The movie The Dead Talk Back

Anyone else rate The MST3K treatment of the movie The Dead Talk Back one of their funniest?

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It’s a movie that must have some amazing stories behind it, all of which have been lost. The movie itself was almost lost. It was found in a warehouse, finished and unreleased, a few years before it was on MST3K. Then it got a very limited VHS release before being an MST3K episode.

It’s such a weird movie. I would love to know more about it, but I doubt we ever will.

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Not in my Top Ten, but it’s well above Average, for sure. The hosts are clearly having a blast, and the actors seem to be as well.

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“Oh, it’s true! It can be done!”
“My mom said so!”

(Yeah, I dig this episode. :slight_smile:)

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‘Y’know, the murder’s not gonna’ be very suspenseful when it happens."

(Also, we don’t have a marijuana icon and this offends me deeply.)

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Yes. Yes yes yes.
It’s like if the twilight zone or X-Files gave up halfway through

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Same here. You just know something went down that led to the whole thing being just straight-up ditched in an editing machine.

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I enjoy the heck out of that episode.

The only thing I can really fault it for is not having enough Henry Krasker. He gave the riffers their best material for this installment.

And as @FlyingSquad points to, man… to think of the wonderfully weird stories that must have surrounded the filming process…

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More like Inner Sanctum Mysteries meets Dragnet.

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I like it very much.

BTW, Adam Walks Around showed some locations for that (and other MST) movie, and at about the 26 min mark, he conducts an interview with the son of the actress who played Renee…

ADAM WALKS AROUND Ep. 40 “Magical MST3K Tour” (Los Angeles, CA, USA) - YouTube

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I love this episode, it’s easily among my favorites. If Soultaker was a vanity project for Vivian Schilling, I can only hope this was a vanity project for our beloved Aldo Farnese (Henry Krasker).

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Yes.

It makes me move more product, therefore I approve.

I do like the bits where the cop is accusing whatever rube of “excessive abuse, maltreatment, emotional abuse,” and whatever else.

Haven’t seen it in a year or so, but that may be a sign! Of something.

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“Nelson cigarettes for the spirit in all of us.”

Yes, you guessed it, I’m watching it right now. I didn’t even remember the Nelson Cigs thing, or which episode/experiment it was attached to.

I forgot which one “The Selling Wizard” was attached to. This seems excessively horn-dog for them to be leering at the “selling wizard,” who shows no junk whatsoever!

I find the various display cases more arousing. The actress or model in the short apparently was instructed to act like a mannequin (sorry, Crow!).

That’s when men were men!

Attention-getting superstructure!

Are they allowed to show that?

This balance of power keeps ice cream in check.

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Funny thing. In the other instances where a color short was paired with a black and white movie (Mr. B Natural with War of the Colossal Beast and Out of This World with High School Big Shot), the short ends up overwhelming the feature. But not in this case. Much of it is likely due to how bland and unmemorable the short is. When Ballyhoo did their feature on Jam Handy, it was the only one they forgot to mention.

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My husband and I really enjoy The Dead Talk Back, but The Selling Wizard short suffers from being too long and too static. It’s one of our least favorite shorts. There’s nowhere to go with the riffing.

The Dead Talk Back is well-riffed, though. My favorite riff to quote is “Is a meal ever over for these people?” I love snacking.

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Surprised at all this non-appreciation for The Selling Wizard.

To this day, if a radio or TV ad is describing all the supposed care and attention lavished on its cheap beer or greasy hamburger during the manufacturing, I’m right there with a snappy, “…And yet, THIS is the result!!”

They’re swinging right up to the end, with the callback to Speech: Using Your Voice and the surprise cameo by Ed McMahon. :joy:

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If asked what I consider to be my best quality I am known to say ‘my sales appeal stylings’.

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I just don’t love The Selling Wizard like other shorts…I mean, I’ll watch it if it’s there.

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There are laughs in Selling Wizard, just not enough of them. The dull, dry, narration and subject matter kills the mood and doesn’t lend itself to a scintillating round of riffing.

Still, it has a pizza dominatrix.

I like The Selling Wizard a lot, and I think it completely overshadows the movie (but then, I think nearly all the shorts do.)

There’s a lot of really good stuff there. My favorite exchange, paraphrased:

Narrator: “The great new advance in refrigeration.”
Mike: “Coldness!”

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I have always liked The Dead Talk Back. It’s a solid MST outing with good riffs and plenty of targets for mockery. The Kermit-voiced Dr. Krasker pulls it all along with his ridiculous, stentorian presence. It’s not top-10 IMO, but it’s definitely above average.

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