The Creeping Terror (17 Sep. 1994)

Mike and the 'bots watch The Creeping Terror, with its infamous walking-carpet monster, and parody Love, American Style.

Director:

Jim Mallon

Writers:

Joel Hodgson (creator), Michael J. Nelson (head writer),

Stars:

Trace Beaulieu, Kevin Murphy, Jim Mallon

Cast

Episode cast overview:
Trace Beaulieu	...	Crow T. Robot / Dr. Clayton Forrester
Kevin Murphy	...	Tom Servo
Jim Mallon	...	Gypsy
Frank Conniff	...	TV's Frank
Michael J. Nelson	...	Mike Nelson
Mary Jo Pehl	...	Magic Voice

Storyline

Dr. Forrester and TV's Frank do their laundry as they force Mike and company to watch The Creeping Terror, a jaw-droppingly bad horror flick about a space alien that looks like a large carpet with people under it. Mike and the 'bots survive the schlock by mocking everything from the ponderous and unnecessary narrator to the pointless scene of a mother taking her baby's temperature. Meanwhile, Tom Servo pretends to be a security guard impeding Mike Nelson's way around the Satellite of Love. Crow makes a flag for the ship. Gypsy suggests a parody of the TV series, Love, American Style. Mike plays "Creeping Terror" music on his makeshift stereo system. Tom Servo willingly finds out what it's like to get swallowed.

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Plot Keywords:

reference to k.d. lang | madman

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Genres:

Comedy | Sci-Fi

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

17 September 1994 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Eden Prairie, Minnesota, USA

Company Credits

Technical Specs

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Quotes

Mike Nelson: [In response to the creature's "eating" method"] Hey, if you wanna help me out by climbin' in?

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Connections

References The Monkees (1966)

User Reviews

The infamous walking-carpet monster provides some of the funniest material in the series; but the sketches are bad and the movie is just too infuriating

Tom Servo (Kevin Murphy) pretends to be a security guard impeding Mike Nelson's way around the Satellite of Love. Dr. Forrester (Trace Beaulieu) and TV's Frank (Frank Conniff) do their laundry as they force Mike and company to watch "The Creeping Terror" (1964), a jaw-droppingly bad horror flick about a space alien that looks like a large carpet with people under it; the monster's ludicrously bobbing head looks like a Venus flytrap. The creature moves like a snail through molasses, but catches and eats most of the characters, who seem unaware of an activity called running away. Mike and the 'bots survive the schlock by mocking everything from the ponderous and unnecessary narrator to the pointless scene of a mother taking her baby's temperature. Meanwhile, Crow (voice of Trace Beaulieu) makes a flag for the Satellite of Love; Gypsy (Jim Mallon) suggests a parody of the TV series, "Love, American Style"; Mike plays "Creeping Terror" music on his makeshift stereo system; and Tom Servo willingly finds out what it's like to get swallowed.

The monster is easily one of the three or four most laughable in the history of horror films, and provides for some of the funniest moments in the MST3k series. The trouble is, "Creeping Terror" is, to quote Leonard Maltin's "Movie and Video Guide," "bad on every conceivable (and inconceivable) level." Watching the shamelessly immobile scenes in "Manos: Hands of Fate" aren't nearly as infuriating as seeing this lugubrious parade float creep, creep, creep, creep, creep, creep, creep its way to people who just stand there. "Manos" was pathetic, but "Creeping Terror" is maddening. The parody of "Love, American Style," and the sketch where Mike listens to the dance music from the film, are both boring; they help prevent this memorable episode from being one of the best.