By Peter Covino

Entertainment Editor

Reefer Madness, one of the great midnight movies of all time, gets the big screen and Mystery Science Theater 3000 treatment next month at Central Florida and other theaters across the nation

Michael J. Nelson, Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett, alumni of the Mystery Science Theater 3000 and current members of the RiffTrax team, have partnered with NCM Fathom to present “RiffTrax LIVE: Reefer Madness” on Tuesday, Aug. 19. Playing in theaters nationwide at 8 p.m. ET, the live event should be familiar to anyone who has liked the Mystery Science Theater approach to mocking bad cinema.

And Reefer Madness certainly qualifies for historically bad cinema.

Originally screened in 1936, Reefer Madness was actually financed by a church group  (and titled Tell Your Children) and was meant to warn about the dangers of marijuana.

It's intended effect even then must have been minimal with its bad acting and ridiculous script.

The story follows a group of high school students who are mostly innocently lured to an apartment near the high school where marijuana and promiscuous sex go hand-in-hand. There are several out-of-control parties and even a death caused by the evil weed. Filmmaker Dwain Esper even added additional footage after the initial release to include scenes of accidental murder, suicide and vehicular manslaughter.

Reefer Madness reached new heights of popularity in the 1970s, at college campuses and the midnight movie circuit, because it was wild exaggeration on the effects of cannabis made it closer to pure comedy than anything else.

It also should be the perfect target for the RiffTrax gang.

“Reefer Madness is bizarre, paranoid and hilarious, everything we like in a movie,” said Michael J. Nelson, RiffTrax

creator and former host of

the Emmy-nominated, Peabody Award-winning Mystery Science Theater 3000. “I've seen it a hundred times and I still find it funny—and I've never even smoked pot!”

For the first time ever, fans have the chance to hear their own joke used in the live event by submitting a riff for one – or all ten of the short clips available for riffing from Reefer Madness. Riffs may be submitted at www.RiffTrax.com/contest through Wednesday, Aug. 18, at 11:59 p.m. Pacific. One winner for each clip will be selected by the RiffTrax guys and each winner will receive a RiffTrax Swag Bag and an on-screen credit in the event.

“As fans have seen in our Fathom events before, the RiffTrax guys are comedic geniuses and seeing them improvise this so effectively live on 40-foot screens is astounding,” said Dan Diamond, vice president of NCM Fathom. “With its legendary camp, Reefer Madness is the perfect platform for Michael, Kevin and Bill to create yet another hilarious experience for fans in theatres.”

Tickets are available at participating theater box offices and online at www.FathomEvents.com.  Area theaters include Waterford Lakes Stadium 20, Orlando; Merritt Square 16, Merritt Island; and Hollywood in Port Orange.

Mystery Science Theater ran from the 1980s through 1999.