The commercial and critical success of Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill, Death Proof and most recently Inglourious Basterds has seen a rebirth of the exploitation film genre. Exploitation films are characterised by large amounts of violence, nudity, sex, bucket loads of gore, and were last seen on such a commercial level in the 1960s and 70s. Along side the rise of exploitation cinema has been the resurrection of midnight movie screenings, traditionally the home of exploitation, and other cult, films. Originating in New York in the 1970s, these screenings of non-mainstream, often hard to find, films, encouraged audiences to attend repeat viewings of the films on show and helped films that had previously been classed as flops to gain a new, cult following. The most notable films to gain reappraisal thanks to the midnight movie circuit were films such as the Jamaican reggae classic The Harder They Come, the ultimate cult classic musical The Rocky Horror Picture Show and the seminal, but on first release misunderstood, arthouse classic Eraserhead by David Lynch. As well as New York these midnight screenings occurred around the world, including London, most notably at the Scala in Kings Cross, which ran screenings into the early 90s until money troubles forced the cinemas closure. But now the midnight movies are back in London in a big way, screening both cult classics and modern exploitation films, it certainly isn’t what you’ll get at your local multiplex, but that’s half the fun.
Cult film enthusiast, regular midnight movie attendant and sometime host of midnight movies, under the Cinema Transgressions banner, Lee Threlkeld sees the midnight movie screenings separation from the mainstream multiplex’s as one of the great appeals. ‘Over the past few years, particularly in London, there has emerged a number of independent film screenings that show alternative, rare films that give people a healthy, and entertaining, alternative to the multiplex.’ Organiser of one such film society, Cigarette Burns, Josh Saco, agrees that the chance to see something different to the traditional blockbuster is part of the events success, ‘these screenings offer an alternative to what people see as the tired old Hollywood machine.’ Head of Midnight Movies, a group who run events at, among other places, the Curzon Soho, Michael Pierce also credits a large part of the appeal of the events because ‘they offer a sense of communal activity and a late night attraction in places dominated by pubs and clubs.’
One of the great builders of this sense of community can be seen with the screenings, such as Midnight movies events, which encourage their audiences to attend in fancy dress, Michael believes this ‘shows that cinemas can become spaces for play and fantasy, and interaction certainly. Our screenings rely on audience enthusiasm and by becoming different characters, people start to lose their inhibitions.’
As the name suggest the majority of these screenings start late, making it tough for non-Londoners to attend, although Cigarette Burns run screenings on the first Monday of every month at the mucky pup pub in Islington, at a more reasonable 7.30pm as well as late night events roughly every second Saturday at the Rio cinema in Dalston. But if you’re a non-Londoner who wants to attend a late night screening Michael
Pierce offers this advice, ‘you could always see if anyone going to the event will put you up by using our Facebook groups and being as friendly as possible! But I think if you aren’t able to stay over in London, and you want to attend midnight movies, check your local independent cinema and see if they are interested in running the events. We started off with no budget but we had the support of our cinema, and from there it grew and grew.’ And this is one of the other great attractions of these events, no one runs cult midnight movie events expecting to get rich, they run them for the love of the films they show. Josh from Cigarette Burns has no doubt that these events are not a quick cash in, from people looking to make money from this new cool trend.‘If people want to be short sighted and think that this has just suddenly popped up out of nowhere, then so be it. But late night or underground cinemas have been around for years. Its not like it went away, it may change form several times, but it’s always been there. I, personally, will continue to piss money against a (cinema) screen for the foreseeable future.’
There you have it, unlike mainstream cinema and the multiplexes, the midnight movies are run by people who love films, for people who share their passion of cult films. If the idea of seeing such cult gems as Ms.45, Bronx Warriors and Daughters of Darkness, along with modern cult classics such as Battle Royale, Rubber and Amer, is your idea of a great night out then these are events for you. Events that will amuse, delight, baffle and entertain you in equal measure, full of passionate fans and great characters. From personal experience I know you’ll meet people as diverse as University lecturers, hardcore film fans, legendary cult film writers, and directors, and even a drag queen or two. Quite simply there is no film screening like a midnight movie screening, something film fan Geoff Corrin notes, ‘even though it is great to be able to watch these films at home, the opportunity to view these films on a big screen with an audience of friends and like minded people is fantastic, and unlike anything I’ve experienced before. These screenings are such an amazing experience that words don’t do them justice, to understand how great these events are, you really must attend one.’
