#AtoZChallenge Edgewood Studios

Vermont is known for a lot of things:  Ben & Jerry's ice cream, maple syrup, autumn colors, and Bernie Sanders among other things.  What you probably don't think of it for is making movies.  But starting in the 90s there was a studio there called Edgewood Studios making cheap action and horror movies.

Time Chasers:  This is one of the few movies that has the "honor" of being featured on both MST3K and Rifftrax.  The Rifftrax version was a live show that used a restored version of the film from the director that actually looks a lot better than the MST3K version.

Both versions feature the same ludicrous plot of a mulleted college professor who creates a time machine using his small airplane and a Commodore 64 computer.  He stupidly sells the technology to a big corporation that immediately starts using it for no good and so the professor and a local reporter have to go back in time to put right what once went wrong.

The movie was shot on the cheap and looks it as "the future" doesn't have any flying cars or jetpacks or anything like that; it pretty much looks like the early 90s.  The apocalyptic future they use only a crummy computer drawing to "show" it; they couldn't even afford a matte painting, I guess.  The head of the evil corporation's office is clearly the top of a stairwell in a public library or community center or something.  I mean if you're the CEO of a huge, evil company why would your office have no walls?  And be in the middle of the building?  Geez, you couldn't rent a corner office for a couple of hours?  Or even a motel room?

There is definitely a corny charm about the whole thing though.  Since it was on both MST3K and Rifftrax, which is better?  The movie itself is better on Rifftrax.  The quality is better and they didn't have to edit anything for time.  The MST3K version edits out the best part where the time traveler and the reporter go to the local airport to rescue their time machine and are stopped by this goofy guard who keeps telling them it's a "gubbment installation."  One of the riffers says, "Don't mess with da gubbment" and it's just hilarious.  But the MST3K version does have a funny series of intermission sketches where Crow T Robot goes back in time to convince young Mike not to take the job that ends up with him being stuck in space.  That leads to him becoming a rock star who's killed on stage and so he's replaced on the Satellite of Love by his grumpy, chain-smoking, hard-drinking brother Eddie.  One whole section of the movie then is riffed by Eddie and the bots, which is fun as a change of pace.  So either one is good.

Pressure Point:  This came a few years after Time Chasers.  It features a gubbment agent who is framed for murder and imprisoned.  His old handler helps him escape from the world's most escapable prison that apparently only has one phone.

Then he goes to a small town to track down some arms dealer; one of the guy's henchmen is played by the hero from Time Chasers even!  And then the gubbment agent has to foil a plot to blow up Montpelier Washington DC.  It's not quite as goofy as Time Chasers, but still a pretty cheap action movie.

Icebreaker:  For this 2000 movie Edgewood Studios brought in some B-list talent with Sean Astin playing the hero and a shaved-head Bruce Campbell playing the villain.  Stacy Keach co-stars as Sean Astin's future father-in-law.

The movie starts with a plane carrying stolen radioactive material going down near a ski resort in Vermont.  Bruce Campbell and his crew go to retrieve the stolen material so he can blow shit up because he's dying and thus will have "no more birthdays."

Sean Astin is a ski patrol guy at the resort who stumbles across the plot and has to foil it to save the day.  There's better acting talent, but it's still not much better made than Time Chasers or Pressure Point.  It is funny to think that Sean Astin did this right before all the Lord of the Rings movies; this is clearly what got him the part!  Um, probably not.

There are a couple more Edgewood movies in this challenge to be included on other entries, so stay tuned!