Recently we caught the latest RiffTrax show by Fathom Events as they got Halloween started off with the 1962 film “Carnival of Souls” Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett who starred on Mystery Science 3000 performed before a live audience and had the show streamed to numerous cinemas as part of this special event.
The festivities opened with two short films where the trio riffed on the absurd production values, acting, and other silly content from the films which followed a Witch and proper bathing, to a group of kids who were way too happy creating masks made from clumps of grass and wearing them about the beach.
Once the audience was primed, the main film started and the jokes flew fast and often. The film follows a woman who is the only survivor of a car crash as she travels to Utah to start a new job playing the organ in a church.
Naturally her dour expressions, the uneven and stiff acting in the film, and the awkward transitions gave the cast plenty of ammunition to work with.
The creepy neighbor who was way too eager to go on a date with the female lead gave the group tons of material that had the audience rolling with laughter.
I really enjoyed the stiff and awkward supporting players who did not seem to know when to move in a scene, or when to stop mugging it up for the camera. This combined with the uneven delivery of the lines and the slow and at times difficult scene transitions made for pure comic gold.
The audience laughed throughout and the show will be rebroadcast on Halloween at various theaters which makes for an ideal event for those looking for a fun Halloween event.
There will also be a special Holiday show on December 1st where the crew takes on “Santa Claus Conquers the Martians” and a second half where Weird Al and the cast take on a series of short films which you will not want to miss.
Check out fathomevents.com for showtimes
