You all should know by now that I am a pretty big MST3K/Rifftrax fan. Some would call it sacrilege, but I kind of enjoy Rifftrax better because they tend to make fun of bearable movies (even Spiderman 3 was better than Hercules versus the Moon Men when just looking at the movies themselves). Still, it’s nice to see Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett go back to their roots. They did it last year with Plan 9 from Outer Space. This year, it’s another classic stinker: Reefer Madness.

I actually reviewed Reefer Madness, the ultimate anti-pot movie, way back at the beginning of Just Plain Something. Even then, I rated the movie better when it was accompanied with the comedic commentary. There are some of the same jokes in this live version, but they added some new ones and it was very entertaining.

Because I’ve heard them riff Reefer Madness before, I ended up enjoying the new shorts the most. There was a creepy cartoon that should have gotten sued multiple times by Walt Disney. There was also the short explaining to 1930s housewife of the dangers of washing your clothes in gasoline. My mind is still boggling that this would have to be explained to anyone, but apparently people thought gasoline made a good detergent. I’m sure someone is going to say the same thing about Oxiclean 80 years from now.

The last short was probably my favorite. It taught children in the 70s how to make art with grass. No, not pot. Normal grass. Spoiler alert: Kevin Murphy actually goes insane during this short. It ends with him putting a grass hat on his head and bowing to the screen. No. Seriously.

If you missed the live version, they’re showing a taped encore this evening in theaters all over the country. Visit rifftrax.com for more info. And look out for their Halloween show (they’re doing the original House on Haunted Hill).

By the way, I wrote about the event for NUVO, the local weekly magazine I am interning at for the next couple months. Go over and read my piece, as well as the other pieces I have written so far. And yes, just like over at Just Plain Something, feel free to comment.