Joe Donte doesn’t disappoint. This week’s screening was “Matinee.” John Goodman was a perfect fit for this gimmick selling filmmaker. Based in Key West during the height of the Cuban missile crisis, we are shown a movie within a movie. I love these types of film, and I feel it solidifies a connection that allows you to get invested in basically two story lines at the same time (I really want to see “Mant”). The panic scenes of mobbed grocery stores and women grabbing all the toilet paper they could hold was something that prior to what we as a nation are dealing with, I thought I’d never see. I am not comparing our current pandemic to the cold war, but the instincts shown on film have some similarities.

My favorite scene in this movie was the guy with the fall-out shelter freaking out that the bombs have been dropped. The series of events that lead this to occur were truly comical from the outside looking in. this guy was absolutely frazzled even when we first met him. The fact that he wasn’t seeing the movie and that he was instead in his office awaiting the news to get into his shelter, was the downfall of him. The “rumble rama” and the loud noises led him to believe what he was manifesting into the world was true. He was truly scared, which ironically was a result of Goodman; he can scare people even if they’re not even watching the movie.

I thought that this film represents the gimmicks and the town to town exploiter artists so well. We have obviously seen so many great representations of these artist, but I feel for me, this was the most entertaining and relatable example. I grew up watching shows like “Roseanne,” and I have been excited to see John Goodman act ever since those years. I was so excited leading up to this screening because I knew that John Goodman was going to be the main character. In my opinion he was great, and fit the bill perfectly.

Presentations this week were really great. Once again, I was confronted with a movie I will not watch, and a movie that is one I love watching. The Breakfast club was a movie that I watched around 9^th grade. My high school history teacher was infatuated with it (especially the final still frame of the fist pump to the air) and I am glad that he passed that love on to us. I was never really fully aware of the cult status of this film because I never gave it too much thought. But the presenter proved otherwise, and did a great job.

Dr. Sleep is a movie that I have seen a lot of publicity for, and the trailer still makes me jump. There is something about words appearing on surfaces and not knowing how they got there with any logical explanation that just absolutely creeps me out. Nevertheless, Jeremy did a good job of confirming it’s cult status, along with solidifying my need to not see this movie (Maybe I will someday.)

Don't They Know It's the End of the World?

"Why does the sun go on shining?
Why does the sea rush to shore?
Don't they know it's the end of the world?
'Cause you don't love me anymore"

☢ ☢ ☢ ☢ ☢ ☢ ☢ ☢ ☢ ☢ ☢ ☢ ☢ ☢ ☢ ☢ ☢ ☢☢ ☢ ☢ ☢ ☢ ☢☢ ☢ ☢ ☢ ☢ ☢☢ ☢ ☢ ☢ ☢ ☢☢ ☢ ☢ ☢ ☢ ☢

This week’s screening, Matinee, was surprisingly light-hearted and cute despite being about communism and the Cuban Missile Crisis, and atomic annihilation – easily one of the most enjoyable cult films we watched this semester. I found myself drawn in from the moment it opened, with that nostalgic carnival-esque music and the old-timey, 1960’s vibe. If that wasn’t enough, cut to the black and white educational-type video, giving me major Fallout vibes, complete with atomic bomb talk. And then, later on, que actual music from Diamond City Radio, and you’ve pretty much sold me on the movie. All in all, Matinee was an easy film that evoked nostalgia in a lot of ways as it tried to re-create the experience of being a pre-teen in post WW2 America. I found the similarities between the film’s crisis and the crisis our country is currently facing eerily similiar, so props for syllabus placement because Matinee kind of left more of an impact in some ways, due to that connection.

I also really enjoyed this week’s reading, “Collective Screams: William Castle and the Gimmick Film”, simply because I never really even knew what gimmicks were until I saw the way they were utilized in Matinee and then read about how they’ve actually been implemented in other films we’ve seen this semester.

"Gimmicks attempt to reach out to the audience and incorporate them directly into the cinematic experience, to restore the real or imagined experience of the early cinema spectator."

