This is the 26th compilation of the cult TV show Mystery Science Theater 3000—the long-running series in which a man and two robot companions crack wise about the bad movies they're watching. Gathered here are The Magic Sword, Bert I. Gordon's 1962 middling medieval heroic fantasy, starring Basil Rathbone as an evil wizard; Danger! Death Ray, an obscure 1967 Italian 007 rip-off from director Gianfranco Baldanello that prompts a bit more sexual innuendo than usual from host Mike Nelson and his bot buddies; Alien From L.A., Albert Pyun's ill-fated 1988 attempt to launch an acting career for squeaky-voiced supermodel Kathy Ireland; and Virgil W. Vogel's The Mole People, a 1956 latecomer in Universal's string of 1950's B-movies—and actually a halfway decent film that elicits somewhat more restrained patter from the MST3K crew. DVD extras include entertaining interviews with directors Gordon and Pyun, a “making-of” featurette on The Mole People, and a piece with Nelson, who talks about his life post-MST3K. Mystery Science Theater completists will clamor to watch this set, which serves up another solid helping of mostly awful cinema. Highly recommended. (C. Cassady)
Mystery Science Theater 3000 Volume XXVI
Shout! Factory, 4 discs, 480 min., not rated, DVD: $59.98 Volume 28, Issue 4
Mystery Science Theater 3000 Volume XXVI
Star Ratings
As of March 2022, Video Librarian has changed from a four-star rating system to a five-star one. This change allows our reviewers to have a wider range of critical viewpoints, as well as to synchronize with Google’s rating structure. This change affects all reviews from March 2022 onwards. All reviews from before this period will still retain their original rating. Future film submissions will be considered our new 1-5 star criteria.
Order From Your Favorite Distributor Today: