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Mystery Science Theater 3000 (Volume 11) DVD Review

by Kam Williams

Another Installment of Cult TV Series Released on DVD

Mystery Science Theater 3000 (1988-1999) was a long-running television series which each week featured the silhouette of a glib host making irreverent comments about a godawful sci-fi or horror flick with the help of a couple of hand puppets. This 4-disc DVD includes a quartet of hilarious episodes never before released on video.

Ring of Terror (1962) revolves around a traumatized med student (George E. Mather) with a phobic fear of the dead whose hazing by his future frat brothers goes terribly wrong after he is asked to remove a ring from a fresh corpse in a cemetery. Indestructible Man (1956) is about an executed murderer (Lon Chaney, Jr.) who goes on a vengeful rampage after being brought back to life by a bolt of electricity delivered by an inept scientist (Robert Shayne) and his loyal assistant (Joe Flynn).

Tormented (1960) is another revenge thriller, this time about a pianist (Richard Carlson) haunted by the ghost of his jealous, jilted girlfriend (Juli Reding) who died in a fall from a lighthouse after being informed of his impending wedding plans to another woman (Lugene Sanders). The final film, Horrors of Spider Island (1960) is a horribly-dubbed adventure from Germany about a plane headed for Singapore which crashes on a deserted island leaving the seven showgirls aboard stranded there only to be hunted by their manager (Alexander D'Arcy) when he's transformed into a werewolf after being bitten by a radioactive spider.

This classic series holds up, because everybody enjoys timeless, classic bad B-flicks, especially when you can sit back and relax since somebody else already went to the trouble of poking fun at them for you.

Excellent (4 stars)
Unrated
Running time: 420 minutes
Studio: Rhino Home Video
DVD Extras: Original theatrical trailers, a video jukebox, a reunion featurette, plus Jack Perkins presents Tormented.

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