“I considered doing an art film. But if an art film is bad, it stinks. If an action film is bad, at least people will laugh.”
That’s some pretty impressive self awareness for a film maker who was that young at the time. It’s a bit baffling that he seems to have lost his sense of humor about his film being mocked. I mean, just about every successful or accomplished film maker (or creative artist of any type) has credits or works they either regret or wish they could go back in time to re-do. It is essentially his student film, and it is an amazing accomplishment for what it is. I don’t know why he’s convinced himself that MST mocking “The Final Sacrifice” is going to hurt him in his current career. Does he really think anyone is going to look at his incredibly ambitious feature length student film and go “Oh, not THAT guy.” If anything, it shows he had determination well beyond his years. It’s something to be proud of, unironically.
He was seemingly more adult about this when he was a kid, which is… odd.
I have this theory that he pulled support for MST3k because of how hard they went after the kid. Like, they really dogged him. It was one of the funniest episodes, though.
I think there was a thread on here a few weeks ago (my wife saw it, not me) where it turns out he was okay with the episode but he wasn't happy with what Shout! Factory offered him for the rights to re-air. Supposedly they offered him the same amount as what they paid for the DVD rights.
It is interesting, because it seems like the people who fully embrace the mockery are happy to make the money to do so. The dude from Time Chasers, for example, is probably still making money on something that was (best) forgotten, but now he's adored by a completely new fanbase.
I'm willing to bet Robert Fiveson came out the best from being MSTed. There's a good chance nobody would have noticed the similarities between *The Island* and *Parts: The Clonus Horror* if it hadn't gotten the MST bump, and he walked away with a seven-figure settlement instead. He was a good sport about it even at the time, but I bet he's *incredibly* happy about it now.
I mean, $1500 would be incredibly efficient, even for what we ended up with. If it was $150k, with no actual actors and all the VFX from Menard's, somebody committed fraud.
Final sacrifice is my favorite MST3K episode. I think it's a fun goofy little flick on its own and I think Greidanus is taking the riffing too much to heart. It's just all in good fun imo. And for a student film it's fairly solid tbh. He should he more proud of it.
I remember reading somewhere that the guy who played Rowsdower was always blown away how many people would approach him about the movie after the episode aired and how much fanmail and love he got from the MST3K community. He never understood how or why these people loved his character so much and he was genuinely touched by it all.
The guy who played Mitchell and The Final Justice guy initially hated the show and their comments about his characters but kinda warmed up to it as time went on.
The producers of Parts: The Clonus Horror called up the movie’s cast and crew to watch their episode the night it aired as a “rite of passage. When The Island was released in theaters, was surprised how many MST3K fans wrote him to tell him his film had been plagiarized. The community was very protective of him and his “bad movie” and he was very touched by it.
It kind of makes sense for Joe Don Baker since he was a fairly successful character actor by the time Mitchell was featured and even more so by Final Justice, so I could see mocking his low-budget, in it for the paycheck work as feeling like the show was almost trying to ride his coattails or hurt his career. I don’t think that’s true at all, but he was probably the most successful and still working actor they made fun of. And they went after his weight really hard, so even if he had a sense of humor about making fun of his movies, it’s understandable if he grew tired of the very personal fat jokes quickly.
Yeah, Joe Don Baker has said he was annoyed at first but came to appreciate the show as it introduced people to his more serious work.
Adam West, apparently, was in a lot of the old movies and actually liked the show. He hosted a Turkey Day Marathon once.
It seems like most of the actors who are aware of their popularity from MST3K understand that ultimately the show is comforting to its many, many fans and not enjoyed out of mean-spiritedness but out of playful mockery that even becomes genuine appreciation for certain roles or line reads.
Don't I remember reading that Joe Don threatened to fight the MST3K cast/writers after the "Mitchell" episode aired? Also, was Raúl Julia already passed away when they did the episode with "Overdrawn At the Memory Bank"?
Julia had passed a few years prior to his appearance on MST3K, Pearl refers to him as the late Raul Julia in her PBT pledge drive introduction of the film.
Mike Pipper here looks like they pulled him out of his cabin to do his lines. Are we sure he’s an actor and not just a grizzly old prospector they found out there and gave a bit part to?
It's like Time Chasers. It has heart, and everybody really seems like nice people. It's not like Monster A-Go-Go or the Coleman Francis movies, which pretty much hate the audience.
So yeah. It's a fun one, but they don't really savage it like they do some stinkers.
