The Film Crew: Hollywood After Dark – DVD Review

Film, Reviews

Available at Amazon.com

Directed by
John Hayes

Cast:
The Film Crew
Bill Corbett … Himself
Kevin Murphy … Himself
Michael J. Nelson … Himself

Hollywood After Dark
Jack Vorno … Tony
Rue McClanahan … Sandy
John Barrick … Tom
Paul Bruce … Nick
Ernest Macias … Ernest
Lea Marmer … Mrs. McVea
Leslie Moorhouse … Shakespearean
Doug Rideout … Fitz
Joanne Stewart … Patti


The Movie:

For those of us that have loved Mystery Science Theater 3000 more than life itself, the years since the show went off the air have been pretty tough. Our only sources for getting an MST3K fix in the last few years have been the box sets that Rhino Video has been slowly releasing with four episodes at a time, or by going to Mike Nelson’s own Rifftrax.com, in which he and his cohorts do commentaries for various Hollywood trash epics such as Star Trek V: The Final Frontier and Battlefield Earth. Thankfully, for those of us that have been patiently waiting for the return of our beloved pranksters, The Film Crew has finally arrived.

In a similarly convoluted format to their infamous cult show, The Film Crew is a series of DVDs featuring some of the worst films ever made. Bravely providing commentary tracks for these “movies” are Mike Nelson, Bill Corbett and Kevin Murphy, as they crack wise over some truly atrocious examples of film making, just as they did nearly a decade ago on the Satellite of Love during Mystery Science Theater’s Sci-Fi Channel years. Featuring goofy inserts and a prolonged introduction, the experience is very much like MST3K even before the actual picture gets going. We may never see Crow, Gypsy, and Servo again, but this is the closest we’re going to get.

The movie in question for this DVD is entitled Hollywood after Dark, and is indeed worthy of the treatment the guys give in on this track. Depressing in the extreme, the movie tells the story of Tony (Jack Vorno), the owner of a local junkyard, who happens to be an expert in underwater demolition. Desperate for money, Tony gets embroiled in a robbery scheme with a slimy nightclub owner, but ends up falling for one of the strippers in the club (Golden Girls’ Rue McClanahan). This love only ends up causing him heartache though, as his new girlfriend is seduced by a slimy producer and the heist only brings him anguish instead of new found wealth. Did I mention this was depressing?

Thankfully, the film is so lousy that it’s a blast taking it in with Mike, Kevin and Bill. The three of them haven’t lost a beat, as the jokes come fast and furious, even from the earliest bits of the film as they complain about how “after dark” Hollywood actually looks, and how Tony’s career as “crap collector” hasn’t brought him the joy he thought it would. The best bits seem to come during an elongated strip tease that is embarrassingly unerotic and gets so tiresome that the three of them start begging to go back to Tony’s depressing scenes in the junkyard. Kevin Murphy makes a Muhammad Ali joke during this section that had me belly laughing for two solid minutes. It’s also noteworthy that not having to conform to standards of television, the guys also get to be a little more risqué with their jokes, but they never get very crude.

Filled with pop culture references and non-stop hilarity, The Film Crew: Hollywood after Dark is the first DVD in what will hopefully be a successful and long-running series that will finally fill the void that was left when the experiment on the Satellite of Love was over. While the film itself is excruciating, the experience with this track is appropriately side-splitting; and while all the jokes don’t work, the next joke is always just a few seconds away. So MST3K fans rejoice, the boys are back and they’re still hilarious.


The DVD:

The Video
The digital video that the skits are presented is a little shoddy, but expecting high quality video from these guys is a little silly. Hollywood After Dark itself looks about as good as its going to get though, aside from it being in full screen, but a widescreen transfer may have not even been available. The film is presented in full screen with an aspect ratio of 1.33:1.

The Audio
The Audio track is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 and sounds fine. There’s nothing spectacular here to highlight anyway, but there’s no problems hearing any of the dialogue throughout the movie, though I’m not sure that’s a good thing.


SPECIAL FEATURES:

Ode to Lunch – This is a 90 second sonnet by Bill Corbett about how great his lunch is. It’s mildly funny and ends with him walking off camera because he’s hungry.

Trailers – You get a look at upcoming Film Crew titles, as a well as a slew of other Shout! Factory titles.

The DVD Lounge’s Ratings for The Film Crew:
Hollywood after Dark
CATEGORY
RATING
(OUT OF 10)
THE MOVIE

8.5
THE VIDEO

7
THE AUDIO

8
THE EXTRAS

2
REPLAY VALUE

10
OVERALL
7.5
(NOT AN AVERAGE)

Robert Sutton feels the most at home when he's watching some movie scumbag getting blown up, punched in the face, or kung fu'd to death, especially in that order. He's a founding writer for the movies section of Insidepulse.com, featured in his weekly column R0BTRAIN's Badass Cinema as well as a frequent reviewer of DVDs and Blu-rays. Also, he's a proud Sony fanboy, loves everything Star Wars and Superman related and hopes to someday be taken seriously by his friends and family.