The screening this week was Joe Dante’s 1993 film Matinee. The film takes place during the cold war, specifically the Cuban missile crisis on key west. A low budget b movie horror film director that resembles and references William Castle is in town getting ready to scare the audience on the matinee screening of his new film Mant!, as well as watching this event unfold the story follows young teens navigating this world of paranoia as they prepare to see the film. It was a super good movie which I enjoyed SO MUCH! First, the whole nuclear end of the world looming fear is eerily similar to what we are all experiencing now I felt, although it is not a bomb, it still is a very uncertain time, many people are fearful or at least uncomfortable, it is a shared experience just like the people in this film mentioned. Secondly, I love films that deal with the cold war, specifically the red scare, especially ones made during that time, for example, 1956s Invasion Of The Body Snatchers or 1958s The Blob. This era in history is so fascinating to me, it was a time of complete conformity despite thinking the conformity that came with communism was the ultimate evil. It was a period of extreme hypocrisy that always fascinates me. Sandra calling everyone out In the beginning was a moment I adored, she and her family seemed to be some of the only people really forming their own thoughts. “She must be a commie” one of the young boys said. The third thing I loved about this movie was the Ode to William Castle. In one of the reading this week the author talks about how Castle genuinely pulled out all of the stops to scare his audience, he encouraged them to scream, jump, panic, that was the ultimate goal. He pulled out so many stops, reminiscing the early days in the film when it was more than just viewing, it was almost a theatrical experience. He is quoted from his autobiography after experiencing a particularly dramatic screening of Les Diaboliques saying “I want to scare the pants off of America, when that audience gave that final collective scream, i knew that’s where I wanted to take them, only i want louder screams! More horror! More excitement!” So Castle went on to create Gimmick films. In these films, there would be some sort of prank or gimmick to trick the audience into getting even more terrified! In his film which is the only film by Castle I’ve seen, (although after this week’s readings and film i intend on watching more) House on Haunted Hill, he had plastic skeletons floating around. In his film The Tingler the chairs vibrated, a gimmick directly used by the director in Matinee. I mean this dude was so into it, its admirable and was so exciting to learn about, I ended up doing quite a bit of research on my own. Overall seems like a pretty cool dude to me, the pics don’t lie.

After learning more about Castle and then watching the screening I though it did such a good fun job at capturing his essence and what he did, Woolsey really wound his crowd up, from the vibrating seats and the Mant costume he really showcased the fun and excitement that came with Gimmick films.

This screening and these readings might have been my favorite of the year. Castle and his films were so campy and exciting, I can totally see how John Waters wished he was him, he surely knew how to put on a show.

This week we watched a classic homage-type film to the late horror director William Castle played by John Goodman as Lawrence Woolsey. It was full of great 60s swinging songs and hilarious cold war jokes. The film plays tributes to the efforts of Castle, who created sensationalism around films such as the Tingler beyond just the 2D viewing experience, and the questionable ploys made by the film industry to engage viewers. Trying their best to remain optimistic in the shadow of nuclear annihilation, every young person in town congregates at Key West’s classic balconette Strand theater to be entertained and distracted by the atomic horrors promised by Lawrence Woolsey’s new science-fiction film Mant! It’s a film about movie magic, and how it was a necessity that invested in the future of film making and experiences. 

The film is irrefutably hopeful and an upbeat film surrounded by the looming reality of nuclear threat and without a doubt a time-capsulizing piece; it was structured to be an outside the box film, but one not likely bound for blockbuster status. Dante’s unique thought was to bring the film out in restricted access to art filmhouses. He trusted positive word-to-mouth may help make a buzz, and was sure that this film – one intended for cineastes as a top priority – would be met with great first impressions. In any case, in 1993 Universal was a corporate titan that dropped their movies to nation release for a fast quantifiable profit. Tragically, Matinee was too separate a film to interest a mass crowd, completing a disillusioning box office fail for its first week of release. 

