Bill and Kevin are joined onstage by the great Paul F. Tompkins, and together they host and riff an amazing set of bizarre short films. The shorts cover every subject under the sun (y’know, because “Day”), from workplace safety to childhood safety to sentient talking pillow safety. And that’s not all - we’ve got more guests, riffing teams and legends galore! John Hodgman, Frank Conniff & Trace Beaulieu, Cole Stratton & Janet Varney, and Bridget Nelson with Sean Thomason, RiffTrax Senior Writer, making his live riffing debut.
Bill and Kevin are joined onstage by the great Paul F. Tompkins, and together they host and riff an amazing set of bizarre short films. The shorts cover every subject under the sun (y’know, because “Day”), from workplace safety to childhood safety to sentient talking pillow safety. And that’s not all - we’ve got more guests, riffing teams and legends galore! John Hodgman, Frank Conniff & Trace Beaulieu, Cole Stratton & Janet Varney, and Bridget Nelson with Sean Thomason, RiffTrax Senior Writer, making his live riffing debut.
2019-02-28
8.5
Performed and recorded live at SF Sketchfest in the beautiful Castro Theatre, now available for The Comfort Of Your Own Home Fest, it’s Day of the Shorts: Sketchfest 2019!
Someone is taking the Doctor's past selves out of time and space, placing them in a vast wilderness – a battle arena with a sinister tower at its center. As the various incarnations of the Doctor join forces, they learn they are in the Death Zone on their home world of Gallifrey, fighting Daleks, Cybermen, Yeti and a devious Time Lord Traitor who is using the Doctor and his companions to discover the ancient secrets of Rassilon, the first and most powerful ruler of Gallifrey.
Through seven scenes, the film follows the life and destinies of stray dogs from the margins of our society, leading us to reconsider our attitude towards them. Through the seven “wandering” characters that we follow at different ages, from birth to old age, we witness their dignified struggle for survival. At the cemetery, in an abandoned factory, in an asylum, in a landfill, in places full of sorrow, our heroes search for love and togetherness. By combining documentary material, animation and acting interpretation of the thoughts of our heroes, we get to know lives between disappointment and hope, quite similar to ours.
Known for his unmistakable cascading strings and recordings such as Charmaine, Mantovani enthralled the world with his sublime arrangements. This is the story of the man and his music.
San Francisco filmmaker Konrad Steiner took 12 years to complete a montage cycle set to the late Leslie Scalapino’s most celebrated poem, way—a sprawling book-length odyssey of shardlike urban impressions, fraught with obliquely felt social and sexual tensions. Six stylistically distinctive films for each section of way, using sources ranging from Kodachrome footage of sun-kissed S.F. street scenes to internet clips of the Iraq war to a fragmented Fred Astaire dance number.
As John T. Wrecker continues his task of protecting a group of refugees from a virus, the threat of something new and even more dangerous grows ever closer in the form of monstrous mutants.
A place-specific film-excavation of Bixiga neiborhood – São Paulo. Choreography of forces that cross present time. Filmancy, clairvoyance is the vision of what is taking shape.
On July 7, 1944, a U.S. Army hospital on the remote island of Saipan is overrun by Japanese forces during a relentless attack. Outgunned and surrounded by the enemy, a lone medic puts it all on the line to lead a band of wounded soldiers to safety.
High school is almost over and four friends are going their separate ways as they go to college. But they have one more chance to spend some time together: Inspection 12, their favorite band, is playing one last concert in Jacksonville, FL.
Mozambique requests from Russia is being helped in the fight against militants of the "Islamic State" and a special group led by a commander with the call sign Granit is coming to the country.
Returning wounded from the war Maksym was overcome by self-doubt, in his physiological state. He is undergoing rehabilitation. He loses contact with his wife. He is tormented by dreams. In one of his dreams Maksym goes to the island to catch a lot of fish, as the paramedic advised him. Maksym takes a boat, net, dynamite from the best man and sails to the island.
Tanjiro and his sister Nezuko have been apprehended by the Demon Slayer Hashira, a group of extremely skilled swordfighters. Tanjiro undergoes trial for violating the Demon Slayer code, specifically smuggling Nezuko, a Demon, onto Mt. Natagumo. A recap film of Kimetsu no Yaiba, covering episodes 22-26 with some new footage and special ending credits.
Paris, France. Commissaire Wens is put in charge of the investigation into the murder of one of six friends who, in the past, made a very profitable promise.
A young woman lives, hidden in plain sight in a ruined Hong Kong building after a tsunami destroyed the city - a castaway on a concrete island. Her concealed existence is changed forever when a small child literally floats into her life.
