INTERVIEW: Bring out the swords and sandals for RiffTrax’s ‘Krull’
Photo: RiffTrax features, from left, Bill Corbett, Kevin Murphy and Michael J. Nelson. They will riff on Krull Aug. 23 and Aug. 25. Photo courtesy of RiffTrax / Provided with permission from their press page.
Riffing is a high art form for most fanboys and fangirls obsessed with movies and comedy. This unique style of poking fun at B movies began with the recently revived TV show Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3K to the cool kids), and has continued in several different iterations throughout the years.
One of the most successful riffing organizations is RiffTrax, which presents live recordings of their many, many comedy specials. A few years ago they teamed up with Fathom Events to bring riffing away from television and the live stage, and into the movie theater, and audiences have responded in kind.
This week, the comedians of RiffTrax will lovingly rip apart the 1980s stinker Krull, which is a swords-and-sandal fantasy movie set in space. The film has all the right elements for a solid riff: questionable visuals, an incoherent plot, a bonafide earnestness and early roles for Liam Neeson and Robbie Coltrane.
In the movie, Krull is the name of a world where people travel freely through time and space — yet everything is still lit by torches. The Beast of Krull tries to disrupt the pending nuptials of Princess Lyssa and Prince Corwyn, so the prince needs to step up and save the day. Add in a wizard, a cyclops and a magical throwing toy called the Glaive, and it promises to be a good time.
RiffTrax features the comedy of MST3K alum Michael J. Nelson, Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett. Their Krull riff will be presented in theaters Thursday, Aug. 23 and Saturday, Aug. 25.
“I didn’t know as much about Krull as a lot people seem to, including my colleagues, that it was a big-budget ’80s attempt to make a new Star Wars universe,” Corbett said in a recent phone interview. “It just didn’t do very well. It’s a real mixture of ‘A’ for effort and some really terrible moves, and it just doesn’t add up. It’s a pretty incoherent plot, but there’s a lot of fun visual stuff in it and a lot of stuff that I guess is iconic to people who know their Krull. And among other things, it features in smaller parts early Liam Neeson and Robbie Coltrane, aka Hagrid. They’re just members of this band of thieves, but it’s funny to see them in the background to actors who are not so well known or almost forgotten at this point. I think it’s going to be a lot of fun because it’s visually fun and has a lot of goofy stuff and even some legit interesting stuff in it. We’ve enjoyed writing it.”
When the guys come together and select their next movie to riff, they consider the comedy that can be created. They look for cinematic badness that is interesting and fun. The movies that are already funny because they are bad — like The Room — are tougher to riff.
“They’re just hilarious on their own because it’s that ‘what was the filmmaker thinking’ goes through your head the whole time you’re watching it,” he said. “I think with something like Krull, it’s a little easier to ascertain what the filmmaker was thinking for the most part. They wanted to make a big combination sword-and-sandal space epic, and it just didn’t go very well for the most part. But I don’t know there are things that definitely attract us to certain movies — if there’s a fun or weird visual component, if there are characters who are puzzling and just behave oddly, stuff like that. Then there are things that are definite no-go’s for us, like if it’s dull, absolutely dull. I mean, sometimes we can ring some laughs out of the fact that it’s boring, but ultimately the boringness wins — or if it’s too heavy with dialogue, if it’s visually nasty to look it, if it’s low-quality filmmaking, and there’s not enough to hook on to. Sometimes it’s a definite, oh, we’ve got to do that, and other times, we think we can we find a way into that to make it funny.”
The RiffTrax team members write the jokes separately at first, and then they come together to combine the different sections. That’s a different approach to the comedy writing than their individual times on MST3K, where they would write the first draft together and then scatter off and refine section by section.
“I was one of the people who would write the final draft, and then we’d go from there,” said Corbett, who also voiced robot Crow (v. 2.0) on the iconic series. “It’s a little bit the opposite process [with RiffTrax], and I think it’s a little more efficient this way. Sometimes I feel like I miss the writing room when we’re just watching it for the first time and goofing on it, but there are advantages to both. We each take a section and concentrate on that and try to write a first draft. Then we put them together. There’s always areas of overlap, like we tell the same joke or a variation on the same joke. Sometimes it’s a really odd thing, like we don’t know why we’re making this joke. … That’s when we get together and really try to make it a script. Then when we get on stage. We follow the script almost completely, except when we don’t. When it just feels wrong, we’ll throw it out and try something else in the moment.”
It has been three decades since the first episodes of MST3K, and now there are numerous riffing groups on tour or online. RiffTrax definitely sits near the top. Their deal with Fathom Events gathers an enormous, nationwide audience.
“I’m amazed and grateful, pleasantly surprised that people still enjoy this after all these years, and that we’ve been able to do it and keep a fan base who keeps coming back,” Corbett said. “We do work pretty hard to make it seem easy and natural, so that’s a self-pat on the back. It’s really cool to know that people still like and appreciate it.”
Corbett believes that riffing is specialized amongst the general population, but there’s enough people who like this humorous commentary to keep RiffTrax and other riffing groups touring nonstop.
“I don’t feel competition,” Corbett said. “In fact, we have our old colleagues, Frank Conniff and Trace Beaulieu, do a touring version … calling themselves The Mads, and we get along with those guys just fine. In fact, we’ve had them as guests in some of our live shows. The new version of the [MST3K] show that’s out, a couple of us have guested on that. It seems like there’s enough room for all of us, maybe because we’re in different media or we’re approaching it a little bit differently. There’s the live tour. We’re mostly based digitally on the web and also with the Fathom Event live shows like Krull, and then the revival is just a full revival of the show. … It seems to be going well for everybody so far, so maybe if it becomes scarce and a little more Hunger Games, I’d say differently.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
RiffTrax will present Krull Thursday, Aug. 23 and Saturday, Aug. 25 in movie theaters, courtesy of Fathom Events. Click here for more information and tickets.
