Search - The Film Crew: Hollywood After Dark on DVD

The Mystery Science Theatre guys are back... with a hilariou

Z. Freeman | Austin, TX | 07/10/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"After 11 years and 199 episodes, Mystery Science Theater 3000 officially closed their theater doors and ceased their disparaging commentary of disparage-worthy old films. But apparently, you can take the Mystery Science Theatre 3000 out of their title, but you can't take the... whatever, the MST3K guys (that's a hip acronym as all hip things need these days) are back in a new setting: they are now called The Film Crew. Back to their old shenanigans, if bashing movies can be qualified as a shenanigan, Kevin Murphy, Bill Corbett, and Mike Nelson are ready to get down to business: the business of mocking movies.

Their first release is Hollywood After Dark, a poorly made 1968 black and white film about a depressed loner who gets roped into assisting some strip-club owning gangsters with a seaside robbery. In the meantime, he also falls for a "stripper with a heart of gold", who just happens to be a younger Rue McClannahan from TV's Golden Girls. Clearly, there's plenty of joke fodder here, and the guys make ample use of it.

Starting with an introduction to the basic premise of the film crew, the guys describe themselves not as moochers of old films, but as "value added resellers increasing profits for people who aren't us." Their task, assigned to them by their boss, Bob Honcho, who calls them and talks to them over speakerphone, is to provide a commentary track for every film in Hollywood that doesn't currently have one. Their first task, sent to them in a package marked "URGENT" is Hollywood After Dark. The guys pop it in and the fun begins.

The film is desperately bad, obviously a clunker even 40 years ago when it was made. Filled with stripper dance sequences that are almost 5 minutes long, a 15 minute robbery scene with no dialogue, a nonsensical plot, a confusing ending, and entirely drab dialouge throughout, Hollywood After Dark serves as the perfect opening act for The Film Crew to make their mark with.

Fans of Mystery Science Theater will find little difference between the old style and the new style. Instead of a guy and two robots, it's three guys. And instead of seeing their shadowy images walk in and sit in an empty theater, these guys sit down with headphones to watch the film, and then the audience actually watches the film with commentary. These are the changes that necessitate the name change.

Fusing biting sarcasm with hilarious pop culture references ("Uh, I'm supposed to meet a Mr. Tumnus at this lamppost"), the film crew doesn't let up for a second when there's mockery to be had. Of a silent robbery scene with quiet jazz music: "If Jim Jarmusch made a holdup film." On Rue McClannahan's hair: "All I can think of is Justin Guarini in a dress." The jokes go on, and so does the awkward Hollywood After Dark.

The complete feature is made up of the crew's intro, 30 minutes of Hollywood After Dark, a brief lunch break, the final 30 minutes of Hollywood After Dark, and then some concluding remarks form the crew. The breaks are quite necessary considering the dullness of the film they're watching, but the guys perform best behind the camera as commentators, rather than in front of the camera as pseudo-sketch-comics.

Included on the DVD is a rather uninspired short entitled An Ode to Lunch, in which Bill Corbett performs a 90 second "sonnet for lunch" in a Shakespearean dialect that ends with, "alright I'm hungry, shut off the camera." Stick with the feature here as it offers plenty of laugh-out-loud moments and gleefully witty banter. It's official: the Mystery Science Theatre guys are back... with a hilarious vengeance."

MST3K fans rejoice!

Horror-Fanatics.com | 07/08/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Remember the TV show Mystery Science Theatre 3000? I do, I love that show. Seeing a man and two of his robot pals doing commentary on the worst movies made it a wonderful experience. Although I missed its run on Comedy Central, I did watch it a lot when it aired on the Sci-Fi channel. Normally I wouldn't waste my time with old low budget science fiction films; But when the Mystery Science Theatre crew provide the commentary, I can't resist. I stay glued to the TV listening and laughing at all the jokes. Thanks to Shout! Factory, us MST3K fans can rejoice and laugh some more. Three of the brilliantly cracked minds behind the Peabody Award-winning comedy program have reunited for The Film Crew: Hollywood After Dark, a DVD-only series that provides a similar skewering to some uproariously bad B-movies. Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett join together once again to bring us excellent commentary. The Film Crew are three affable guys who've been hired by a jovial yet clueless billionaire to provide commentary tracks for atrocious films.

