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(More customer reviews)Unfortunately, the original version of this volume 10 collection was put out of print by rights issues over the Godzilla movie included in it. However, another giant mutated reptile has stepped in to take Godzilla's place, so with help from The Giant Gila Monster, here comes MST3K Collection Volume 10.2! Here is a bit of information about each episode:
402- GIANT GILA MONSTER
Ray Kellogg, who also directed, "The Killer Shrews" and co-directed "The Green Berets", directed this 1959 black-and-white monster-on-the-loose film. It stars Don Sullivan as a young heroic singing automobile mechanic named Chase Winstead who must battle the giant lizard of the title as well as the prejudice of a cantankerous codger who thinks he's up to "no good". Meanwhile, he helps a lot of people throughout the story no matter what adversity comes his way, including his immigrant girlfriend and his physically disabled sister. Think of this as "Killer Shrews" with more likeable characters and slightly less drinking or "The Creeping Terror" without the carpet monster but still plenty of creeping.
This movie is yet another in a long line of cheap monster films produced in the 1950s that feature a supposedly oversized version of an otherwise normal creature as the monster. The special effects in the film are quite poor and it is painfully obvious throughout the film that the monster is a normal Gila monster crawling extremely slowly over miniature sets. The dialogue is naïve and ridiculous and the pace of the film is as slow as the starring creature. The direction also involves a lot of actors putting a leg up on something, whatever happens to be around in the middle of the shot, a fact that supplies the MST3K writers with endless jokes throughout this film, including an entire host segment. This film also contains a monotonous little ditty sung by Don Sullivan featuring the lyrics, "I sing whenever I sing whenever I sing" as he happily pounds away at repairing an automobile body. Jokes about this appear not only in this episode, but also pop up in other episodes of MST3K for years to come.
The whole episode is hilarious from start to finish. I don't want to spoil any jokes for newer MST3K fans that may never have seen this episode, so I won't quote any specific jokes here. Let me just say that the Renaissance festival punching bags invention during the pre-movie "invention exchange" host segment will have you rolling on the floor and that this episode as a whole is a strong classic no "MSTie" should miss. Movie sign!
503- SWAMP DIAMONDS (plus short: WHAT TO DO ON A DATE)
This is a 1955 Roger Corman "classic" starring Beverly Garland and Mike "Touch" Connors before his fame with Mannix. Beverly Garland leads a gang of escaped female convicts to a cache of diamonds and they kidnap the innocent Mr. Connors and his girlfriend along the way. A policewoman goes undercover inside the gang hoping to recover the stolen diamonds. Beverly Garland turns in the usual good performance and looks great doing it in spite of the mediocre film quality.
Host segments in this episode focus on the dating short as Servo tries to get up the nerve to ask Gypsy for a date. There's also a hilarious bit based on the "This Side of Paradise" episode of the original Star Trek series.
514- TEEN-AGE STRANGLER (plus short: IS THIS LOVE?)
This is the second episode of MST3K to be hosted by Mike Nelson after the departure of show creator Joel Hodgson. The main feature is a small independent film made in 1968 West Virginia about a serial killer in a small town and it looks every bit the amateur film. Highlights in this episode include Mike Nelson transforming into Mikey from the movie and the hilarious "The Janitor Song." The short is also a winner with some of the oldest looking "young people" you're likely to see on film; this is really funny stuff!
810- THE GIANT SPIDER INVASION
This movie is a 1975 monster flick from Bill Rebane, the same man who brought you Monster A-Go Go! This film is ever so slightly more competently made than Monster A-Go Go and actually features a couple of well-known actors: Barbara Hale of Perry Mason fame and Alan Hale, Jr. who was The Skipper on Gilligan's Island and also the sheriff in the film The Crawling Hand which was featured in MST3K episode # 106. The movie is really goofy fun, with large spiders everywhere, sleazy and gross yokel-type characters less appealing than the spiders, and a small car dressed up as the biggest and cheesiest looking spider of them all. The scene where Barbara Hale's character does an odd tumble down a hill is worth seeing all by itself and there's plenty of other good material here as well for the MST3K writers. This is certainly one of the more fun episodes done after the show moved to the Sci-Fi Channel. The amusing host segments are based loosely on the classic SF film Invasion of the Body Snatchers rather than on the film featured in the episode.
This DVD set also contains the following extra features:
-MST3K Video Jukebox with 15 songs from the series
-Outtakes consisting of about 15 minutes of the best moments from "Poopie 2"
This set is still great and the substitution of The Gila Monster movie in place of the originally included Godzilla movie is a fair one as both are terrific episodes every MST3K fan should see and most MSTies would love to own. Join Us! Movie Sign!
Click Here to see more reviews about: The Mystery Science Theater 3000 Collection - Volume 10.2 (Giant Gila Monster / Swamp Diamonds / Teenage Strangler / Giant Spider Invasion) (2008)
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