"The Grindhouse
Film Festival" Event Review
by David Rosen (Originally Posted on www.lasvegasroundtheclock.com )
The Grindhouse Film Festival’s Myspace page (www.myspace.com/grindhouse), says, “The monthly Grindhouse Film Festival, presented by Eric Caidin and Brian Quinn at the New Beverly Cinema in Los Angeles, features the screening of rare 35mm prints of cult and exploitation films from the 1960s through the 1980s, many of which have not been publicly shown since the drive-ins and inner city grindhouse theaters faded away twenty years ago.”
That paragraph perfectly sums up the aim of this event, and right away you should know whether or not you’re going to love the experience that these guys provide. A screen full of gore and girls, blood and boobs, monsters and murder (I could probably keep coming up with these all night… but we’ll save that for next time), and a theatre full of rowdy film-geeks ranging from teens to people in their 80s reliving the old days when horror movies weren’t yet watered down by Hollywood. Instead of the nonsensical images of “The Ring” or the endless string of predictable horror remakes such as the new “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” and “The Hill’s Have Eyes,” people go to these screenings to see the genre for what it once was: creative, groundbreaking young filmmakers making movies that hadn’t been made before… They also go to get loaded and yell back at the screen when the damsel in distress makes awfully-written remarks or the bad guy stares eerily into the camera. But that’s all part of the fun.
This past weekend, Tropicana Cinemas hosted the back-to-back screening of “Blood Feast” (1963) and “I Drink Your Blood” (1970). “Blood Feast” is famous for being the very first full-color gore movie. Surprisingly, it really is pretty damn gory! I’m used to hearing about all these gory classics and going back to watch them and they’re really nothing, but I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that in these early days of filmmaking, animals really were harmed in the making of this film. Those guts the deranged Egyptian cook uses to make his feast look pretty authentic and I hope they weren’t human guts.
As an extra treat, Caidin and Quinn brought along Connie Mason, the star of “Blood Feast,” and one-time Playboy Playmate. She reminisced about the making of the movie and her career in films and modeling and took pictures and signed autographs. She looks absolutely thrilled to be reliving an obvious high point in her career.
Also present was the director of “I Drink Your Blood,” David Durston. He shared some insight into the making of the movie, and then answered questions after it was finished. I didn’t really like “I Drink Your Blood,” as much as “Blood Feast,” but it certainly had its moments, like when the Satan-worshipping gang-leader Horace Bones proudly announced, “Let it be known, sons and daughters, that Satan was an acid head! Drink from his cup; pledge yourselves. And together, we'll all freak out!”
It’s all a lot of ridiculous fun. One audience member during the Q&A session said how he remembers his sister taking him to see “I Drink Your Blood” at a drive-in when he was just 6-years-old and he had to watch it through the spaces between his sisters fingers. Getting to see these films, many of which haven’t been released on DVD and only exist on old rotting video-cassettes is a real trip, and a lot of fun, especially on the big screen in a room full of like-minded people. That also brings us to the only problem with the Grindhouse Film Festival - there were only about 60 people!
It still was enough to have a good time, but the larger the crowd the better, both for the fun factor and for Caidin and Quinn’s cause. Buying up these classic films prints and renting out a theatre, as well as getting here from Los Angeles and getting a hotel isn’t cheap. I actually have offered my help in promoting the next event which will be early next year (check the Myspace page for more information), because I’d love to see these come to Las Vegas more often. This was the second one in 2006 (last time they showed “The Astro Zombies” and “The Thrill Killers”), and they hope to do 3 next year if the crowds increase in size. I can’t wait, especially since they take requests and I have a few goodies in mind.