Has the front page of Netflix got you feeling blah? Looking for a more adventurous cinematic experience?
In RepWatch, film critic and podcaster Will Sloan talks to programmers who bring their personal stamps to Toronto’s thriving repertory cinemas.
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In the 1980s, when mom ‘n’ pop video stores sprang up from coast to coast — and the big movie studios still feared them as competition — independent horror filmmakers rose to the challenge of filling the shelves.
With at-home audiences perennially hungry for horror, all it took was a catchy title and some lurid box art for many low-budget auteurs to score wide video-store distribution and infiltrate thousands of VCRs.
What happens when these weird, dirt-cheap shelf-fillers are projected decades later in an actual movie theatre? Find out at The Rewind Zone, a quarterly series at Paradise Theatre in Bloordale.
Programmed by Yasmina Ketita, the series is an offshoot of her column for the website and YouTube channel of venerable Toronto-based horror-movie magazine Rue Morgue.
Past Rewind Zone screenings have included Black Roses (1988) and Demon Wind (1990). On February 22, Ketita will screen Boardinghouse (1982), a truly demented cinematic dreamscape notable as the first horror film ever shot entirely on video.
We met with Ketita to discuss.
Let’s say I’ve never seen Boardinghouse. Sell me on it.
Boardinghouse lies the dregs and an abyss of schlock that once you delve into, you can never come back sane from.
Every film I show stays with you for the rest of your life. They are unique in their craft. And yeah, there are [B movies] made now, but you know the old saying: they don't make them how they used to.
There is an aesthetic that is appealing to me about these films that just stays with you.
The movies you show were usually released direct-to-video and experienced in very solitary ways the first time around. What does the theatrical experience bring to a movie like Boardinghouse?
A lot of these movies at the time didn’t have wide audiences, but there has been a huge resurgence in fandom of B movies. I have always loved having B movie watch nights with my friends. I think the experience of watching these movies in a room full of people just adds to the entertainment value. It really makes me appreciate them for the effort and love that [the filmmakers] put into them.
I was just recently watching an interview with David A. Prior, who directed a Sledgehammer (1983) and went on to do Deadly Prey (1983) and a bunch of action movies.
He was asked, “Is it shocking to you that people even know about Sledgehammer?”
He was completely surprised that people even knew what it was, and he thanked people for watching it. It’s gratifying to share these people's work that they once thought was forgotten. And it also opens up a window into delving into more research into other B movies that didn't have a proper theatrical release.
Sometimes movies like these are considered “so bad they’re good.” Do you agree with that perspective?
I think that’s based on the filmmaker's intention, because when you're watching a movie that is intentionally “bad,” it doesn’t come off.
That’s how I feel about the Sharknado movies — I don't really see that as entertainment. It's a level of cheese that's less authentic.
There are movies where you know they took it seriously, and that makes it more hilarious. The first time I watched R.O.T.O.R. (1987), they clearly tried to make the character appear as menacing and terrifying, but the fact that this f–king uncle plays this robot and is walking around in his dad bod — it's the funniest thing I've ever seen. But, at the same time, I can also appreciate a lot of the artistic style in the camera work.
“So bad they’re good” — I do agree with that, but there’s a scale, and sometimes they’re so bad they’re just bad and unwatchable.
A movie like Boardinghouse has a lot of imagination and there's something about the shot-on-video quality that gives it a powerful texture. It can be hard to tell where “bad” ends and “good” begins.
The shot-on-video (SOV) aspect — this was the first one to be shot in this format, and it propagated a huge rise of hundreds of films that came after it. That is one aspect that I do love about the B movie genre is the SOV era of horror. Again, it has that feeling of authenticity.
When I look at these films, they're not polished, and that's how I remember my childhood looking.
I also appreciate the amount of effort and love they brought with what little budget they had.
Finally, what are the crown jewels of your VHS collection?
The Burning Moon (1992). That is a very rare tape.
Wow — the German splatter movie?
Yes. I don't know, that might be too extreme to show at the Paradise (laughs). Heavy Metal Summer (1988), that is a very expensive and very rare Canadian cult film… Hard Rock Nightmare (1988), I love the heavy metal horror subgenre. I do have a Paragon Video tape of Boardinghouse… Nail Gun Massacre (1985)… and Truth or Dare? (1986).
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Boardinghouse plays at Paradise Theatre on Saturday, February 22 at 6pm.
Will Sloan is a Toronto-based writer and man-about-town. His two — count ‘em — two podcasts are The Important Cinema Club and Michael & Us.