I find the whole concept of Castle’s gimmicks to be really interesting, the idea of immersing your audience so fully into the film that they’ve given this crazy experience. I loved that Matinee paid homage to Castle and his inventive ideas. When you think about electrical impulses and vibrating seats, the gimmicks that we see in modern cinema kind of pale in comparison, to the point where they’re unrecognizable as gimmicks – or at least a lot less “hands on.” To be fair, it’s hard to produce something that’s truly original and captivating in a world where it seems like everything’s already been done a hundred times over. Still, it’s a little disappointing to think about how impersonal cinema has become today. While Castle’s gimmicks were used to bring in money, he was also an active participant and you get the sense that he did these things because he loved it and because he wanted his audience to have this insane experience, not just because he was looking to make a quick buck.

Just for fun, after looking a little more into gimmicks I found an article talking about one of Castle’s earliest gimmick’s, for his 1958 thriller, Macabre:

“One of William Castle's earliest movie gimmicks was for a thriller called Macabre, in which a father has only five hours to find his kidnapped daughter, who has been buried alive. The film was so scary, Castle claimed, that he was required to offer audiences a $1,000 life insurance policy just in case they died of fright. Movie theaters had people in nurse's uniforms on standby, "just in case." The gimmick worked, and Macabre was a smash hit.“

We’re almost to the end folks. Even after 12 weeks I found myself surprised by yet another cult film. This week we watched the 1993 film Matinee directed by none other than Joe Dante. We have already seen Dante before in this class, way back with his appearance in American Grindhouse. Personally, I know him from Gremlins and Piranha, though I was excited to learn that he took part in the Looney Tunes: Back in Action, one of my favorite movies growing up.

I have to stop and talk about John Goodman. He can make anything funny. Goodman is one of my all time favorite actors/comedians. I fell in love with him while watching the television series Roseanne as a little girl and only grew more in love with him as he took part as Sully in the Monsters Inc franchise, his role as the voice of Hound in the Transformers series and finally, my favorite, his voicing of Pacha in the Emperor’s New Groove and Kronk’s New Groove. John Goodman is a major part of my life growing up, as a lot of my life revolved around the types of younger viewer friendly movies he was in. His voice, face, and name are recognizable in my house, and I can honestly say a lot of actors can say the same. The moment I saw John Goodman’s name on the cast list I knew this film would be a can’t miss. Lawrence Woolsey makes my list of all time favorite John Goodman roles. I was hooked the moment he introduced himself in the introduction of the film.

There is so much one can say about this film about a horror movie. Firstly, I would totally watch Mant and laugh. Secondly, I was laughing through this entire film, which was a little hard to do, because the film is placed during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Their world is in chaos and the every day person cannot do anything about it. It hit a little close to home right now with our quarantine right now because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Although, we are not in all out war, facing nuclear bombs we are sitting and watch the world crumble around us because we can do nothing about it other than stay in doors and far too many people can’t even do that. The scene in the grocery store showed me the most that history repeats itself. On a more positive note. The soundtrack in the background is superb. In the last few films we’ve watched I notice the soundtracks are getting better and better with song choice.

One of our readings this week was “Film As a Subversive Mass Art: Joe Dante at BAM” by Giovanni Vimercati. It discussed the mastermind that is Joe Dante. The part I want to focus on is the section about this week’s film Matinee.

“An exemplary film in this respect is one of Dante’s masterpieces, Matinee (1993), a heartfelt homage to the B-movie impresarios and visionary mavericks, from William Castle to Roger Corman. Our hero, a small-time film distributor with a knack for promotional tricks, releases his latest flick during the Cuban Missiles Crisis. The two seemingly unrelated events will come to closely depend on each other…”

Calling this film a masterpiece is an understatement. I absolutely loved this film. Some parts can be classified as “bad” because of budgets and poor acting, but I think it makes it even better. The film itself is riddled with comedy and is paired with an end of the world scenario. That pairing is what makes Dante a mastermind. He creates the ultimate stories for audiences to experience. And this has to be my favorite work done by him by far.

This week we had two wonderful presentations on The Breakfast Club and Doctor Sleep. I’ve seen The Breakfast Club film before, and I was very excited to hear another’s take on it and how it portrays into the culture and the history cult films in cinema. The Breakfast Club has become very mainstream, at the very least in reference. I really enjoyed the part where we talked about how it was used in the show Victorious. That is one of my favorite episodes from the show. As for Doctor Sleep, my mother said it was amazing. I didn’t watch it when we rented it because I’ve never seen The Shining. After the stellar presentation on it I think I’m going to have to finally take the time to see both. Amazing presentations this week!

