News and Events
Mondo Macabre
I was meaning to post this earlier but I just got busy and it slipped my ever enfeebled mind. RM writer, and our resident soundtrack expert, Mark R. Hasan has a sharp film blog called Mondo Mark, on which he posted a Q&A with Audra and I about the CineMacabre movie night featuring Bava’s Bay of Blood (love that BoB pic he posted and I stole too). If you want to know a little more about the behind-the-scenes of the movie nights, or you just want to read an astute cinema blog, click here.
And for everyone wondering, we’re still working on a film for January. Don’t forget, we take December off to snowboard with the Yeti.
As someone who’s trying to get retro screenings going in an even smaller market (Edmonton), I really appreciated the behind the scenes look at what goes into a Cinemacabre event. We have a wonderful old theatre here (you may remember this Dave – the Odeon theatre on Jasper Ave) that’s sitting vacant because the costs of getting the place up to snuff are close to half a million. Seems like people are more content to see claptrap at the multiplex than something classic at a great venue.
Still, events like the Cinemacabre screenings give me hope!
Cheers,
Batboy
PS – Who were the “ass folks” who came out and had a blast?
Wow, I’m not sure where those ass folks came from but, let’s hope they’re wearing pants!
Hilarious typo… or something.
And as far as screenings go in Edmonton, from my experience volunteering at The Metro and knowing various programmers around town, it’s not the kind of city that supports genre stuff enough to open that kind of theatre. The Princess used to play all kinds of cool stuff before they were bought out by Magic Lantern in the ’90s and then went more arthouse, which was probably a business decision.
For about four months in the ’90s the Odeon re-opened as a second-run cinema and it was a big failure. The location is the worst part. Your best bet is to try to program a regular night at The Metro, Garneau or Princess, if you can convince somewhere there it’s a worthwhile idea.
One Halloween I did a special event at the Metro where we screened a print of Martin and NotLD and had people come in costumes, gave out candy and a bunch of prizes, including an original Martin theatrical poster. We promoted it a lot, and although the people who came had a blast, it was still so-so turnout. But another time when the Metro screened
Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! it sold out completely.
So, in short, proceed with caution.
You just reminded me – Metro screened Grindhouse in September and from what I hear, it was a sellout. Apparently they had to bring benches in from the Citadel to accomodate more people.