Rifftrax Santas Village of Nadness

TEN THOUSAND CURSES!

The "movie" itself is actually 3 sloppily put together pieces of dung that was dredged up, I guess, from outtakes (or outhouses - take your pick) from somewhere. Now, some you can see are right from "Santa Claus" that was done by MST3K. And the shorts that help fill this out? I have NEVER seen anything as strange as them. The cartoon, Aesop's Sound Fables: Frozen Frolics" is - it is - it's - well, you have to see it for yourself. The other three are all, if I am not mistaken, from 1969, and all are done by Encyclopedia Britannica. So, given that, you would think that they were well done, well produced, and had a point. If you did - you would be wrong. I guess you have to put yourself back in 1969 (I was starting high school that year), so sex, drugs and rock and roll were on the scene, and these 3 shorts were, to me, done by a group that had ample amounts of one of the three mentioned things. And, no, it wasn't sex or rock and roll. These are 3 of the most bizarre shorts I have ever seen. Ever. Thankfully, the Rifftrax guys keep it going and make it fun - as usual. Go ahead, get this, and suffer with the rest of us - suffer from laughter!

Three bizarro shorts from south of the boarder give us a glimpse into what a painfully twisted view of Christmas & Santa those poor Mexican kids must have had growing up with in the 1960's. Sadly, these things are so bad that even the usually sharp riffing from Mike, Kevin & Bill seems rather strained. And for my money, they need to just stick to making fun of the films & shorts. Their in-between comedy skits were painfully UNfunny to sit through. Wow. In future viewings I'll just fast forward to the shorts themselves. Sorry guys, but IMHO you ain't all that funny without material to poke fun at. I keep hoping that someday they'll release the K.Gordon Murray 'Santa' film on a double feature disc with "Santa Claus Conquers the Martians." Now THAT is a truly perfect holiday paring. I usually love the MST3K/RiffTrax stuff, but this wasn't one that I'll be watching much, except maybe around the holidays. Now, if you want a truly funny Rifftrax DVD that's holiday themed, buy their "Santa & The Ice Cream Bunny" DVD; it's just plain nuts.

According to Kevin Murphy, the three Christmas shorts in this DVD are a combination of footage from the Mexican movie "Santa Claus," along with footage from three Santa's Village theme parks. The three shorts are entitled "Santa's Enchanted Village," "Santa Claus and His Helpers," and "Santa's Magic Kingdom." Merrily, a lot of traditional Christmas characters appear in these shorts, produced by K. Gordon Murray. (Remember, the K stands for Kringle!) In addition to Santa Claus, there's Stinky the Skunk, Puss 'n Boots, the Ferocious Wolf, Merlin the Magician, and (in a cameo) the Ice Cream Bunny. The wolf is the foreman who developed an ulcer from the antics of Stinky the Skunk. The elves are inexplicably played by young girls. Puss 'n Boots works for the Labor Department, and makes sure that no child labor laws are being broken. Merlin the Magician is baked out of his gourd, while Santa is blissfully oblivious to all of the insanity around him. These Christmas shorts are best viewed while drinking spiked eggnog. In addition, there are four bonus shorts. The first three shorts are "What's Happening," "Let's Pretend: Magic Sneakers," and "Join Hands, Let's Go." There were produced by the Encyclopaedia Britannica Educational Corporation. The first and third short subjects involve children, and defy description. The second short subject involves a young boy who, upon opening several psychedelic-colored boxes, finds a pair of pink sneakers. After wearing the sneakers, he is chased by a man with his face and hair painted blue, and wearing a long, black cape. According to Bill Corbett, this short subject is really aversion therapy for kids who want to join the Blue Man Group. I think the writers of that short must have taken LSD, and had bad acid flashbacks. The fourth short is "Aesop's Sound Fables: Frozen Frolics." It's a vintage cartoon set in the North Pole, and closes out this collection of short subjects on a nostalgic note.

This movie seems to be 3 or 4 different short films stuck together promoting a small chain of Christmas themed amusement parks. The films themselves are bizarre; there are scenes that literally made my jaw drop and my brow twist into a puzzled "huh?". It is literally stranger than SANTA CLAUS AND THE ICE CREAM BUNNY, in my opinion. Still, the whole thing is hilarious, and it is one of Rifftrax's better efforts. Well worth getting if you enjoyed the earlier film I mentioned. The DVD also includes 4 strange shorts, 3 Encyclopedia Britannia school shorts and a 1930 Christmas cartoon, each weirder than the next. Seriously, viewing the school shorts made me reaffirm my decision to homeschool my family because they are such bizarre, seriously useless wastes of time. They were really funny too though.

This movie is hilariously bad and funny even without the riffs there is a bunny in this one too like a certain film I could mention. But only sparingly. And he is the Easter bunny. He says nothing this one. Is short only 45 minutes so we have some extra shorts that are mind numbingly bad and pointless. Check out the one called what is happening we never find out the cartoon is laugh out loud funny with the riffs I highly reccomend this one.

If you like MST you will love this!

Excellent holiday movie to unwind with a good laugh..