Four crazy antiheroes on the run. Their leader is the unworldly innocent, naive Marnie, a house cat who is not allowed to leave the house and only knows about real life from television
12 years after Char's rebellion, Hathaway Noa leads an insurgency against Earth Federation, but meeting an enemy officer and a mysterious woman alters his fate.
Documentary about the milk farmer Bertil Nilsson
The Escodero family is cursed!The mother, whom the Escodero children assumed to be dead, is actually an undead vampire who lurks in a secret basement/dungeon hidden from the rest of the house. When the kids discover this dark truth, all hell breaks loose...literally! The mother bites the son, who grows fangs and becomes consumed with blood lust. Meanwhile, all this vampire activity wreaks havoc on the daughter's romance with her handsome, dashing fiance. It all leads to a foray into the occult that ultimately proves true love can live on forever, but not before a mob of angry villagers and avenging priests take on the Devil himself in a climactic battle between good and evil. Set in nineteenth century Mexico and performed by a Filipino cast, "Blood of the Vampires" has something for everyone: blood-soaked action for the guys, tender romance for the ladies, and unleashed demonic rage for the frightened child within us all.
Mike, Kevin, and Bill were joined onstage at SF SKetchfest Live 2016 by very special guest riffers Bridget Nelson, Mary Jo Pehl, Cole Stratton, Janet Varney, Adam Savage, Paul F. Tompkins, and John Hodgman including a gigantic, possible world record TEN PERSON riffing grand finale!
American spies discover the Chinese have built a weapon capable of destroying planet Earth, a "doomsday machine" if you will, and that they plan to use it within a matter of days. Will the human race survive?
In the far-off land of Kalid, President Amir lies on his deathbed. If this revered head-of-state dies, the brutal dictatorship that he has so lovingly cultivated will fall into a dark age of uncertainty and chaos. And so, in this moment of crisis, his loyal staff are left with no alternative but to choose the only logical and sensible course of action—to transfer Amir's brain into a younger, healthier, and most importantly, living body. Enter Doctor Robert Trenton, a mad scientist of the traditional 'they all laughed at me and now I'll show them' school. He, along with his assistant, Dorro, a little man with a big appetite for evil, and Tracy, a conniving beauty with a heart that's harder than her leathery, over-tanned skin, concoct a deliriously diabolical plan involving murder, body-napping, skullduggery, and oozy, gooey brains.
There’s still evil up there at the old Amityville house. A group of priests gathers to quell the demon that has long plagued this lovely five-bed, four-bath Dutch Colonial full of old-world charm and lots of curb appeal. BUT - the evil escapes! Which should have been made obvious by the movie’s title. And how does it escape? Like all evil does: by possessing a tacky floor lamp, getting sold at a garage sale and shipped to Los Angeles, where most evil household décor eventually finds a home. Soon the demonic floor lamp begins its reign of terror in the home of an innocent family, killing pets and home repairmen, forcing children to use power tools in unsafe ways, and possessing the soul of the youngest sister Jessica, who immediately begins to act like a total jerk. It’s up to the young priest Father Kibbler to save the family and confront the evil lamp, face-to-bulb, before more people die. Okay, more people DO die, but can Father Kibbler finally put an end to it?
Blast off to the 80s with Rifftrax Live: Space Mutiny! Mike, Bill, and Kevin riffed this cult classic low-budget space opera live in Nashville. Now you can watch the show from the comfort of your own home, or space golf cart, if you have one of those. This is the Big McLargeHugest show you'll ever own. It's a brand new riff, completely different from the original MST3K episode. The show stars with a live riffing of The Magic Shop, a hilariously weird short that's somehow based on a story by H.G. Wells. Also included: pre-show slides and more bonus material! Also also included: Kevin wearing a shiny space muumuu you won't soon forget.
Dr. Clayton Forrester figures he can rule the world if he deadens his subjects' brains by making them endure terrible movies. Exploiting his access to nearby satellite-dwellers Mike Nelson and his robot pals, Crow T. Robot and Tom Servo, Forrester makes them watch "This Island Earth", a cheesy 1950s spaceship film. But when Mike and friends make funny comments throughout the movie and others that follow, Forrester's plan looks increasingly flimsy.
Mike, Kevin, and Bill take on some of the funniest, most unbelievable vintage shorts we've ever found, live in the beautiful Castro Theatre with a crew of hilarious guest riffers! Shorts performed during this event include One Turkey Two Turkey, Setting Up a Room, Writing Better Social Letters, Live and Learn, Making Sense with Sentences, and Safety - In Danger Out of Doors.
