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RED TOM'S RIFF REVIEW

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MST3K 1102 - Cry Wilderness

Updated: Sep 14, 2018


Um, Ron, you're looking the wrong way

The Experiment

This episode delves back into the full blown invention exchange. The first episode in the season had Jonah bringing about an invention, however, for reasons revealed later, Kinga doesn't have an invention in the first episode. TV's Son of TV's Frank, Max (played by Patton Oswalt) reveal their Fudgie The Whale wheel. While Jonah invents a Turkey Theremin, which plays a highly unpleasant sound as you carve the bird.


The host segments in this episode are actually really well done. One notable host segment was the raccoons destroying the bridge with their "wacky antics." It had very little dialogue but the laughter and comedy came through in great clarity.


However, one downer on the episode was the return of Pearl Forrester, Brainguy and Bobo. Not only does Bobo's new ape face prosthetic look awful, but the dialogue and the scene as a whole was not especially well written. It wasn't an atrocious scene by any means, but it was a bit of a disappointment to see some of our favorite characters from the last series return in such a dismal light.


Cry Wilderness

A little boy named Paul escapes his boarding school when Bigfoot warns him that his father was in great danger. When he returns to his father, he is unable to send his son back to school as he is hunting a ferocious, unknown creature in the forest. With the help of his Native American hunting partner and a government big game hunter, Paul's father must locate this beast before any innocents get hurt.


What makes this movie bad?

Dear Lord, where to begin. This movie is bad, not just any kind of bad, but bad in the most cringeworthy way. It's very difficult to think of where to begin because there are so many things.


First off, the movie itself is a plothole. There are so many elements that do not make sense in the least. The kid keeps saying that his friendship with Bigfoot is a secret. However, not only does he tell literally every single character in the movie, but the film begins with him explaining his relationship to Bigfoot to his teacher. The kid himself is awful. He's whiny, entitled, self-righteous, insulting and extremely hypocritical! "But Red Tom, he's just a kid!" You're just a kid! Shut up!


Okay, calm down.


Besides the fact that Bigfoot's suit is awful, he's barely in the movie. He's talked about a lot (because of the previously mentioned kid who couldn't shut up) but when it comes to actually pertaining to the plot, he is literally worthless. You could have taken out the boarding school and taken out Bigfoot all together and the movie would have made just as little sense.


I could go into a lot of the problems with this movie. The acting is terrible, the characters are cardboard, the story makes no sense and the runtime is padded out with extreme amounts of fluff. Suffice to say, without the riffs, this movie would be an especially hard sit through.


The Riffs

As with many horrific movies, this experiment is wholly saved by some great riffs! Some of the best riffs come from making fun of the kid and his dad. There's the dad's haircut, the kid's impulse to throw himself into danger, and the fact that his father carries a gun around him constantly.


As said before, there is a lot of material to make fun of. The government big game hunter was an especially good riff fuel source. His stupidity and unwarranted claim on the "antagonist" title made him one of the many large headaches.


There's a lot to cover for the riffs and there's a lot of laughing involved. Absolutely solid riffing.


The Episode

This was an amazing return to form! It brought about a skin-peelingly bad movie while also riffing it with some serious gusto! Watching this episode gave me great confidence in this new team of riffers, and showed their true talent in taking down some real stinkers. This was definitely one of the better episodes of the season. It was worth the watch and was a great addition to the show as a whole. Now on to the next!

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