MST3K covered a pretty wide gamut of films during the classic years, not just sci-fi/fantasy/horror, but everything from biker flicks, to beach movies, to secret agents, to westerns. But what genre of movie do you feel was the most underused and wish they’d done more of?
Note: there’s often a lot of overlap between genres here. Feel free to shout out your own if you don’t see it listed here. Apologies for not making “Kung-Fu movie” a category. Sadly I can’t go back and edit the options once the poll has been voted on.
Westerns (ex: Last of the Wild Horses, Gunslinger)
Beach Movies (ex: Catalina Caper)
Juvenile Delinquency/Teensploitation (ex: I Accuse my Parents, High School Big Shot, Girlstown)
Secret Agent/Spy Movies (ex: Operation Double 007, Secret Agent Super Dragon)
Crime/Thriller (ex: The Rebel Set, Radar Secret Service)
Action/Adventure (Master Ninja, Riding With DeathBloodlust!)
Suspense (ex: Tormented, Ring of Terror)
Disaster Movie (ex: City on Fire, Avalanche)
Animal movies (ex: The Painted Hills, Carnival Magic)
Biker/Hotrodding movies (ex: The Hellcats, Daddy-O)
Cold War Paranoia (ex: Rocket Attack U.S.A., Invasion U.S.A.)
Mexican Wrestling (ex: Samson vs. The Vampire Women)
Criminal Supervillain (ex: Castle of Fu Manchu, Diabolik)
Prehistoric (Teenage Caveman, Viking Women and the Sea Serpent)
Sword and Sandals movies (ex: The Hercules movies)
Detective/Police/Mystery (ex: Mitchell, Final Justice)
Sexsploitation (ex: Angel’s Revenge, The Sinister Urge, Kitten With a Whip)
Supermarionation (ex: Invaders from the Deep)
Cartoon/Stop Animation (ex: Robot Rumpus)
Movies that appear to have no point or purpose whatsoever (ex: The Skydivers, The Starfighters, Red Zone Cuba)
I like spies and Herc type movies, but feel they were nicely represented. So I’ll go with western since it wont get much love.
While It’s a genre I enjoy, I wonder what could they do? Rights issues would likely prevent The Lone Ranger and Jonah Hex, but Rifftrax found and did the sci-fi western Oblivion, and its sequel. And those were fun.
Trax also showed that martial arts could be a blast as well, as they’ve done several gems in that genre, so I’d add that as a write in vote for MST as they only done a few (including a live show) - I know you folded that into action, but I’d like to put the spotlight on it as it’s own thing.
They’d have even more fun with the many Bruce Lee-a-likes that proliferated after the death of the original. Bruce Le, Bruce Li, Bruce Lai, Bruce Ly, Bruce Leung, Lee Bruce, Brute Lee, Bruce Thai etc. Death Promise is another MA flick that RiffTrax did, which is worth a watch.
Disaster movies would be particularly fruitful for MST3K, since you have the best episodes where the gang always has something to react to, and disaster movies always have something to react to.
That said, I’d have to go with westerns because I just enjoy those MST3K episodes too much, and there just aren’t enough of them.
Westerns definitely. There’s a huge amount of gold to mine from the countless B-movie westerns that were put out in the golden age of cinema. I doubt they’ll do any in the new season because pretty much none of them were widescreen and Joel seems to only want to do widescreen movies. Too bad, but I look forward to the new season anyway.
I got thinking about it, and the whole singing cowboy subgenre would be great. There’s are several Roy Rogers ones that would be fun, and even John Wayne did some early in his career, where he was dubbed with this deep singing voice that was so obviously not him, and that was funny on its own.
I would have loved them to have tackled The Phantom Empire. It was a serial, but they made a feature film version called Radio Ranch. It has everything- singing cowboys, robots, a secret underground city, trick riding, radio shows…
I’m glad to see someone mention the Oblivion flicks. They don’t seem to come up often in RiffTrax discussions (though I may just be missing it), but I find myself going back to those more often than a lot of others. While westerns in general are not my favorite genre, they are woefully underrepresented in the MST3K universe and ripe for riffing.
I can believe that, and will have to look some up. The less power John Wayne had behind or above the camera, he still delivered some grand performances, up until the end of his life.
But as everyone should know, he did have a pretty deep voice. Probably not much of a singer, though.
In the Lawless Range it was Glenn Strange who dubbed the Duke’s singing voice. Glenn was in gunsmoke, played Frankenstein, and was seen as the creature in MST3Ks Mad Monster. So there’s some trivia for ya.
Wish I could go back and add in Kung-Fu as an option, but it won’t let me edit the poll once it’s started.
While I limited this to only one vote, it was a really tough decision for me between Secret Agent/Spy and Westerns. I chose Secret Agent, but I’m glad to see Westerns getting so much love, since it’s probably the most underused genre in riffing.
That said, I happen to think that any secret agent movie (especially anything from the mid to late 60’s attempting to cash in on the popularity of James Bond, Danger Man, etc.) is usually begging to be riffed just because it’s damn near impossible to pull off a Sean Connery/Roger Moore/Patrick McGoohan if you aren’t Sean Connery/Roger Moore/Patrick McGoohan, and most actors who attempt it don’t come off as stoic and cool, that look like smarmy condescending jerks, which makes them all the more fun to mock.
They did a fair number of secret agent movies during the classic era, but I think it’s a shame Jonah hasn’t had a chance to riff on any yet.
This . I chose westerns because I think they should do more than they have, but if the question is “What genre do I most enjoy watching?” it’s Secret Agent/Spy and Sword & Sandal.
I can’t believe I’m admitting this, but… I want someone to stumble upon a previously lost Coleman Francis movie. Because I want Joel or Jonah, or Emily (or all of 'em. why not?) to undergo that particular brand of TOR-cha!!
. I chose westerns because I think they should do more than they have, but if the question is “What genre do I most enjoy watching?” it’s Secret Agent/Spy and Sword & Sandal.