'RiffTrax Live: Sharknado' looms in theaters Thursday; biting satire

For pop-culture quipsters who like to smirk at bad movies (and who doesn't?), Thursday's inventive redux of campy TV flick "Sharknado" looms as a major, open-jawed epic event.
The crew behind former cable franchise "Mystery Science Theater 3000" -- which was a chuckleheaded delight as it riffed on bad old movies while it screened them -- will apply their witty touch to the ridiculous 2013 Syfy channel film that became an amusing rage on social media.
"RiffTrax Live: Sharknado" will be shown in 650 cinemas at 8 p.m. Thursday, live from the
State Theater in Minneapolis; a second taped showing will be July 15 at 7:30 p.m.
Local theaters include Branford 12 on East Main Street, Waterbury's Brass Mill 12 on Union Street, North Haven 12 on Universal Drive and Connecticut Post 14 in Milford. Tickets run $10.50-$12.50.
Now, if you haven't seen "MST3K," it may seem bizarre and unappealing to listen to quipsters filling in the pauses in a movie theater; after all, the chatter of local pinheads will ruin a movie for anyone nearby (and has led to violence).
But the patter of Michael J. Nelson, Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett is like sitting next to a few of your funniest buddies, who punctuate each absurd moment in a stupid movie with an amusing aside (or, even funnier, a running gag).
The actual Syfy channel movie franchise is meant to be B-movie schlock, of course, often with two incongruous words crammed together ("Dinocroc," "Piranhaconda" or "Sharktopus," if not "Mansquito"). But in any movie, there are actors taking themselves seriously, so there's always room for an "Airplane"-like punch line.
The plot of "Sharknado," which caused such a stir that it has led to a Syfyy sequel premiering July 30, is this: Huge water spouts scoop up vicious sharks from the ocean and hurl them onto land (Los Angeles, thankfully, where so many bad movies are conceived). It's scientifically impossible, of course, in so many ways, that you can laugh it as you wince at its abundant gore. 
Beach owner Fin (Ian Ziering, "Beverly Hills 90210," who has family from New Haven), bartender Nova (Casie Scerbo, "Make It Or Break It") and local drunk George (John Heard, "Home Alone") team up with Fin’s ex-wife (Tara Reid, "Scrubs") to investigate "the ecological nightmare that has sharks swimming through the streets of Los Angeles and falling from the skies."
The silhouetted characters of RiffTrax should add mightily to those laughs.

Tickets for "RiffTrax Live: Sharknado" are available at participating theater box offices and online at www.FathomEvents.com.