Mystery Science Theater 3000: Volume XXXVII

Mary Jo Pehl, a late-addition cast member of this long-running movie-riffing series, makes special appearances in this boxed set of four cinematic turkeys. As Pearl Forrester, mom of the show's putative mad-scientist villain, she continued to torment host Mike Nelson and his robot companions with bad movies on their isolated space station after the Syfy channel picked up the property. Invasion of the Neptune Men, a shabby 1961 Japanese alien-invasion spectacle clearly aimed at children, at least has an excuse for its ramshackle storytelling (American distributors cut several musical numbers [!], substituting rote-repeated scenes and stock footage in the editing room). The Horror of Party Beach (1964) features radiation-spawned rubber-suit monsters thirsting for human blood, while Escape 2000 is a retitled version of 1984's Escape from the Bronx, an Italian Escape from New York with a monosyllabic action plot about greedy near-future NYC developers trying to empty the Bronx using paramilitary troops. And in a flashback to MST3K creator/host Joel Hodgson's era, The Human Duplicators is a 1965 B-movie starring Richard “Jaws” Kiel as a giant-sized alien who is manufacturing androids to take over the world (or at least the few sets the filmmakers could afford). Extras include intros by Pehl, and “making-of” featurettes. Highly recommended. (C. Cassady)