We had another great week, this weeks extra long class we delved into the many readings we had this week with great passion, and we had presentations on two noteworthy films. The Breakfast Club, an obvious classic, was fun to hear about, I think I forgot about all the fantastic scenes in the movie. Jermey Spoke about Dr. Sleep, which I am so glad he did! He swayed me and I WILL watch this movie, I appreciate how passionate he was, I was so gear to listen his whole presentation. Props Pals! Though Matinee is definitely not my type of humor I can for sure appreciate it for what its worth, especially after the very informative readings.

Our readings explained cult cinema (and film festivals) in a couple fabulous ways-

“Cult cinema is duplicitous in nature and depending on the context can encapsulate a multitude of different kinds of cinema.”

“Cult is similarly grounded in institutionalization, and is less concerned with universal, professional and bureaucratic structures of belief.”

“Cult programs need to be obscure while delivering fresh cinematic experiences from both past and present and that cannot be found in a regular cinematic context. In the end these programs will help sculpt both underground and often even popular film culture.”

“At the forefront of the development of cult film culture are film festivals that help reveal new, exciting and fresh filmmakers, important foreign spotlights and unearth lost cinematic masters.”

All of the readings were helpful for my understanding and appreciation of Matinee. A part that stood out to me was “An exemplary film in this respect is one of Dante’s masterpieces, Matinee (1993), a heartfelt homage to the B-movie impresarios and visionary mavericks, from William Castle to Roger Corman. Our hero, a small-time film distributor with a knack for promotional tricks, releases his latest flick during the Cuban Missiles Crisis. The two seemingly unrelated events will come too closely depend on each other.” That sums up the movie really well. These readings about Joe Dante and Matinee obviously made reading the Collective Screams article make more enjoyable and understanding. The connection between Joe Dantes reason for making Matinee and his obsession with William Castle very apparent after reading the Collective Screams article. I think the interaction with the audience, either via the screen or for example vibrating seats, when viewing a film are so exciting! Now that is just considered IMAX… and I don’t think anyone really does that anymore.

Gimmick has been prevalent in many of the films we’ve seen or films we have studied and read about. Though it’s only now I’m realizing thats what it was in the film, it’s all making sense now just as Schlegel said it would.

I am excited for next weeks screening, though it sucks its the last weeks of class! I have gained so much from this class, and I was even converted to being a film minor! I look forward to our last week togther!

https://www.ign.com/articles/2018/08/09/the-craziest-movie-gimmicks-eve. This was a quick interesting read.

 “Cult cinema is not singular, but a pluralistic term that is an ideology that manifests itself in audiences, at screenings and in filmmakers.”

A direct quote from Programming Cult: Fantasia Film Festival and Programming Oppositional Taste, this is what our whole class has been about—defining cult cinema. Movies themselves are an experience, an experience people can share together. However, it is not the films themselves the audience who define a cult film. And what if, an audience experienced something so unique, the film itself wouldn’t matter?

Director William Castle understood the importance the movie going experience. Born in LA California in 1914, Castle was known for two things—his B-list horror films and his clever marketing tactics. While he started his career as theater actor, even appearing a few films but never openly credited. His first role as director was for a documentary called Coney Island in 1939. Many have compared Castle to George Melies, the grandfather of film, due to his clever innovation of special effects Castle used in theaters. To quote another reading,

“Castle’s gimmicks attempt to reach out to the audience and incorporate them directly into the cinematic experience, to restore the real or imagined experience of the early cinema spectator.” Castle gained his fame (Collective Screams: William Castle and the Gimmick Film) Just as Melies used special effects in his films, Castle brought those effects directly to his audiences. You didn’t just see a Castle film—you lived it. Castle’s first ‘gimmick’ film was Macabre (1958), in which Castle promised views $1000 life insurance if they died by fright. Castle even got Vincent Price to stare in House on Haunted Hill (1959), a film where Castle would fly a go in the dark skeleton over the audience. Perhaps Castle’s most infamous gimmick was from his film The Tingler. For this show stopper Castle rigged the theater seats to release an electric shock at key moments in the film. In 1967, Castle acquired the rights to book Rosemary’s Baby. However, Castle was denied the position of director for the film, instead acting as the producer.