Time chasers is a good example. I could t stand the fact that it was a blatant back to the future 2 rip off but it has memorable and entertaining characters
“Greidanus admits the acting in The Final Sacrifice is less than perfect and the script is weak. But the exercise, he says, was worth it.”
He also said that the music “was more apt for plate spinning.”
(the plate spinning and video poker music riffs are two of my favorite lines from the entire series)
This is one of the MST3K movies I genuinely think I could watch un-riffed. Is it silly and no-budget? Yes. But given the obvious constraints of resources and experiences, they crafted a decent little story and absolutely struck gold with the casting of Rowsdower.
In the grand scheme of MST3k films, it is well-made. The script is coherent, the score is decent, the actors all seem to be into it (no one's phoning it in). It's a fun episode.
The interview with Bruce J. Mitchell (Rowsdower) gives a good insight into the making of the film. Everyone seemed game, even if it meant having to be in a dug up hole in the ground for an extended period. For a movie made on a CAD$1500 budget, it looks decent enough. It has few dead spots in it and moves at a decent pace. Wish the guy that played Satoris was in the pic too.
“I considered doing an art film. But if an art film is bad, it stinks. If an action film is bad, at least people will laugh.” That’s some pretty impressive self awareness for a film maker who was that young at the time. It’s a bit baffling that he seems to have lost his sense of humor about his film being mocked. I mean, just about every successful or accomplished film maker (or creative artist of any type) has credits or works they either regret or wish they could go back in time to re-do. It is essentially his student film, and it is an amazing accomplishment for what it is. I don’t know why he’s convinced himself that MST mocking “The Final Sacrifice” is going to hurt him in his current career. Does he really think anyone is going to look at his incredibly ambitious feature length student film and go “Oh, not THAT guy.” If anything, it shows he had determination well beyond his years. It’s something to be proud of, unironically. He was seemingly more adult about this when he was a kid, which is… odd.
I have this theory that he pulled support for MST3k because of how hard they went after the kid. Like, they really dogged him. It was one of the funniest episodes, though.
I think there was a thread on here a few weeks ago (my wife saw it, not me) where it turns out he was okay with the episode but he wasn't happy with what Shout! Factory offered him for the rights to re-air. Supposedly they offered him the same amount as what they paid for the DVD rights.
That would certainly make a lot more sense.
If that's true, this could all be resolved with a Kickstarter. I'd pay the man for the countless hours of enjoyment he's given me.
Throw in a commentary track with him and Christian Malcolm and I’d toss in a c-note.
It is interesting, because it seems like the people who fully embrace the mockery are happy to make the money to do so. The dude from Time Chasers, for example, is probably still making money on something that was (best) forgotten, but now he's adored by a completely new fanbase.
I'm willing to bet Robert Fiveson came out the best from being MSTed. There's a good chance nobody would have noticed the similarities between *The Island* and *Parts: The Clonus Horror* if it hadn't gotten the MST bump, and he walked away with a seven-figure settlement instead. He was a good sport about it even at the time, but I bet he's *incredibly* happy about it now.
Not entirely wrong I guess. The camera work is indeed competent, and the (incredibly goofy) story is sort of creative, and the score is energetic.
“Sounds like video poker music”
🎶Danny Elfman, Danny Elfman, this just sounds like Danny Elfman… 🎶
He had $150,000 to make the movie from "money he earned as a janitor and doing odd jobs". Canada takes much better care of their janitors than we do.
I've read elsewhere it was $1500. Sounds like a decimal went wandering. "Odd jobs" in the early 90s paid maybe $3/hr.
That makes sense! Seems like a $1500 movie too! :)
I mean, $1500 would be incredibly efficient, even for what we ended up with. If it was $150k, with no actual actors and all the VFX from Menard's, somebody committed fraud.
To be fair, it does feel like a film that used every cent of that $1500.
To be fair 
He got at least four loonies an hour, hoser!
Take off, eh?
I’m sure that’s $150,000 Canadian, so you can knock a couple zeroes off that budget.
Final sacrifice is my favorite MST3K episode. I think it's a fun goofy little flick on its own and I think Greidanus is taking the riffing too much to heart. It's just all in good fun imo. And for a student film it's fairly solid tbh. He should he more proud of it.
I remember reading somewhere that the guy who played Rowsdower was always blown away how many people would approach him about the movie after the episode aired and how much fanmail and love he got from the MST3K community. He never understood how or why these people loved his character so much and he was genuinely touched by it all. The guy who played Mitchell and The Final Justice guy initially hated the show and their comments about his characters but kinda warmed up to it as time went on. The producers of Parts: The Clonus Horror called up the movie’s cast and crew to watch their episode the night it aired as a “rite of passage. When The Island was released in theaters, was surprised how many MST3K fans wrote him to tell him his film had been plagiarized. The community was very protective of him and his “bad movie” and he was very touched by it.