They're job is to provide commentary for old movies that don't have a commentary track already. Of course, they have to be really bad movies. This new DVD is definitely worth watching, because it's really funny. To our amazement, the Crew's "commentary" is more cutting than informative (surprising isn't it?). The Film Crew's first target is a miserable 1968 slice of sexploitation starring a youthful Rue (The Golden Girls) McClanahan (quite atrocious). The Film is called Hollywood After Dark (aka Walk the Angry Beach), and man is it a terrible film. It's one that I actually recommend staying away from. That is unless you want to ruin 74 minutes of your time. In the movie a young girl comes to Hollywood to try to break into the movies. Sadly she winds up being taken advantage of by sleazy producers and is forced to become a stripper. Parents and fans alike should take note that the gags in The Film Crew are a little more "adult" than the ones on MST3K.

Hollywood After Dark isn't very graphic in terms of violence or sexuality, but it does feature a handful of half naked females dancing around. For the most part, this is harmless if hilarious stuff. The strip teases are more funny than they are sexy. I had a nice time laughing at the movie itself. Hollywood After Dark is a comedy in its own right. The commentary provided by The Film Crew is very entertaining. While the movie itself isn't, the DVD is worth watching just for the funny commentary. That's the sole purpose for this release. You're not buying the Film Crew DVD for 'Hollywood After Dark', you're buying it for the Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett commentary. Hollywood After Dark is a cinematic train wreck that's loaded with terrible dialog and a cast of half naked strippers. The story loses itself somewhere and you're left wondering what the hell is going on. Much like MST3K, the Film Crew takes a much needed lunch break in the middle of the movie.

The Film Crew point out most of the movie's flaws, as if they weren't obvious enough. Hollywood After Dark suffers from a lack luster story and poor editing. All the quick cuts and lack of dialog in certain areas just make no sense. Without the hilarious commentary, this DVD wouldn't be worth mentioning. Since it is worth the price, I'm recommending this DVD for all MST3K fans out there. I do have one complaint however. The commentary track on the DVD is funny, but it lacks bonus material. The disc's only sole extra is an amusing poem by Corbett which extolls the virtues of lunch in verse. That's about it, I would have loved to see some behind the scenes stuff as well as a gag reel. More extras would have made this DVD better. Still, I do recommend adding it to your collection. Keep in mind that this is just the first of many reviews to come. Shout! Factor will be releasing more Film Crew DVDs for other movies that are begging for a commentary track."

I wish I could give it more stars

Glenn Yates | Nashville, TN USA | 03/31/2008

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Beauty is in the eye- etc. etc., but I've got to say I'm a bit amazed at all the 5 star reviews here. I think I have about every mst3k since the first year and have watched many of them multiple times. I don't think this piece is in the same league. Mike is good, the others ok, but the whole format is disruptive and irritating. And something about the robots always allowed them to be extremely critical without coming across as nasty, an advantage they lose here. This is passable entertainment, and I'm not saying don't waste your money if you are totally jonesing for some new mst3k- but it's going to be about equivalent to giving the Marlboro man a nicotine patch."

Sub-par outing from folks who can do better

Brian A. Schar | Menlo Park, CA United States | 09/09/2008

(2 out of 5 stars)

"After MST3K, Mike Nelson and company needed something to do. And after 10 years of a steady Mystery Science Paycheck, they needed something to put food on the table as well. Their first post-MST3K foray, the Film Crew movies, are unfortunately just a limp, not-terribly-funny retreat of the MST3K concept. The host segments are downright painful to watch. OK, it's fun to see what Brain Guy looks like sans makeup, but their hearts just aren't in the host segments. When they get into the movie, you can imagine that it's Mike and the bots, what with the voices and all. But this movie is such a stinkbomb that even a MST3K-lite treatment can't keep you from pressing "info" repeatedly to see how much of the hour and 18 minute running time is left. Unless you are desperate for more MST3K at all costs, avoid. If you can't stay away, rent this rather than buying it."