Castle often considered himself the P.T. Barnum of films. He also modeled himself off of Alfred Hitchcock, and it is said that Hitchcock took inspiration from Castle when directing Psycho. Castle’s legacy can be seen in modern films and even amusement park rides. However, the biggest homage to Castle was the 1993 film Matinee.

What I admired most about Matinee is the accuracy and attention to detail. The fashion, the modern slant, even the record players and TVs capture the feel of the 1960s so perfectly. While the film is listed as a comedy, it doesn’t really deliver. If anything, I found myself smiling a few times, but never outright laughing. There were also several characters in the film that, I feel, were unnecessary. Was Stan really a key character? The guy didn’t do anything, and if you removed him, his girlfriend, and her ex from the film, you’re not losing anything vital. If anything, the weird love-triangle was more a 90s trope than anything. John Goodman was a nice casting choice. While I don’t see the physical resemblance to Castle, Goodman does capture his suave and general air of cleverness. Matinee was a nice change after all our past screenings.  A generally enjoyable film about a key character in film history.

Martinee was an entertaining movie to watch. I enjoyed it. I was basically about a man coming to showcase his movies which comes with never seen before live feathers. The only problem for him was the timing and the aspect that it was something new and people especially the older generation were doubting him and didn’t want to see what he created even when he provided free tickets. The movie had many stories that combined at the end and it was easy to follow. All the kids wanted to see the movie while the teens were not as excited to go and had a time of their lives. Relationships were either created or strengthened. As I might have thought it was wrong timing to show the film, Lawrence Woolsey the filmmaker, though it was the right time and would cause excitement and fear. Havery wanted to get a job and change his ways but was distracted by his young ex-girlfriend who was with Stan. After seeing them in the audience, he lost it. He wanted to get his ex-girlfriend and steal the money and leave town and wanted it to be a dramatic exit so he recited one of his poems which he seemed so “good” at. That part was funny. I really enjoyed Sandra’s character. She was too smart for her own good and didn’t care what others thought. I watched the beginning half with my 9 year sister and she made some comments on how they were acting the same way of stacking up on supplies just like how people are now about the coronavirus. Some ladys were grabbing tissues in the movie and she was like “look at her taking all the toilet tissue”. My little sister is so funny. I might let her finish the movie on her own maybe because she was enjoying it. My favorite quote was “Grownups are making it up as they go along, just like you do” said by the filmmaker and that is so true.

In the article “Film As a Subversive Mass Art: Joe Dante at BAM” takes about Joe Dante’s success in capturing an audience with his new inventive way of making cinema different and scary. “Turning a commodity of industrial Christianity, the Xmas movie, into an anti-consumerist satire without losing popular appeal was not an easy thing to pull off.” Although parents were skeptical of the films, the younger generation were able to experience something new and different and watch it evolve before their eyes. The article “Collective Screams: William Castle and Gimmick Film” talks about the importance of the relationship of the screen and audience. Cinema of attraction never died but became dormant. 3D movies were made to restore newness of technologies but was a replica of an old invention that died down and more. Things that are done to get the attention of are promotional stunts, Street dancing and live props that bring the movies to life and creates an unforgettable experience that leave you wanting more and more like how in Matinee the mom was disappointed that her son could not watch the movie because they were not having a second screening and that was all the son was talking about.

BY SARAH BATY

This week’s screening I started to enjoy it right in the middle I think! The beginning part was kinda boring I wasn’t giving it my full attention and then it hit around the middle and I was like okay this is kinda good. By the end I think it won me over. It was a cute and chaotic movie. Those two adjectives shouldn’t really go together, but I feel like they are accurate.

Our reading Collective Screams: William Castle and the Gimmick Film, discusses Castle and his nicknames as the “The Abominable Showman” and “The Master of Gimmicks.” It stated how Castle said he modeled his career after PT Barnum which to me is a very interesting role model but to each their own! It describes Castle’s persona as “straddling the diegetic and nondiegetic space” and refers to one instance when he made his entrance by popping out of a coffin. Moving on to his films, I enjoy the line “Castle’s gimmicks attempt to reach out to the audience and incorporate them directly into the cinematic experience.” I think that that is something special. To want to incorporate the audience into the experience was such a cool idea. I have been to a movie at an amusement park or something when I was younger that I now realize was a gimmick film. It was a short film about dinosaurs and it had the seat buzzers, air blowing, and something in the floor that made it feel like the animals were running right over your feet. I thought the experience was amazing and terrifying (my sister found it a little more terrifying, my father had to take her out she wouldn’t stop crying) but for me I loved it! Something it didn’t have was the smell-o-vision. Maybe they could have released the smell of the trees and grass or something!

