Drive -in Monster-rama April Ghouls 2024 KILLER KLOWNS FROM OUTER SPACE and ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK

 

KILLER CLOWNS FROM OUTER SPACE
Classic horror  comedy was the focus of the raffle basket at the Drive-In Monster rama this April. It was a stunner that everyone wanted to win.

The film itself follows a small town where the title clowns arrive and begin  carting off the population. It’s up to a group pf friends to try and start them.

Making only the barest bit of sense, this is really just a bunch of loosely connected set pieces that entertain with their off kilter sense of reality. It’s also a film that has endlessly quotable dialog that I have been subjected to for nearly 4 decades by my brother who seems to have the film memorized.

While I have seen the film numerous times over the years it was delight to see it on a big screen for the first time, more so when an actual killer clown was wandering through the drive in.

ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK
I first saw John Carpenter’s classic film on the night it premiered in a packed house. I’ve seen it any number of times since then. Recently I’ve tended to catch it in the middle when it runs on one of the various cable stations.

The plot has Kurt Russell’s Snake Pliskin  going into a walled off NYC to rescue the President. It goes sideways from the start and Snake has to fight his way out.

Seeing the film from start to finish for the first time in a decade or more I was truly impressed by how well it is constructed. It’s a finely crafted machine that grabs you and holds you attention from start to finish. Other than a kind of rushed ending the film just moves at a perfect pace.  Its so good one has to wonder why Carpenter isn’t considered a greater director by film lovers.

This is truly a great film.

APRIL GHOULS 2024 DRIVE IN MONSTER -RAMA: RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD and DEATHDREAM

 

Last weekend was the April Ghouls version of George and Gene’s Drive-In Monster-rama. This year there wasn’t binding theme for the weekend it was just balls to the wall horror for the first night and Scifi the second. As my brother Joe and I have done since 2020 we have been in the rows enjoying the selections.

As we do every time we go we get there early and spend time talking to the friends we made there, which is pretty much everyone. More and more the weekends are becoming old home week as we see the same faces over and over again.  It’s a semi annual family reunion.

As is typical for us, Joe and I only made through the first two films.  Despite wanting to see MESSIAH OF EVIL and THE CHILDREN, the fact that we stay 25 minutes from the Riverside makes it tough to stay  for three or for films without losing the next day to sleeping in. I could complain that they could shorten the pre-fest screening or in between material but seeing those goodies are just as fun as the features.

RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD assumes that NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD was based on a true incident and that the zombies were created by chemicals and that they were locked up in containers which ended up shipped to a medical supply warehouse. One container is breached and the gas and a zombie escape bringing the dead back to life.

Dan O'Bannon who wrote ALIEN and DARK STAR turns the Romero zombies on their ear with a brilliant horror comedy. Allowing that the logic of some of what happens makes no real sense even on its own terms, RETURN just takes things into the realm of well done horror comedy.  It's  a film that works because O'Bannon gives us characters we like.  For example James Karen and Thom Matthews were so good they brought the actors back in the films that followed.

Seeing the film on the drive-in screen was a blast- in part because the first time I saw the film on opening night, the projectionist spliced the first reel into the print the wrong way so it played upside down and backwards. I always wanted to see the film projected the right way. Also  I enjoyed it because the film is just so much fun.

DEATHDREAM is a film I've seen dozens of times over the years. The story of a grieving mother who wills her dead son back to life, it's a creepy film that leaves the viewer deeply bothered. Moving like the wind its the story of a situation that goes from bad to worse and destroys a family because one member won't accept the truth that one member is gone.

My mother hated the film and how it made her feel...and despite that she still would watch it again and again because it's just that good.

I should say that the restoration by Blue Underground is fantastic and the film has never looked this good before

SCREENINGS AND MORE SCREENINGS!!!!The Japan Society looks at Families, We look to Berlin, NYICFF is on sale, Monster Rama and Mahoning announce titles

Starting this week at the Japan Society’s  latest edition of ACA Cinema Project (Feb. 15-24) opens. This  is focused on  "Family Portrait: Japanese Family in Flux". Starting this week at the Japan Society’s  latest edition of ACA Cinema Project (Feb. 15-24) opens. This  is focused on  "Family Portrait: Japanese Family in Flux". Having seen a number of the films I know what treats await you. Films like TOKYO SONATA from one of my favorite director Kiyoshi Kurasowa, Ozu’s TOKYO TWILIGHT and Hirokazu Kore-eda’s STILL WALKING are of course easy choices.  What you want to do is go beyond those and see  the films by Ryota Nakano who is not well known outside of those who love Japanese cinema. Nakano makes wonderful films that are so good that you kind of wonder why he isn’t better known. I’m thrilled because the series is going to be a chance to catch up on two films that have not played New York. (Look for reviews, hopefully, soon.)

For more information and tickets go here. 

(But seriously this whole series is stacked top to bottom so just buy tickets and go)

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This week also marks the start of the Berlin Film Festival.

As we did last year we will be covering a number of the films playing. Reviews will drop after the embargoes do. 

If I might direct you toward a couple of the best films I’ve seen seen so far:

THE EDITORIAL OFFICE ponders the place of a good man in a corrupt world. It has some stunning sequences that will rock you,

REAS is a wonderful off beat musical recreation of life in an Argentine prison by the people who lived it.  Along the way they form a rock band. It’s just good time with great people,

YOUNG HEARTS is a wonderful film about a first love

RAÍZ  THROUGH   ROCKS AND CLOUDS  is one of the most beautiful films I've ever seen. It's also a hell of a good story too.

And for now that’s it. Pieces will be dropping when I am amble to do so.

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The New York International Children’s Film Festival announced it’s slate this past Wednesday. It’s a killer collection of films and I can’t wait to see them.

Tickets are on sale for members and to the general public tomorrow.  The festival is going to be all over Manhattan for three weekends in March plus at the Jacob Burns Center in Westchester the first weekend and in Sag Harbor the last one.

I’ve already seen ROBOT DREAMS, WHERE IS ANNE FRANK, CHICKEN FOR LINDA and SIROCCO AND THE KINGDOM OF THE WINDS so I know what there is good stuff playing. Note the last two films will be having Q&As with the filmmakers. I’m planning on going to SIROCCO again to meet the filmmaker.(And there are other Q&As – including one with the director of the new film from Cartoon Saloon- so check the website)

My advice is look over the schedule and make some plans. That’s what I’m doing.

I’ll have more soon

Check here for the festival website

And here for the information at Jacob Burns Film Center

And here for Sag Harbor

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They have announced the films for the April Drive in Monsterama at the Riverside Drive-in in Vandergrift PA so start watching their Facebook page for when tickets will go on sale

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The Mahoning Drive in has started to post their shows. First up is the annual WIZARD OF OZ / WILLIE WONKA double feature. There is also a listing for a Thursday night screening of REPOMAN and a weekend of double features of original films and remakes (HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL and 13 GHOSTS)

Details on their webpage.