MST3K: The Creeping Terror

Directed by Arthur Nelson. US. 1964. 90 minutes. MST. DVD.

Friday 10:00 pm

“The particular piece of filmic anguish we must share this time with Mike and the ‘bots is “The Creeping Terror,” in which our namesake villain appears to be a drunken syphilitic Gumby trailing a moldy picnic blanket. As Mike points out, he’s neither the most nimble nor the most ferocious cannibal alien you’ve ever seen: “The creeping part is apt, but the terror part is just not happening.” However, the supporting cast are more than happy to help him out and basically crawl inside his mouth. Who could really blame them, though; death seems an acceptable alternative to acting in this virtually dialogue-less turkey. The boys do get some admirable shots in every now and then, though, once the overzealous narrator clams up, the townsfolk stop offering themselves up for dinner (Mike: “Did anyone in the ’50s ever think of running?”), and start fighting back, most notably with an acoustic guitar (Servo: “Only Tom Paxton can save us now!”). Finally, what would any good MST3K episode be without at least one snarky reference to Peter Graves and a needless twist-dancing sequence?” (Bob Michaels) There will be a preshow invention exchange contest!