Mystery Science Theater 3000: THE TOUCH OF SATAN

January 2, 2018 10:41 PM - Season 9, Episode 8

"'The Touch of Satan' makes 'Rosemary's Baby' look like a Sunday school picnic!" - LA Free Press A guy falls in love with a weird gal who enchants him by telling him, of a lake, "This is where the fish lives!" Unfortuately, it turns out she's an actual enchantress, that is to say a witch, in turn to say Of The Devil, aka Gorgo and Mormo, and her gramma's both her sister and a murderer, or, as one character terms them, "fromakidal maniacs." Yet another movie not to expect a happy ending from. This is the episode where "Deadly" Beez McKeever babysits Observer (who she calls "Brian") and Bobo (who she thinks is a dog), in some particularly beloved host segments. YouTube (1h32m) Premiered July 11, 1998. 18 episodes left. Zaa!

Episode 908 THE TOUCH OF SATAN

Satellite News - Mighty Jack's Episode Review (Thinks it's one of the best!) - War of the Colossal Fan Guide - Annotated MST3K - TVTropes

Paul Chaplin again gives his recollections from the online addendum to the Amazing Colossal Episode Guide:

Much to the delight of a handful of people around the globe, this movie treated us to a repeat appearance by one Robert Easton. Yes, Robert Easton, who played the creepy farmer in Giant Spider Invasion. You'll recall him by repeating to yourself, "You been the hittin' the booze again, Ev?"
In this movie, he's the ringleader of the witch-burning crowd.
Interesting fellow, this Robert Easton. He's been a Hollywood dialect coach for years, and in fact was a guest several times on The Tonight Show, during the Johnny Carson years, showing off his skill at dialects. He's been in some real movies, too, like Working Girl and Primary Colors, in which he played John Travolta's doctor.
I like this Robert Easton. I thought he was really good in Giant Spider Invasion. Even when the spider was stuffing him up his butt, he played the role convincingly.

Movie
Daddy-O's Drive-In Dirt
Rotten Tomatoes (Critics N/A, Viewers 21%) - Wikipedia - TVTropes
IMDB (1971, 2.1 stars)
"A young man meets a farm girl who is actually a witch."
Directed by Don Henderson. Written by James E. McLarty. Starring Michael Berry, Emby Mellay and Lee Amber.

posted by JHarris (20 comments total)

Robert Easton also memorably played the (literally) high Klingon judge who sentences Kirk and McCoy to Rura Penthe in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. And I agree with Paul, he always seems to invest in his roles.

The touch, the feel of Satan / the man-goat of our liiiives…
posted by CheesesOfBrazil at 5:57 AM on January 3, 2018 [3 favorites]

This is where my tongue lives
posted by cottoncandybeard at 7:18 AM on January 3, 2018

That's not a name, that's a bad scrabble hand.
posted by wittgenstein at 7:42 AM on January 3, 2018 [2 favorites]

This
Is
The
Episode
With
Pacing
Issues.
posted by wittgenstein at 7:42 AM on January 3, 2018 [1 favorite]

This whole movie feels like a 70s TV commercial. Something like Summer's Eve.
posted by Chrysostom at 8:38 AM on January 3, 2018 [2 favorites]

Cave
Dwellers
is
also
an
episode
with
pacing
issues.
posted by JHarris at 5:45 PM on January 3, 2018

All that being said, I think of this as a pretty good episode. Chrysostom is right about the feel of this movie being very 70s. And the pacing was relatively slow in all the series I grew up with. Try watching an episode of the David McCallum Invisble Man series on YouTube. Slooooooow...
posted by wittgenstein at 6:03 PM on January 3, 2018 [1 favorite]

Any suggestions for this week's Joel episode?
posted by JHarris at 6:21 PM on January 3, 2018

Secret Agent Super Diamond might work.
posted by valkane at 6:49 PM on January 3, 2018

That's Secret Agent (dah dah!) Super Dragon (dah dah!).

You may have mixed it with Code Name: Diamond Head.
posted by Chrysostom at 6:52 PM on January 3, 2018 [2 favorites]

Oops, you’re right Chrys, I got it mixed up with Swamp Diamonds.
posted by valkane at 7:11 PM on January 3, 2018

Code Name: Swamp Agent Super Diamonds, got it.
posted by JHarris at 7:16 PM on January 3, 2018 [6 favorites]

Fascinating. It's like if you took The Wicker Man or Rosemary's Baby, surgically removed all the creeping dread, and replaced it with social awkwardness.
posted by Phobos the Space Potato at 11:35 AM on January 4, 2018 [2 favorites]

Tonight (Thursday), get ready for MST Club, starting 7 PM Eastern (4 PM Pacific) at https://www.quinapalus.com/qxw.html! Two episodes of MST3K, watched in a chat room with other MeFi members. Join us, won't you?
posted by JHarris at 11:44 AM on January 4, 2018

WAIT dammit wrong URL I just noticed! Don't go to the above URL unless you want to make crossword puzzles with an open source Windows editor! I blame my new keyboard, which has its Control key in a slightly different place.

