Entertainment
 

The Touch of Satan

From MST3K

908 - The Touch of Satan
Air Date July 11, 1998
AKA Curse of Melissa;
Night of the Demon;
The Touch of Melissa
Movie Director ?Tom Laughlin ?Don Henderson
Year ?1970 ?1971 ?1974
Cast Michael Berry, Emby Mellay, Lee Amber, Yvonne Winslow
Preceded by 907 - Hobgoblins
Followed by 909 - Gorgo


Contents

The Movie

Synopsis

On his way to California, Jody (Berry) decides on a whim to make a brief side trip to a farm, where he meets and falls in love with Melissa (Mellay), the proverbial farmer's daughter. Or so it seems. In between the overlong dramatic pauses, we learn that Melissa is, in fact, a 120-year-old witch, and her remarkably spry "great-grandmother," Lucinda, is actually her sister, who has been pitchforking people to death in her spare time. When Lucinda murders a local policeman, things start to get very complicated for Jody.[1]

Think Tuck Everlasting meets the Manson Family.

Information

The Episode

Steffi babysits Brain Guy

Host Segments

Prologue: Tom and Crow are out caroling for Wassail, with severe finanical penalties if Mike is unable to deliver said Wassail. The Bots refute Mike's claim they made it up with a handy song.

Segment One: Mike finds a loophole in the song in that it doesn't specify the condition of the Wassail, but their antics are interrupted when they learn that Pearl has gone on vacation and hired Steffi the babysitter to look after things. She's not quite prepared for the strangeness and threats everybody like small children much to torment of Bobo and Brian.

Segment Three: A very sweaty Mike learns walnut ranching is harder than you'd think, while Tom has taken up pecan farming with much better results.

Segment Three: Yet again Crow is influenced by the movie and believes he's a witch, a fact bourne out by his ability to survive the test of being buried under rocks. Acting as a voice of reason, Mike points out it's because he's a robot, but ends up making things worse when suggests Crow could just as easily be a frog...

Segment Four: Tom's Grandma attempts to pitchfork Mike, Tom pointing out desire to murder vs desire to not murder is how he tells his Grandmas apart.

Closing (Segment Five): Crow believes he's sold his soul to Satan and will soon gain unworldly powers, but Mike discovers a typo, Crow has sold it to Stan, a CPA. Down in Castle Forrester Steffi attempts to read Green Eggs and Ham, but Brian is a little overtired and Bobo still insists on being a bad dog.

Stinger: Melissa advises Jody that "This is where the fish lives"

Obscure References

  • "He forgot to give me my Roman Gabriel cocktail glass!"

Roman Gabriel was an NFL Quarterback from 1962-1977. He was famous for being the first Asian-American to start as a quarterback.

  • "Thank you Lurch!"

Mike is referring to the overture being played as being somewhat similar to the theme of The Adams Family. Lurch is the incredibly tall butler.

  • "But the trees can't help their feeling, if they like the way they're made..."

Mike is misquoting the Rush song "The Trees".

  • "You know, you're pretty?" "In a frumpy, Rhoda sort of way."

Rhoda refers to Rhoda Morgenstern who was a character on a popular 1970s TV show, The Mary Tyler Moore Show and later the spin-off Rhoda. Rhoda was the frumpy best friend of the lead character, Mary.

  • Herbert von Karajan is upset

Reference to the popular conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic from 1955 to 1989.

  • "They've got a signed copy of the Necromonicon [sic]!"

The Necronomicon is a fictitious book of black magic originating in the writings of H.P. Lovecraft.

  • "She turned into Cecilia Bartoli."

Cecilia Bartoli is an Italian opera singer.

  • "You know, if she had two of these, she'd be Melissa 'Two-Sheds' Strickland." "Aww, now she's Melissa 'No-Sheds' Strickland."

A reference to a skit from Monty Python's Flying Circus in which an interviewer obsesses over whether or not a famous composer owns two sheds, and even nicknames him "Arthur 'Two-Sheds' Jackson".

  • "This is where the fish lives."

A non-sequitur spoken by Melissa while on her first "date" with Jody, repeated often for the duration of the episode.

  • You been hittin' the booze?

Mr. Keitel, leader of the lynch mob which attempts to kill Lucilla, is played by Robert Easton, who starred in The Giant Spider Invasion, who uttered that line to his wife at one point in the film.

  • "It's that witchcraft, wicked witchcraft."

A reference to a song made famous by Frank Sinatra called "Witchcraft".

Video Release


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