 806 - THE UNDEAD
Genre: Low-Budget Horror / Hypnosis (1957,
B&W)
Synopsis: Roger Corman, Roger Corman, Roger Corman....
he’s proof that one way to get respectable is to stay around for a long time, because that respect is definitely
not earned through the quality of his movies. This movie in particular gets surprisingly good reviews (Leonard Maltin even gave it 3 out of 4 stars!).
But it’s just as lame, confusing, and tedious as almost every other film Roger Corman directed.
The extremely confusing plot in this one is about a couple of hypnosis researchers who get a prostitute to agree to be the subject of their research.
They hypnotize her to go back into a past life during medieval times when she was suspected of being a witch and was sentenced to have her head cut off the next day.
She somehow escapes from her prison cell and hides in Friar Tuck’s
hearse wagon under a dead body. The Friar – who speaks in a lot of thees and thous
– helps her but another woman, who really is a witch, is after her.
This real witch is working for Satan, or at least some fruitcake that wears a pansy-assed suit like some
sort of reject from a dinner theater production of Peter Pan.
Also the witch has a troll-looking imp assisting her, but he really
adds nothing to the movie except a lot of cut-away
shots.
Somehow the present day research is going wrong because the girl they sent back is changing things (how do they know this?) so they send back one of the researchers and he goes in search of the girl. He runs into the real witch and she introduces him to Satan who wants his soul in exchange for the girl.
A knight – who for some reason is there – tells the man to not sell his soul to Satan but to rent it
(Huh?!??) to him instead.
Satan refuses so the knight says he’ll help the man find the girl. Then a lot of random stuff happens and I
don’t know how to summarize it but the girl gets her head cut off and the man is stuck in the past.
Don’s Review: All of the people who defend this movie are just
way out there – this movie sucks! The supposed “atmosphere” Maltin talks about the movie having is just typical low-budget production values and the story is so confusing that is really
doesn’t make any sense.
For example, the man from the present is sent back to save the girl from execution even though he has to know from what she is telling the researchers that she
already escaped. And the fact is, he doesn’t really want to save her because she apparently has to die so that future incarnations of her soul
aren’t changed
– so there was no reason whatsoever for him to go back except so Corman could throw in a lame and completely ridiculous twist ending.
And what the hell did the title The Undead have to do with anything in this movie???
This isn’t a vampire or zombie movie, it’s just a silly hypnosis
flick!!! Unfortunately, the riffing on this by
M&tBs falls somewhat flat, probably because the movie itself is so
inert that there’s not much to riff. So, although the host segments were enjoyable as they continue the funny Observer stuff, I really cannot recommend this episode for anyone except a
true Roger Corman fan (...there
must be a few out there besides Leonard Maltin).
Don’s Rating: 
Josh’s Review: From the brilliant mind of Roger Corman comes the Leonard Maltin approved movie entitled
The Undead. To be completely fair, this movie isn’t that bad by MST3K standards.
While there are flashes of campy goofiness featuring an old witch and an imp,
it’s the strange plot and unlikable characters that stand out the most about this one.
The movie moves along at a reasonable pace, and because of this, it appears pretty easy to riff.
Mike and the bots don’t have to put a ridiculous amount of effort into making the film watchable because
it’s already there.
The most interesting character in this movie is the hearse toting morbid-ass creep who Don lovingly refers to in his synopsis as Friar Tuck.
This character had to be a lot of fun for the brains because it was his sort of trademark to sing ridiculous songs about rats, corpses, and any other unpleasant thing you can imagine.
The songs are pretty over the top, as is the character, and to the films credit any scene featuring this lunatic is pretty enjoyable to watch.
There is a whole host segment dedicated to Friar’s musical release which makes for one of the more enjoyable Season
Eight sketches. One of the worst segments of the entire series however will be discussed later.
The riffing during the movie was well paced, and generally a lot of fun.
The first twenty minutes and the last twenty minutes were probably the high points of the movie as far as on target riffing is concerned.
Servo makes a few Benjamin Franklin related quips towards the beginning that I found hilarious.
There are also some wonderful shots taken at the laughable film rendition of Satan by Mike and the bots that are well deserved and on the mark.
So here we have an episode that features a movie, that while bad is almost watchable on its own.
We have decent riffing, mixed with a few comments that are downright hilarious.
We also have a pretty good Sci-Fi era host segment. Why then would I give this episode an average 3.5 rating?
Believe me, I was all set to rate this a 4 CROW episode until I saw what is quite possibly the worst ending segment in the history of the show.
The segment features the character Bobo making a sandwich. The segment is very slow, and very drawn out, as we see Bobo go through all the early standard stages of sandwich construction.
All of this leads to the unfunny payoff of Bobo accidentally adding part of Brain Guy’s brain to his sandwich which had been stored in the refrigerator.
You really have to see this yourself to be able to absorb how annoying the whole experience is to watch.
This segment is painful, slow, and embarrassing, and I can’t in good conscience ignore it when choosing my rating.
A horrible note for a great episode to end on.
Josh’s Rating: 
Related Link:
(1) SciFilm.org
(Movie
Review)
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