Twisted Flicks: Truly bad movies meet improvisational comedy

EVERETT — B-movies finally get the revisions they so desperately need in the form of Twisted Flicks improvisational comedy.

The B must stand for bad because the movies picked by the Jet City Improv offshoot are utterly terrible cinema.

Take the recent screening of “Leprechaun 4: In Space.” The fourth installment of the Warwick Davis-starring series about the devious, lecherous, hyper-violent Irish fairy of lore has a 0 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on six reviews. Among the long list of comedic absurdity is that, for some reason, the eponymous sprite is on a different planet. Anyone thinking that maybe “Leprechaun 3” ended with an “Avengers”-esque end-credits teaser of the diminutive mischief-maker being launched into outer space would be dead wrong.

So we have the treasure-hoarding monster on another planet, then (rather grotesquely) inside another person, then in a spaceship, and finally wreaking havoc across said spaceship. Oh, and there’s a hybrid human-scorpion-tarantula creature.

All of this insane action is dubbed over live by a Jet City Improv crew.

“I love old B-movies,” said Mike Christensen, one of Jet City Improv’s co-founders and the lead man behind Twisted Flicks. “I love making people laugh, and I love improv. It’s all of that together.”

Twisted Flicks has been around about two decades. It grew from an in-house production in Seattle to include screenings a few years ago at the Kirkland Arts Center and Historic Everett Theatre.

Don’t get it confused with the much beloved “Mystery Science Theater 3000,” the TV show where hosts make fun of the movie as they watch it with you. That’s a show with production and editing. The shows’ audiences have grown steadily, and a group of my friends eagerly awaiting the next Twisted Flick has grown along with it.

“We’ve gathered new friends every time, and every new friend has loved it and wants to share with others,” said Taylor Johnston of Everett.

To make the cut, all of the Twisted Flicks movies must have PG ratings. Christensen said the movies can’t take themselves seriously, need “pretty good” production value, a “fairly ridiculous” premise, and lots of characters and sets. Some shows have had up to 60 speaking parts for the dozen or so improv members.

The crew chooses a movie, assigns characters and roles, watches it on their own, and comes together for a rehearsal before the show.

“We’re literally creating a whole new soundtrack for the movie, the dialogue and the music,” Christensen said.

All of this made for a vibrant what-will-they-say-next energy when I popped in for the “Leprechaun” show in April.

“I knew the shtick of B-grade movies,” said Doug Evans of Everett. “They have a certain feel, they have a certain budget, which is kind of the appeal, that they have a shoestring budget. They get to have more fun with it.”

Two of the funniest bits that I still laugh about have stuck with me.

One was the opening song to the tune of The Cranberries’ “Zombie.” It’s probably one of those things that if I explained it in detail, the humor would be lost. But if they can bring that level of laughter in the first minute of one show, be confident they can do it plenty of other times and during lots of their performances.

The second was the use of audience suggestions for some of the characters’ backstories. One of the characters was a teacher. There was a lot of dialogue about class size, salaries and other shared interests in academia, which was a great running joke to see a space marine officer with a cyborg head waxing about overcrowded classes.

After the pre-show audience suggestions and jokes, the screening is intended to be a performance. That means people in the audience should keep most of their noise to laughter. This isn’t a screening of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.”

“Most people, once the movie starts, they know their job is to sit back and enjoy the show,” Christensen said.

An improv veteran with decades to his craft, Christensen said the days of feeling nerves are long gone. But other members of his troupe have given Twisted Flicks a shot and found it a poor match.

“I’ve had a lot of improvisers who’ve tried and just cannot do it,” he said. “There’s a huge amount of control you have to give up to dub a character on screen.”

Similarly, go and give up control of your disbelief and have a few laughs at the expense of some truly bad movies.

Ben Watanabe: bwatanabe@heraldnet.com; 425-339-3037; Twitter @benwatanabe.

If you go

Next up for Twisted Flicks, a live comedic re-dubbing show over B movies, is “The Green Slime” on June 23 at the Historic Everett Theatre, 2911 Colby Ave., Everett. Doors open at 6:30 p.m., show is at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $20 available at the door and online.