Watch Mike, Bill, Kevin, and an all-star crew of hilarious guest riffers take on seven classic less-than-educational shorts, filmed LIVE onstage at San Francisco’s Castro Theatre in January of this year, in all its gritty, low-light, shakey-cam glory! Show includes: Welcome Back Norman Perc! Pop! Sprinkle! - with Cole Stratton (Pop My Culture Podcast) and Janet Varney (The Legend of Korra) Choking: To Save a Life - with Kevin McDonald (The Kids in the Hall) Cooking Terms More Dangerous Than Dynamite - with Adam Savage (Mythbusters) If Mirrors Could Speak - with Kristen Schaal (30 Rock, Bob’s Burgers, Flight of the Conchords) At Your Fingertips: Cylinders - with Paul F. Tompkins (Best Week Ever, Mr. Show, Tangled)
New York City-based comedian Matteo Lane helps his audience members with their various problems in this live comedy special filmed at the Comedy Cellar.
Akash and Kiara are trying to find luck in their life after several failed attempts to be successful in their careers and in love. Fed up, they both decide to commit suicide by jumping off a bridge. However, both land up on the same bridge at the same time.
From the strange and ridiculously colorful world of K. Gordon Murray comes the 1959 Holiday classic Santa Claus. Made in Mexico and dubbed into glorious English, Santa Claus tells the story of, well, Santa Claus, who lives in a big white castle above us in Geosynchronous Orbit and watches over us all in a way that would make the NSA jealous. It’s Christmas Eve, and on Earth poor little Lupita wishes for a doll. Santa hears her wish and prepares for his yearly visit, helped by the heavily medicated Merlin the Wizard and Santa’s unintentionally creepy mechanical reindeer.
Deep in the Mexican jungle, a legendary creature lurks in a radioactive swamp. Is it a man? Is it an octopus? No, it’s OCTAMAN! Okay, it’s a man in an octopus suit, but he’s really angry and decides to go on a light killing spree.
For the first time ever, we’ve assembled five shorts about death, loneliness, and dismemberment into one big, old-fashioned yukfest. On their own, they would have been too depressing to put out into the world. But together, they form into a Voltron of hilarity, if Voltron was eventually going to die facedown in the snow, sad and alone.
Marvin, a young aspiring writer from New York, moves to California to write a novel. He ends up rooming with a chaotic, bohemian musician named Jay. Marvin finds himself inexorably drawn into the vibrant youth culture of San Francisco's Mission District as both Jay and himself watch their worlds disintegrate. They discover that each has a lot to learn from the other. Mission is a coming-of-age story casting a spotlight on a place and time, moments before artistic aspiring types yielded the Mission to the dotcom entrepreneurs.
For our fifteenth year of RiffTrax Live, we've selected the 1990's cult classic about bank robbing, presidential masks, and surfing: Point Break! It was directed by Academy Award Winner Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker, Zero Dark Thirty) and stars Keanu Reeves (The Matrix, John Wick, Keanu), Patrick Swayze (Road House), and one of our all-time favorite character actors, Gary Busey (A Star Is Born, Predator 2). Mike, Kevin, and Bill will riff Point Break LIVE at the State Theatre in Minneapolis on July 27th, and the resulting hilarity will be broadcast to over 700 movie theaters across America on Thursday, August 8th with an encore on Tuesday, August 13th thanks to our partners at Fathom Events.
It’s the year 2762. The galaxy is plagued with warring factions using hokey special effects to destroy each other. Out of this chaos a hero rises: the dashing, exquisitely bearded Captain Saber Raine (Casper Van Dien). Saber and his elite squad of commandos (other actors) embark on a dangerous quest to save the Prince and Princess of an unnamed planet from the clutches of the Evil Overlord Sinjin - an overlord so evil HIS VERY SKULL IS FILLED WITH CHERRY JELL-O. Can our heroes fend off Sinjin’s army of mutant androids and rescue the Prince and Princess? Probably! After all it’s Space Opera, but you never know! Join Mike, Kevin and Bill for an unforgettable Sword-And-Laser Swashbuckling-ly fun time, beamed to theaters nationwide!
Famous detective Charlie Chan is called out of retirement to help a San Francisco detective solve a mysterious series of murders. With his bumbling grandson as his sidekick, Chan also encounters an old nemesis known as the Dragon Queen who is the prime suspect.
Join Mike, Kevin and Bill, along with guests Bridget Nelson, Mary Jo Pehl, the Mads from MST3K Trace Beaulieu and Frank Conniff, and special guest Paul F. Tompkins and relive this amazing summer-themed night of riffing and comedy!