HeyHeyItsTheQuartette

I know that I'm tardy to the party, but Paul was talking about a connection between Stephen King and the movie "Monkey Shines." I definitely thought that there was a connection between Stephen King and "Monkey Shines" when I saw the movie, but I couldn't figure out what it was. In the mini-episode, someone theorizes about the connection being like "The Shining" (the man and the monkey have a telepathic link, just like Danny and Dick in "The Shining"). I think that the actual connection between "Monkey Shines" and Stephen King is completely unintentional and is buried in the viewer's subconscious. The connection is the movie poster. The movie poster for "Monkey Shines" (seen here: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f7/Monkey_shines.jpg) features a creepy-looking toy monkey. The cover of Stephen King's short story collection, "Skeleton Crew" (seen here: http://charnelhouse.tripod.com/skelton1.jpg), also features a creepy-looking toy monkey. One of the stories in "Skeleton Crew" is about an evil toy monkey that kills living things (starting with flies and working its way up to humans) every time its cymbals bang. My theory here is that Paul probably saw the cover for "Skeleton Crew" at some point, and was then subconsciously reminded of it when he saw the movie poster for "Monkey Shines" (because this exact thing happened to me). I don't know if whoever designed the poster intended for it to look like the cover of "Skeleton Crew" ("Skeleton Crew" was published in 1985, three years before "Monkey Shines" was released), but the two look very much alike, if not identical.

I love MST3k! I discovered it in high school (it was running on the Sci-Fi channel) when some friends introduced me to it. Favorite episodes (in no particular order): Robot Holocaust Angels Revenge Hobgoblins Werewolf Puma Man Santa Claus Conquers the Martians Prince of Space Diabolik Parts: The Clonus Horror The Final Sacrifice (Rowsdower!) Best host segments (again, in no particular order): A Joke by Ingmar Bergman (from "The Sword and the Dragon") Waiting for Gorgo (from "Gorgo") The Canada Song (from "The Final Sacrifice") Idiot Control Now (from "Pod People") Where O Werewolf (from "Werewolf") Servo Gets Roji Panty Complex (from "Invasion of the Neptune Men") Kawatamundi Man (from "Puma Man") Auditions (from "Horrors of Spider Island") Scamming a Coffin (from "The Screaming Skull") My Creepy Girl (from "Catalina Caper")

Based on the trailers, back-of-the box description, and tagline, you would think that "The Last American Virgin" is a light-hearted sex comedy, like a 1980's version of "American Pie." You're wrong. You have no idea how wrong you are. This is such a fucked up movie. How fucked up is it? The film's third act involves a montage wherein we're cutting between a teenage girl getting an abortion and a teenage boy selling his possessions and stealing from his grandma to pay for it. This movie is horrible and upsetting, and I think it should be reviewed on this show, because I need to know how this shit got made.

The one good thing about "The Tommyknockers" movie is that it takes less time to watch that movie than it does to read that book. The book is so much worse, you guys, so much worse. I believe King wrote it while coked out of his mind.

Paul, Jason, and Drew talk about Michael Gambon's accent and how the filmmakers had him deliver a long, weird speech about why he has a British accent. I'm now wondering if Michael Gambon just can't do an American accent, and the filmmakers were trying to find a way to work around it. A similar tactic was used in the 1978 film, "Magic," starring Anthony Hopkins. According to the audio commentary, Hopkins wasn't able to do a convincing enough American accent, so another character off-handedly says that Hopkins's character has the accent because his father was British. It's one quick line that explains away his accent without making a huge deal out of it. In "Toys," they have a giant monologue that makes Michael Gambon's accent stand out even more.