The presentations were so good! They always are. Starting with Doctor Sleep it looked SO intriguing and I low key want to watch it but I would have to watch The Shining first and I am TERRIFIED OF THE SHINING. One day I will watch The Shining I will, it is a classic and I feel like I am missing out. One part from the presentation that I found to be the most interesting was how they remastered scenes from The Shining and put them in Doctor Sleep. That’s just sick af and I know how good we are at technology now but it doesn’t mean I am not still surprised every time we do something DOPE. One last little thing about Doctor Sleep was I liked the quote from Danny Torrance, “our beliefs don’t make us good people. Our actions do.” That really stuck with me!

Next presentation was The Breakfast Club which is obviously a classic. I am more of a sixteen candles gal but my sister LOVED this movie. It’s one of my dad’s favorites and when he showed us it my sister was obsessed and we watched it constantly. This movie’s influence is just absolutely insane. Bunches and bunches of television shows and movies redo iconic scenes and lines from this movie. It’s influence will continue on for a very long time.

Tonight’s film is Matinee, and to be honest if I never heard him say this title, I would have read it as manatee. Nothing against manatees, but I do not think a film about them would be as good as this one was. This was a fun film and I would have loved to go see a film in a theater like this again. When I was younger, I went to Disney and saw a play on Honey I Shrunk the Kids where they called it Honey, I Shrunk the Audience. In this theater they had similar effects like cold air being blown in and the feeling of bugs running by your legs. This was cool and a thing would do again. I could see a theater like this being popular, but not being an everyday thing. I think it would be cool for classic hits like Titanic or another popular film people would love to see again, but with more. I could imagine Paranormal Activity being cool. Having it pull on you leg or feeling of a cold spirit enter the theater.

The film was a lot of fun and how can you not love John Goodman. We said it once, but he is just an American icon. I mean you see him, and you just go “aw I love John Goodman. I think it is due to him play Scully in Monsters Inc. and many of us saw that growing up and brings back memories of our childhood. At least that what I think or when he plays some of his father rolls like in Roseanne or even in Flintstones. No matter what role he plays, I seem to just like him and his personality. I have yet to view a film with him that I do not like.

We talked about the different film interactions for the movies. Anna talked about a three-choice option to decide how the film will go like Black Mirror did on Netflix. The idea of pick your path is cool, but I would get frustrated if I went to see a different version of the film and people vote similar paths. It makes me think back to high school and the books that let you pick your story and you are jumping all over the book searching to find your way. Makes me miss the old days more than I currently do right now, but back to a simpler time.

The zoom call was different and nice to see everyone. I wish my internet connection were better and could keep the camera on. I could get it to work for a little and then it would cut out, so I just gave up. I loved seeing everyone’s backgrounds and there were some good one. I tried, but my shirt was much darker than my background. I think Pat beat out Professor Schlegel for best background. The hallway from The Shining was good but seeing Pat on a beach with the hat was fall down funny and then he had the two Bryan Cranston and I lost it.

Once we were done talking on Matinee, we moved on to my favorite part of cult movie presentations. First, we kicked off with Dr. Sleep. This is a film I want to see, but I have issues with movies that are this long. I could convince myself to watch The Shining and then move onto this film. It looks very cool and provides something I wish more films have, an aftermath. We get to see all the craziness in the first, but never got the aftermath until now. I think I will like this one because I am a big fan of Haunting of Hill House. That series sucked me in and made me want more and I can see how this film will do it. Doing a film this is so new, it much have been hard to pitch some of the cult aspects.

Then we moved onto Yassa’s presentation of The Breakfast Club, which is just an instant cult film. I mean who has not watched this movie and wished they could be apart of this one. I am a big fan of John Hughes and I am glad that Yassa talked about all his films because each one is an instant classic when I think of it. If this film came out now, I can’t imagine the number of senior photos with kids walking past the goal post and raising a fist in the air as they have successfully made it past high school. What an awesome film and I am glad that someone presented it.