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The Movie: For this episode of "Mystery Science Theater 3000", the gang might have run into the worst movie ever. For those who are not familiar with the long-running series, it involves a normal guy (first Joel, in later episodes Mike) who'd been shot into space and forced to watch really, really awful movies with two robot friends, Crow and Tom Servo. While they watch the movie, they playfully insult it, but what made the show so popular was how often incredibly witty and hilarious the insults were. "Manos" is one of the worst movies that I've ever seen shown on MST3K - or anywhere, for that matter. The 1966 film looks worse than most home movies - at the end, one of the robots even remarks in amazement that there was actually a crew on this movie. The film revolves around a family on vacation who gets lost in the desert and winds up at an old, abandoned house which, for some reason, they seem to think is a motel. Run by a very strange little man named Torgos, who is waiting for ’The Master’ to return. The remainder of the film turns into a weird horror show as Torgo makes a pass at the wife and the family is terrified once "the Master" returns. That's about as much as I could make sense of, as the movie is so badly made that some scenes didn't even seem to match. Still, Joel and the robots are able to make watching this pure awfulness moderately enjoyable as they come up with some good comments. While I wouldn't consider this one of the better episodes of the show, there are some occasional strong laughs. A short film, "Hired!" plays (and is commented on) before the show. The DVD VIDEO: "Manos" looks about as bad as a movie can look without simply disintegrating into thin air mid-film. Sharpness and detail are terrible, as the movie can look slightly crisp, but often looks murky and blurry throughout. Some serious wear and tear on the print used is visible and colors look considerably faded. But, that's just the film they're watching - the MST3K segments look crisp and clear, with great colors and fine detail. SOUND: The show's 2.0 comes through clearly and cleanly, as both the film's terrible dialogue and the characters hilarious comments on it, are easily heard. MENUS: Nicely animated main menu, which is easily navigated. EXTRAS: Enjoyably, Rhino has included "The Poopie Reel", a 30-minute documentary that offers some occasionally hilarious outtakes from the show - most of which involve the robots falling apart. Final Thoughts: While I didn't think "Manos" was one of the funniest MST3k episodes, there's some good laughs to be had while the three watch one of the worst movies ever made. Recommended for fans of the show. |