Sunday, April 17, 2011

Movie Marathon at The Castro Theater with Midnite for Maniacs

When Jesse Ficks programs a Marathon for Midnites for Maniacs, he's not skimping out on the celluloid, for sure! Last night's five movie marathon was by far no exception. Not only was the Castro Theater filled with movie fans, popcorn, and various other consumables, but there was a genuine Director and Actor Q & A after the screening of the 80's classic, Monster Squad with Director Fred Dekker and Actor Ryan Lambert, who played Rudy in the movie. That was only the second of the five movies, and by then the theater was raging with excitement from all the amazing trivia questions the Host, Jesse had prizes for. In his tenth year programming Midnites, He's sure gotten a lot of attention for the best of the overlooked movies of the last thirty plus years.

The Night started off with Heavy Metal, a four part adult animated movie with plenty of Metal Music to sink your teeth into. As mentioned before, Monster Squad was next, followed by a 30 minute Q & A with the director and actor. A short break before continuing was needed to stretch the legs and get some food at the nearby pizza joint, Marcello's Pizzaria. From there, the next movie was an amazingly rare print of This is Spinal Tap, which the 35mm print was flown in from France just for tonight's screening! I must mention that all of these movies were shown on the 35mm prints that Jesse had to search high and low to get. None of these were shown on a DVD player. After Spinal Tap, was the first of two movies that I had never seen before tonight: Trick or Treat with cameos by Gene Simons and Ozzy Osborne (in the role of a reverend no less). Rounding out the evening was a movie starring Alice Cooper in the movie Monster Dog.

Be sure to check out all the links to places I've posted for future screenings and other nearby foods, especially if you come out to the next marathon. In two weeks at another location, Jesse's Midnites for Maniacs will be hosting a series of 35mm trailers at the Roxy Theater for a fundraiser to keep that theater open! Ticket prices are as much as you want to donate and there will be an auction for movie memorabilia. At 9:30 there will be a secret movie played from another 35mm print.

This is Drew, signing off for a nap now. 11 hours of movies is great, but exhausting!

Vive Cinema!