Most Telling Stinger.

What stinger at the end of an episode most embodied the movie it came from?

For me? The empty glance and double take of one of the smoochers guarding the Valley Lodge route to the Great Beyond. The vacuum within that look and her eyebrow expressed the sum of what there’s to be said on Manos: The Hands of Fate (1966).

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“You disgusting WORM!!!”

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mst3k

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“Rowsdower?”

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Tor Johnson as The Beast unleasing his fury.

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Tor is in a league by himself.

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The husband throwing a stool at the skull/ghost in The Screaming Skull.

Or

“Time for go to bed.” (This may just be my favorite though.)

Or

Big McLargeHuge scream and jump from vehicle!

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Buzz off kid!

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I think most stingers were well chosen. For whatever reason, the ones I find most memorable are short and sweet, and really capture the silliness of the movie.

Some of my faves:

The Creeping Terror: “My God! What is it?”
Teen-Age Strangler: “And he didn’t steal no bike neither … I did!”
Teenagers from Outer Space: “When we return to our planet, the high court may well sentence you to TORTURE!!”

I also have a special place in my heart for episodes where the stinger is the final shot of the movie (credits don’t count), such as Being from Another Planet, where the odious guy screams as fungus eats his hand; and Danger!! Death Ray, where the film editors couldn’t be bothered to edit out the guy’s hand holding the watch above the swimming pool. It takes something really special to save the silliest moment in your movie for the last.

And finally, I always appreciate when the stinger comes from the short, not the feature. Such as:

Racket Girls. The short is “Are You Ready for Marriage”: SNAP! “It’s gone!” “Where’d it go?”
The Painted Hills. The short is “Body Care and Grooming”: Satellite News describes it as “Naughty girl goes into the shower.”
War of the Colossal Beast. The short is “Mr. B Natural”: Mr B dances like a happy king!

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It feels like Tormented could offer a good argument for the most emblematic or representative stinger.

Vi’s ghostly disembodied head going “TOM STEWART KILLED ME, TOM STEWART KILLED ME” ? That’s pretty much the movie, right there.

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Eegah! (1962). “Fake it.” “That’s what I’ve been doing. Now I’m getting SICK!!!”

If you’re having trouble deciding…

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I believe you mean “TORCHA!!!”

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pod people 80s movies GIF by absurdnoise

If any stinger encapsulates it’s episode so perfectly.

it stinks mystery science theater 3000 GIF

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All I have to say is …

Episode 514 - Teen-Age Strangler …

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