DVD News

Shout! Factory and “Mystery Science Theater 3000” spin new series

By M&C News Jun 26, 2007, 23:25 GMT

Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy, and Bill Corbett—three of the brilliantly insane minds behind the cult classic TV show Mystery Science Theater 3000—finally reunite to unleash their warped sense of humor on the cinema of yesteryear as The Film Crew. Charged with the task of giving all movies their own commentary tracks, the Film Crew valiantly steps forward to tackle the best of the worst, starting with Hollywood After Dark.Rue McClanahan ...more

“Mystery Science Theater 3000” (MST3K) was one of the most successful cult comedy shows of all time, with 199 episodes on Comedy Central and the Sci-Fi Channel, and a feature film over the course of its 11-year run. Now the writers and stars of MST3K—Kevin Murphy, Bill Corbett and the head writer and on-air host Mike Nelson—bring their hilarious brand of film commentary to a new line of B-movie send-ups as The Film Crew.

The three guys in The Film Crew work in the dank basement of an office building. Each day, their boss, the entertainment mogul Bob Honcho, calls them up on speakerphone and gives them their assignment, which is to decimate yet another Hollywood clunker with their incisive commentary.

In the fall of 2006, Shout! Factory launched a guerilla marketing campaign targeting fans of MST3K, screening segments of the films and allowing fans to vote on which B-movies they most wanted to see skewered. Now, the results are in and Shout! Factory proudly announces the debut of its DVD line-up from The Film Crew, beginning this summer with The Film Crew: Hollywood After Dark, a 1968 film about a down-on-his-luck loner who falls in with the wrong crowd in Tinseltown and finds salvation in the arms of a stripper (Rue McClannahan of TV’s The Golden Girls in her skivvies).  Shout! Factory’s first-ever direct-to-video title,  The Film Crew: Hollywood After Dark debuts on DVD July 10, 2007, with a built-in ‘crew’ commentary track and live-action interstitials, for the suggested list price of $19.99.

On August 7th, the second DVD in The Film Crew series arrives in stores.  Killers from Space stars Peter Graves (Airplane, Mission Impossible) as a nuclear scientist abducted by aliens to facilitate their invasion of earth.  This cult classic features such ’50s-era sci-fi favorites as A-bombs, genetically mutated super-sized creepers, and aliens with bugged-out eyes (suspiciously resembling halved ping pong balls).  Killers from Space gets the Film Crew treatment, and will also be available for the suggested list price of $19.99.

Additional releases are planned for the fall, with such campy fare Steve Reeve’s Giant of Marathon and The Wild Women of Wongo all slated for 2007 release. See previews of these movies getting the Film Crew treatment at www.filmcrewonline.com.

The Film Crew: Hollywood After Dark is now available for pre-order at Amazon. As of yet, there is not a release date for the UK. Visit the DVD database for more information.

The Film Crew: Killers From Space is now available for pre-order at Amazon. As of yet, there is not a release date for the UK. Visit the DVD database for more information.