Whether through the group itself, their roots in Mystery Science Theater 3000, or their movie-riffing party game, most of us know of RiffTrax in some form. The trio of Michael J. Nelson, Bill Corbett, and Kevin Murphy (with occasional special guests) has used their MST3K chops to riff everything from B movies to blockbusters since 2006. Among the hundreds of movies and shorts in their catalogue are a few festive favorites. And they really manage to bring out the weirdness for Christmas.

As you prepare to welcome loved ones into your home for the holidays, why not put one of these holiday horrors on the big TV in the living room? Your family and friends will thank you… probably. While there are many to choose from, we’ve picked our “top” five to share this season.

RiffTrax Christmas Circus! with Whizzo the Clown

^{Source: RiffTrax YouTube Channel}

Welcome Mike, Kevin, and Bill into your home (metaphorically speaking, of course) with this one-two punch of Christmas cheer. The setup for this special is almost MST3K-esque: a short, a film, and a little bit of host facetime in between. It’s always a treat to see the team on camera, even if only briefly.

The special starts out with a bizarre dialogue-less short entitled “The Christmas Tree,” about human-faced fir trees. They get decorated for Christmas! They flirt with lady trees! They die and go to heaven! And if you think that’s vague and strange, wait ’til you see the feature.

Santa’s Christmas Circus with Whizzo the Clown has very little Santa in it. But it has a lot of Frank Wiziarde, the Missouri-based presenter who played Whizzo the Clown from 1954 to 1987. The 1966 film ostensibly features Whizzo taking his young friends to Santa’s workshop via magic carpet, but is largely Whizzo being loud and confusing over footage of shop windows while one child deals with a violent cough.

RiffTrax Christmas Circus! is available to purchase in digital formats, or you can watch it free on their YouTube channel.

Christmas with RiffTrax: Santa’s Village of Madness

^{Source: RiffTrax Website}

MST3K enjoyers may remember the episode covering Santa Claus, K. Gordon Murray’s bizarre redubbing of an already bizarre Christmas film. If you don’t know the film, all you need to know is that Satan tries to turn the children of the world against Santa, but Santa gets help from his friend Merlin to defeat the Prince of Darkness. If somehow you’re craving more of this, Santa’s Village of Madness is for you.

This feature includes three more K. Gordon Murray shorts, bringing back Santa’s bestie Merlin and introducing more festive traditions you may not have heard of. Like the Christmas Skunk! We all know about the Christmas Skunk, right…?

Santa’s Village of Madness is available to purchase in digital formats.

The Star Wars Holiday Special

^{Source: RiffTrax Website}

This 1978 TV movie is already famous (or perhaps “infamous”) in its own right… more so since a certain scene in Skeleton Crew. For some families, braving this bizarre Life Day feature is already a tradition. But you can make it better—or at least more bearable—with the RiffTrax crew on hand.

For the uninitiated, prepare for a fever dream of Star Wars adjacent lore with guest appearances from Bea Arthur, Art Carney, Harvey Korman, Jefferson Starship, and many more. Imagine your typical 70s/80s variety show team-up, except now burdened with strange additional knowledge about the Star Wars universe. An attempt is made to tell a wholesome story of love and togetherness, which kinda gets points. But the RiffTrax’s team’s assists, plus their decision to leave in the commercials, makes this eminently more watchable than it would be otherwise.

The Star Wars Holiday Special is available to purchase in digital formats.

Fun in Balloon Land

^{Source: RiffTrax Website}

Cited by Mike Nelson as his “favorite movie since they started making movies,” Fun in Balloon Land has to be seen to be believed. It appears to be a movie-length advert for Giant Parade Balloons, Inc., with the first part consisting of poorly filmed and acted “romps” through balloon dioramas of familiar stories. The second half is footage of a parade in Philadelphia, narrated by a woman whose narrations get more and more unhinged as the parade continues.

Whatever this is, it’s Garth Marenghi levels of bad upon bad (except not on purpose). The sound is bad, the acting is bad, the camera work is nonexistent, and the kids on set (a warehouse that would be at home in a Backrooms-themed video game) look lost and confused half the time. The RiffTrax team has plenty to work with all throughout the feature, but the parade in the second half is top tier.

Fun in Balloon Land is available to purchase in digital formats.

Santa and the Ice Cream Bunny

^{Source: RiffTrax Website}

Some movies RiffTrax has covered have become entrenched in their whole zeitgeist. Birdemic. The Twilight movies. And, possibly more even than those, Santa and the Ice Cream Bunny. This inexplicable low-budget feature was filmed in and around the Pirates World amusement park in Dania, Florida, and tells the story (sort of) of Santa’s sleigh getting stuck on a Florida beach. After psychically summoning children and animals to help him move to no avail, he tells the kids the story of Thumbelina to teach them the importance of not giving up. After this film-within-a-film eats up most of the movie’s run time, a terrifying mascot named the Ice Cream Bunny arrives in a fire truck to rescue Santa.

Santa and the Ice Cream Bunny itself was made almost singlehandedly by Richard Winer, while the Thumbelina film in the middle was directed by Barry Mahon of Rocket Attack U.S.A. fame. It’s bizarre, inexplicable, and cheaply made. And, of course, RiffTrax makes it amazing.

Santa and the Ice Cream Bunny is available in digital formats. Additionally, you can grab the RiffTrax Live version performed at the historical Belcourt Theatre in Nashville. This performance uses a different print of the film, featuring a retelling of Jack and the Beanstalk instead of Thumbelina.

Featured Image: The Dallas Morning News

Boss Rush Podcast – A Podcast about Video Games

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