Entertainment
 

Zombie Nightmare

From MST3K

604 - Zombie Nightmare
Air Date November 24, 1994
Movie Director Jack Brauman/John Bravman
Year 1986
Cast Adam West, Jon Mikl Thor, Tia Carrere, Manuska Rigaud, Frank Dietz
Preceded by 603 - The Dead Talk Back
Followed by 605 - Colossus and the Headhunters


Contents

The Movie

Synopsis

Canada, 1986. Mild-mannered Tony Washington (rock musician and body builder Jon Mikl Thor), glistening with body oil and flashing a nipple here and here, lives a happy-go-lucky existence playing softball, heroically foiling convenience store stickups and buying Provolone for his mom.

One night, a band of spoiled, amoral, thrill-seeking teens, dominated by a 98-lb, spaghetti-hurling sadist with "frosted Farah Fawcett hair" accidentally runs him down with someone's daddy's Mercedes and immediately flees the scene. Tony has departed this mortal coil.

Instead of calling an ambulance, Tony's vengeful wig-wearing mother summons a figure from her past, local voodoo sensation Molly "Am I overdoing this?" Mokembe (Manuska Rigaud) to exact justice. Molly leverages her "dark powers" and a whole lot of candles to transform the dead Tony into a disfigured, much taller, murderous zombie bent on dispatching the remorseless teens, one by one, with extreme prejudice.

After the first grisly zombie murder, the police become involved. "Twelve-year-old" detective Frank Dietz is put on the investigation under the command of corrupt, bitter, cynical police veteran Captain Tom Churchman (Adam "I'm Batman" West) who, it turns out, conceals a dark secret involving the Washington family in his past.

Can the police stop the zombie before he kills again? Will the guilty be punished?

All drama unfolds under the throbbing and inflamed metal rock and weary disco music of the era, including the bands Thor, Fist, (Servo: "I saw Fist when they opened for Badfinger") Motorhead, Death Mask, Girl School and similar eternally memorable acts.

Information

  • Film debut of Tia Carrere.
  • Never released in theaters, this film went straight to video.
  • The opening song is "Ace of Spades" by Motörhead.
  • Dean Hagopian (the crusty ME) was in a band called the Staccatos, after he left they changed their name and went on to fame as the Five Man Electrical Band.

The Episode

Host Segments

Prologue: Crow and Tom are Secret Service agents "protecting" Mike. Of course, they inflict more injuries than they prevent

Segment One: The Mads are really into voodoo, so they send a voodoo kit to the SOL. Mike, Tom, and Crow use it to do nice things. First, they give Jimmy Carter a hug. Then they give NPR’s Cokie Roberts a scalp massage. They then use it to taunt Dr. F.

Segment Two: Crow is sitting, reading quietly and enjoying chocolates, when suddenly Tom runs him down with his little red car, paralleling the action of the movie.

Segment Three: The bots are enjoying a hot tub until Mike surfaces wearing a snorkel mask and bearing a fish on a spear.

Segment Four: Crow has abandoned his Batman play, but he forgot to tell Tom and Mike, who are in costume. Tom doesn’t want to take his Batman costume off, as he believes it gives him special powers.

Segment Five: Mike and the bots have written letters to Adam West. Frank has inadvertently turned Dr. F into a zombie, and doesn’t know how to reverse the spell.

Stinger: As the voodoo priestess finishes her incantation, the zombie screams.

Other Notes

Guest Stars

Airdate Notes

Premiered on Turkey Day '94 after being screened at several colleges in the "Fresh Cheese" tour. [1]

Obscure References

  • "Pride of the Zombies!"

A reference to Pride of the Yankees, a 1942 biopic of baseball legend Lou Gehrig.

  • "Well, I'm sure strolling in Howard Beach won't be a problem!"

A reference to a racially motivated attack on three black men that took place in the Howard Beach section of Queens in 1986.

  • "A young Joe Pepitone ponders his fate."

Joe Pepitone was a first baseman and outfielder for the New York Yankees during the 1960s.

  • "The age of Aquarius!"

A reference to the song "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In" by the 5th Dimension.

  • "These Young Life weekends are getting out of hand."

Young Life is a Christian youth organization.

  • "Hey, how come there's no pictures of Italians on the wall?"

Mike is parodying a line from the Spike Lee movie Do the Right Thing.

  • "It's the Kids in the Hall!"

The Kids in the Hall were a Canadian sketch-comedy troupe that had their own TV show from 1989-94.

  • "Boy, things have really changed since Vatican II!"

The Second Vatican Council (also known as "Vatican II") was held from 1962-65 and resulted in significant modernizations of the Catholic Church's doctrines and rituals.

  • "She's probably Missouri Synod, they're really hardcore!"

A reference to the Missouri Synod offshoot of the Lutheran Church.

  • "Is she playing tennis with Kraftwerk?"

Kraftwerk is a pioneering electronic music group from Germany.

  • "John Cage on the soundtrack!"

John Cage is an experimental music composer best known for his work 4'33", consisting of four minutes and thirty-three seconds of complete silence.

  • "Enya!"

Enya is a New Age musician.

  • "'Grady'! This fall on NBC!"

Grady was a short-lived spinoff of Sanford and Son revolving around the character of the same name.

  • "What is up with Mark Trail?!"

Mark Trail is a long-running comic strip set in a national forest.

  • "This giant..." "Like L.T.?"

A reference to former New York Giants linebacker Lawrence Taylor.

  • "Stiv Bator is pissed!"

Stiv Bators was the lead singer of the punk band The Dead Boys.

  • "This scene was cut from 'The Program'."

The Program was a 1993 film about a college football team. A major controversy erupted when a few teenagers reportedly died imitating a scene in which a character lies down in the middle of a busy highway.

  • "Auditions for the band Fear!"

Fear is a punk band whose popularity peaked in the early 1980s.

  • "The Three Faces of Steve!"

A play on The Three Faces of Eve, a 1957 film about a woman with multiple personalities.

  • "I'm gonna go work on my 'M.A.N.T.I.S.' script!"

M.A.N.T.I.S. was a short-lived superhero TV series from the mid-1990s.

  • "Watchtoweeeer!"

A reference to The Watchtower, a magazine published by the Jehovah's Witnesses.

  • "The zombie drives a K-Car!"

"K-Car" is a catch-all name for the many vehicles that were built using the Chrysler K platform.

  • "'This spot reserved for Viper'?"

A reference to the TV series Viper, whose hero drove a Dodge Viper with high-tech weapons capabilities.

  • "Garrick Utley..."

TV journalist Garrick Utley was a frequent substitute anchor for "NBC Nightly News" during the 1980s and '90s.

  • "Miss Jane Pittman!"

The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman is a novel in which a 110-year-old African-American woman recounts the events of her life, and was made into an acclaimed made-for-TV movie in 1974.


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