Streaming Review: MST3K – The Christmas Dragon

Film, Reviews, Top Story

The new season of Mystery Science Theater 3000 has wrapped up on the Gizmoplex with a holiday special that delivered a triple treat. Fans for the first time ever get to witness three humans stuck inside the experiment. Joel Robinson (Joel Hodgson), Jonah Heston (Jonah Ray) and Emily Connor (Emily Marsh) must survive one of the most painfully bizarre films yet: The Christmas Dragon. This is a film that could easily destroy the minds of a single host or even two. What happens if the Lord of the Rings had a Hallmark Holiday Special? The film does fill a niche since there’s not many Christmas movies that open with a child seeing their mother and father burned to death by a dragon. If that doesn’t put you in a holiday spirit, I don’t know what will.

The Christmas Dragon was shot in Utah and released way back in 2014. The film has the same level of special effects as those monster movie SyFy Channel was releasing around this time. I believe the movie was about the girl who witnessed her parents get burnt to a crisp helping other orphans find a decaying Father Christmas to restore the magic of the holiday. It made about as much sense as the random accents that cast chose to use for their characters. Why would Middle Earth be celebrating the holiday? Not to give away too much of the movie, but there is a scene where they attach a sleigh to the back of a dragon and deliver presents in order to revive the miracle of Christmas. This is a film that you wouldn’t want to stomach without the magic of Mystery Science Theater 3000. They do a bit about a “monk” who looks like Nick Nolte that involves Patton Oswalt on a bender. There is so much comedy that comes out of the strangeness on the screen. You get a sense of where scenes were lifted from various other fantasy movies and how they aren’t even close to the original. There’s plenty of jokes involving Paul McCartneys Christmas song. The film is a great selection to end the 13th season.

The episode has a story of Joel, Jonah and Emily teaming up to escape Kinga Forrester’s evil movie theater on the moon. Can the trio really find freedom after being beaten down by The Christmas Dragon? This holiday season, you should gather your family around the TV for the heartwarming sight of a dragon setting parents on fire.

The movie is currently on Gizmoplex.com. The Gizmoplex is accessible via a web portal and also on a wide variety of OTT platforms, including apps for both iOS and Android devices, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, and more.

For more info, visit www.mst3k.com/season13 

Joe Corey is the writer and director of "Danger! Health Films" currently streaming on Night Flight and Amazon Prime. He's the author of "The Seven Secrets of Great Walmart People Greeters." This is the last how to get a job book you'll ever need. He was Associate Producer of the documentary "Moving Midway." He's worked as local crew on several reality shows including Candid Camera, American's Most Wanted, Extreme Makeover Home Edition and ESPN's Gaters. He's been featured on The Today Show and CBS's 48 Hours. Dom DeLuise once said, "Joe, you look like an axe murderer." He was in charge of research and programming at the Moving Image Archive.