702 - THE BRUTE MAN with short: THE CHICKEN OF TOMORROW

Synopsis:  The feature is about a really ugly man – actually called the “Creeper” instead of the “Brute Man” – who is going around killing people at random... or so it initially seems.  After a killing and with the police hot on his trail, the Creeper ducks into a blind woman’s apartment and she covers for him when the police arrive.  He’s touched by her kindness, which means he’s not just a cold-blooded murderer... he’s a cold-blooded murderer with a heart!  The police gradually find out that the Creeper is not killing at random – he is, in fact, taking revenge on those who, in his mind, wronged him back in college.  Apparently, his real name is Hal and he was friends with three others in the school, but his “best friend” causes Hal to fail a test for nosing in on his girlfriend.  Hal gets so upset, he throws highly explosive chemicals on the floor which disfigures him into the Brute Man... I mean, Creeper.  Of course, for having only a revenge motive, why does Hal kill one woman whose only crime was LIKING him when they were in college?  Or a delivery boy for trying to peek at him??  Or a pawnshop owner for wanting him to actually pay for something???   Okay, okay, I guess revenge isn’t his only motive.  Anyway, the police chief is always sitting around and playing card games in his very lush study (Is the police station located in a mansion?  Is there a butler too?), when he is supposed to be hard at work on the case (sounds a bit like playing Windows Solitaire at work).  Eventually, though, the police find out that the Creeper is sweet on the blind piano-player, so they use this information to trap him.

Host Segments:

• Prologue: Servo buys a duplex with no money down
• Segment One: Pearl has a date, so Art (Crow) is in charge
• Segment Two: Servo is in a giant egg
• Segment Three: Mike phones an old girlfriend for help
• Segment Four: Crow goes off on “The Crimes of Tom Dooley” (or is that Dewey?)
• Segment Five (End): Servo gets call from an irate tenant;  letters;  Pearl returns with her slimy date

Stinger: The murdered delivery boy’s extremely crotchety boss says “Creeper, creeper, creeper – you give me the creeps!”

Don’s Review:  This short horror movie from the ’40s really isn’t as bad as most reviews claim it is.  Not that it’s a great movie – not by a long shot – but it’s just more of a dated flick instead of an out-and-out awful one.  It stars Rondo Hatton as “The Creeper”, a character he had played in slightly different incarnations in two earlier movies and who kills anyone who isn’t nice to him… or was nice to him at one time but not anymore, now that he’s ugly.  The riffing on this by Mike & the Bots is pretty good, with a lot of very funny lines scattered throughout, but the dark and murky look of this film, in which virtually every scene happens at night, ends up making this a tougher watch than it should’ve been.  The host segments are a decent lot, with Pearl’s date being a funny plot in Deep 13, while on the SOL most of the segments are amusing, although not that memorable.  As for the Chicken short, it is “roasted” well by M&tBs, but not quite on the level of the great shorts seen on the show.  So, in summary, this is a very good episode well worth repeated viewings (although turning up the brightness on the TV is a good idea before watching it).

Don’s Rating:     [ S:   F: ]

Forrest’s Review:  My God, was this a funny episode. I think Josh is totally right on the point he made that this movie is entertaining, because he’s right, it is entertaining.  The riffing in this was usually very high in quality, with streams of laugh out loud riffs, with only a few chuckles every now and then.  The riff: “Honey, my head is as big as ever and I got my sizzler blown off” had me on the floor laughing.  Also, this episode contains the biggest laugh from Mike in the theater.  Check out when the old man in the store is getting really mad for no apparent reason.  Mike is bent forward in his seat trying as hard as he could not to laugh.  The guys seemed to be having a lot of fun in this episode, and the riffs are hysterical.
     The short: The Chicken of Tomorrow is a great short, one of the best on the show.  It just keeps getting better and better on repeat viewings.  I especially liked the “...to be killed...” riffs by Tom.  And I have to mention Mike’s observation of two roasted chickens: “These chickens were smoking in bed.”  The host segments varied a bit, but for the most part, they were very funny.  The first segment where Pearl’s boyfriend Sandy comes into the house while Dr. F is stitching the head of a pig onto the body of a fish was as funny as anything on the show, as well as the last segment, but in between that, everything else is not very memorable, but still amusing.  Still, Excellent riffing on Short + Excellent riffing on movie + Funny host segments = Excellent episode!  Looking back now, I’ve given every episode 5-CROWS from Season Seven save for Deathstalker (and that was due to the annoying “sick Pearl” segment).  Season Seven may very well replace Season Three as my favorite season.

Forrest’s Rating:     [ S:   F: ]

Josh’s Review:  Rarely does a movie come along that is both awful and enjoyable at the same time.  The Brute Man somehow manages to be both of these things.  The movie is infected with dozens of flaws and is clearly a shameless Frankenstein rip off, but something in the movie must have been done right because the entertainment value is definitely there. Sure beats the hell out of the awful Resident Evil movie at any rate.  Perhaps this movie would have been an absolutely miserable watch were it not for the assistance of Mike and the bots, who were brilliant in this episode, but I actually really liked this film.
      To start off, this movie is one of the few that has a likable character, in the friendly blind woman. She is however terribly naive, almost inhumanly so, and we can only assume that this was a consequence of some sort of elaborate mental disorder brought on around the same time that she became blind.  I like to imagine that she got kicked in the back of the head by a mule when she was twelve years old.  This alone fills numerous plot holes.
      I have mixed feeling towards The Creeper himself, referred to in the title as The Brute Man.  He’s the sort of character you can feel sympathy towards, even with the knowledge that he’s killed numerous people.  The guy is a cross between Frankenstein’s monster and Lenny from Of Mice and Men.  He seems to have a good heart, but only if you treat him really, really nicely.  Otherwise he’ll kill you without thinking twice.
      Technically, this movie is as bad as any of them.  The Creeper’s lines are laughable, every character in the film is intensely stupid, and nobody in the police force can seem to find The Creeper even though he freely walks around at night committing crime after crime, using less than subtle tactics to do so. Besides, the characters’ personalities are all the definition of shallow.  Most of these personalities could be described in three words or less.
      The most important part of any episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000 is the riffing, and it’s top notch in this episode.  This episode has more than its share of brilliant lines, and since they’re blended in with a fairly enjoyable movie, this one is a true classic.  While I’m more of a fan of Joel overall, this movie was made for Mike’s brand of riffing, as he personally delivers some of this episode’s best lines.
      The short entitled The Chicken of Tomorrow is very enjoyable as well.  This short seems custom made for the show, and as such, I’m a little surprised it wasn’t used seasons earlier.  The riffing here is fast paced and very funny, maintaining a fairly simple type of humor, which is appropriate for this type of short film.  This is a great episode, and is not to be missed by any fan of the show.  Be sure to check this one out. 

Josh’s Rating:     [ S:   F: ]

Related Link: 
   (1) MST3K Info Club Website (BBI’s ACEG-style Write-up)