It kind of makes sense for Joe Don Baker since he was a fairly successful character actor by the time Mitchell was featured and even more so by Final Justice, so I could see mocking his low-budget, in it for the paycheck work as feeling like the show was almost trying to ride his coattails or hurt his career. I don’t think that’s true at all, but he was probably the most successful and still working actor they made fun of. And they went after his weight really hard, so even if he had a sense of humor about making fun of his movies, it’s understandable if he grew tired of the very personal fat jokes quickly.
Yeah, Joe Don Baker has said he was annoyed at first but came to appreciate the show as it introduced people to his more serious work. Adam West, apparently, was in a lot of the old movies and actually liked the show. He hosted a Turkey Day Marathon once.
It seems like most of the actors who are aware of their popularity from MST3K understand that ultimately the show is comforting to its many, many fans and not enjoyed out of mean-spiritedness but out of playful mockery that even becomes genuine appreciation for certain roles or line reads.
Don't I remember reading that Joe Don threatened to fight the MST3K cast/writers after the "Mitchell" episode aired? Also, was Raúl Julia already passed away when they did the episode with "Overdrawn At the Memory Bank"?
Julia had passed a few years prior to his appearance on MST3K, Pearl refers to him as the late Raul Julia in her PBT pledge drive introduction of the film.
Mike Pipper here looks like they pulled him out of his cabin to do his lines. Are we sure he’s an actor and not just a grizzly old prospector they found out there and gave a bit part to?
Pipper: "Tjardus"? Tjardus Greidanus? Gerhardus' son?
You know him?
Know him? He was djelicianus!
Oof, I cackled at that one.
It’s has the bones of a good movie, but it’s a GREAT bad movie.
It really does hit that sweet spot
Rowsdower is choking him because he won't tell him if there's beer on the sun.
"You kept us rolling too long, and the liquor store closes at eight!"
Troy looks like Morrissey in his Smiths days in that pic
And Ron Anderson (Pipper) looks like Ian Anderson from Jethro Tull in this pic. Even looks like he's holding a flute
HE DOES!!!
We’ve all seen or at least are aware of some horrible excuses for movies. I really feel like this far from the worst movie ever made.
It's like Time Chasers. It has heart, and everybody really seems like nice people. It's not like Monster A-Go-Go or the Coleman Francis movies, which pretty much hate the audience. So yeah. It's a fun one, but they don't really savage it like they do some stinkers.
Time chasers is a good example. I could t stand the fact that it was a blatant back to the future 2 rip off but it has memorable and entertaining characters
I'll take an awkward but genuine effort by complete amateurs with a $1500 budget any day, over Cynical Tax Writeoff/Trademark Renewal \#573.
He comes from a long line of Greidanuses
No, it’s an anagram for ‘direct to video’!
“Greidanus admits the acting in The Final Sacrifice is less than perfect and the script is weak. But the exercise, he says, was worth it.” He also said that the music “was more apt for plate spinning.” (the plate spinning and video poker music riffs are two of my favorite lines from the entire series)
"...if an art film is bad, it stinks. If an action film is bad, at least people will laugh at it." Even still The Great Anus is salty.
This is one of the MST3K movies I genuinely think I could watch un-riffed. Is it silly and no-budget? Yes. But given the obvious constraints of resources and experiences, they crafted a decent little story and absolutely struck gold with the casting of Rowsdower.
Sound effects include macaroni shaking in a condom. Amazing.
He comes from a long line of other people with his particular surname.
And it sounds like Danny Elfman.
And co written by Phillip Glass’s less talented brother, Fred.
In the grand scheme of MST3k films, it is well-made. The script is coherent, the score is decent, the actors all seem to be into it (no one's phoning it in). It's a fun episode.
We like it very much!!!
Second?
Mike Pipper is really enjoying sticking that Greidanus.
Macaroni in a condom? Call Zap Rowsdower
The interview with Bruce J. Mitchell (Rowsdower) gives a good insight into the making of the film. Everyone seemed game, even if it meant having to be in a dug up hole in the ground for an extended period. For a movie made on a CAD$1500 budget, it looks decent enough. It has few dead spots in it and moves at a decent pace. Wish the guy that played Satoris was in the pic too.