The show is here: https://cytu.be/r/Metafilter_MST3KClub.
posted by JHarris at 2:38 PM on January 4, 2018

What are you missing when you're not at MST Club? The chance on getting in on jokes like this:

Riffing from the short "Days of our Years"

• "Come over to this side! Obey the toaster!!"
• valkane: Hemingway wrote this: She was quick and sure, and good, and bold. rodneylives: And pure and light, and free, and um, wide?
• ckape: Union Pacific: We'll Work You To Death
• rodneylives: They only communicate anymore through the medium of closing shades. valkane: Closing Shades? Wasn't that that Burt Reynolds sit-com?
• ckape: Hey Union Pacific, it seems like the common thread about all of these people getting killed and maimed is you.

From the opening bits of The Touch of Satan:

• Synthesized wassail? What is this, Mannheim Steamroller?
• (when murdery grandma shows up) David Carradine looks AWFUL!
• TVs_Ilana: touch of stan valkane: Touch of Satin rodneylives: The Touch of Stain
• Don Henderson went on to direct every Starsky and Hutch, ever.
• TheSnakeOfArgument: okay so they're serious about "walnut ranch" huh? rodneylives: Majestic walnuts thundering across the plain valkane: Walnuts eat a lot of hay. TVs_Ilana: the double cranch is too good for this movie TheSnakeOfArgument: merits a fractional cranch at best
• TVs_Ilana: down by the pond where the watermelons grow back to my satan I dare not go for if I do my mother will say did you ever see a branch on a walnut cranch
• rodneylives: Walnut Cranch Cider: It's Satanic! valkane: Peanut-filtered for smooth drinking pleasure. TVs_Ilana: wait, I just realized how weird it is that the walnut rancher puts peanuts in the cider and not walnuts TheSnakeOfArgument: never get high on your own supply
• TheSnakeOfArgument: the rarely used "green-for-night" filter rodneylives: This is such a wrong movie. The movie is filled with wrong. And green. Wrong and green TVs_Ilana: touch of green TheSnakeOfArgument: or maybe they're in The Matrix valkane: she's envy with green
• valkane: I keep waiting for the Quinn Martin chapter 2 title card. they're filming an episode of Ellery Queen just up the road. oneswellfoop: more like Husky and Starch
• RESIDENCE OF CARP --------------------------------->
• valkane: The Girl With Nothing Extra. TVs_Ilana: what is it with creepy girls and fish obsessions rodneylives: I think what it is is fish have creepy girl obsession. TheSnakeOfArgument: Mr Limpet Goes To Hell rodneylives: They're constantly on Tindr all night long looking for signs of creepiness. TVs_Ilana: they're up all night to get creepy? valkane: The Touch of Mr. Roper

So you see?

Wait, come back!

(EDIT: No matter what I do, it won't let me put line breaks in lists, dammit. It works in live preview but not the real comment. You'll just have to parse through it, sorry.)
posted by JHarris at 3:58 AM on January 5, 2018 [3 favorites]

Hey Union Pacific, it seems like the common thread about all of these people getting killed and maimed is you.

I LOL'ed, in my office.
posted by CheesesOfBrazil at 5:26 AM on January 5, 2018

I couldn’t believe there was one dude who looked exactly like Herbert von Karajan AND another dude who looked exactly like Franz Schubert, and they pointed out both of them – best musicgeek riffs since the “vaguely Strauss... BUT NOT!!!” melody in Angels’ Revenge
posted by kalapierson at 6:09 PM on February 14, 2018 [3 favorites]

I just rewatched this. I have a deep and mildly-embarrassing love for (and obsession with) movies about witches. As far as witch movies go, I've seen way worse. I think that says more about me than the movie, because it's a godawful movie.

I love Mike as the incredibly sweaty walnut farmer, and the bit with Servo's grandmother kills me every time.
posted by shapes that haunt the dusk at 9:34 PM on January 8, 2019 [1 favorite]

"Walnuts are just tearing through the hay".

Servo's reading of this line with the emphasis on "tearing" gets me every time.
posted by AlonzoMosleyFBI at 4:23 AM on July 14, 2022