the brownish haze might just be the actual air.
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Nope, filmed in Florida.
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Not really relevant to the movie, but I have recently learned there is, in fact, a sarcasm fish.
This is the sarcastic fringehead. No, really.
Apparently they were named sarcastic in the sense of ābiting.ā Theyāre bitey little suckers, about a foot long, very territorial. They live in small caves and such, and if anything swims too close, including humans, they will wait for the right moment then ATTACK!
Seems like the better choice to base your monster on, really.
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WELL THANKS, ARCHER! I DIDNāT WANT TO SLEEP TONIGHT ANYWAY!
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Glad to oblige. 
If it helps, the mouth thing is mostly for dominance displays with other fringeheads, and looks a bit goofy in context.
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This is all I can think of.
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AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH
deep breath
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
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Iād rather watch him wearing a speedo!
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Watching this as a vault pick and holy moly, that opening sketch is one of the blechiest in all of MST. 
Ram-chip-wise, I appreciate the scientist/coroner/dare-I-say-hero was not cast as I would expect from this cracker of a movie.
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