The film is both a reverence and a spoof of the various “techniques” studios utilized so as to draw in more individuals to the cinema. These days, computerized 3D is the only comparison we can make, yet the innovation of making a film seeing encounter would be totally unequaled during the 60s, particularly B-motion pictures introduced to be a spectacle. Setting off to the theatre was an occasion, and individuals enjoyed feeling like they were getting all the value for their money. For this movie, literally a bang for their buck. The film focuses on how the looming national threat furthers the need for distraction, and consumption of media. It paints Woolsey out to be a sort of unsung patriot by providing an optimistic spectacle despite the paranoia. In the article Film As a Subversive Mass Art: Joe Dante at BAM, Giovanni Vimercati writes “The bunker where everyone hides from irrational, manufactured fears is blown apart in Matinee to liberate the spectator from its own passivity.” 

 

John Goodman is excellent as Lawrence Woolsey. He is, most importantly, a salesman, yet one additionally gets the feeling that he truly gets a kick out of engaging individuals and making them shout. It’s the sort of character that could’ve been played as silly, over-the-top and overwhelming, yet fortunately Goodman accomplishes something somewhat more intriguing. His Woolsey is a serene kind of quality, a man who doesn’t lose his cool during desperate circumstances, and who appears to think about the individuals who pay great cash to see his shows. It’s a shockingly human translation of a character who occupies a capitalistic gimmicky world.

While the gimmicks of Hollywood producers intend for profit, but some prioritize the enjoyment and amazement of its audiences for the betterment of entertainment. William Castle was undoubtedly one of these creators, and deserves to be recognized for his contributions to cinema experience. I liked the film, it was quite the feel-good-amid-global-crisis that helped me get through this week. I love John Goodman and I spent a whole hour and half squinting at Cathy Moriarty before I remembered she’s in Forget Paris! So now I want to watch that. Thanks Dr S!

This week’s screening of Matinee was great. I loved every minute of it and I especially love John Goodman’s description of going to the movies. The way he described it is exactly how I feel about any movie I see, whether that be a horror movie, action movie, drama, or any kind of movie. By watching a movie theater in a movie and reacting to the first showing of a movie, that makes me miss going to the first showing of a movie and having an active audience that is as invested in the movie as I am. I just want to go to a movie theater again and be a part of a crowd, but as of this moment, we don’t know when it will even be possible to go back to the movie theaters. Other than that, I really loved this movie and the humor that was in. I especially laughed out loud at the scene where everyone was panic buying and you had the one person taking all of the toilet paper. For this week’s readings I really connected to the reading “Collective Screams: William Castle and The Gimmick Film” by Murray Leeder and that is because while I was reading it, I thought of an old film that had little gimmick to it. 

Now, when I was first reading the article, for a gimmick film I thought of films like Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over, Avatar, and also Spy Kids 4-D: All the Time in the World. But, there was one film that I thought of that no film that I can think of, has ever tried to replicate its’ unique gimmick. The film that I am talking about is the 1985 Clue. 

I don’t know if people have heard of this film, because it is a cult film, but this film did something that no other film has tried to replicate since. This was the first ever film to be based off a board game and I have to say it is a pretty good one. This film was so unique when it was released in the 80s that it has probably one of my favorite gimmicks that hasn’t been done again since the film was released, not that I know of. What I am talking about is the film had three different endings that were released into theaters. Each ending is different and at the time, nobody knew what theater had what ending, so eventually theaters started to advertise which ending their theater had by saying that they either had ending A, B, or C. I would have loved to have been alive when this film was released so that I could experience this gimmick and try to see all three endings. When the film was released to physical media, the studio put all three endings with it. If you want to watch this film, it is available on Amazon Prime to watch, if you have a prime account. Also, I have never heard of another film since the release of Clue to have multiple endings in movie theaters. I would love for a studio to try and do this again.

So, to finish this off, I am going to include a few videos of bonus features from Doctor Sleep that I did not want to include in my presentation because it included major spoilers for film, so don’t watch any of these videos if you want to go into the film without knowing the ending and what they did in the film. I also couldn’t include them because they are very long. Don’t watch these if you don’t want to be spoiled.

We are starting to near the end of the semester and I will miss the amazing time that I have had in this class. We have seen some amazing films and this weeks surely was up there as a cult classic with all the others. This weeks film Matinee I almost couldn’t help but think about what we are going through now. This film is based around the Cuban Missile Crisis and I couldn’t help but think about what we are going through right now. We also like the people in the film are doing through something that is almost scaring people like how others were scared during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Although I don’t think anybody has been trying to promote a movie like Mant! I think this added great depth to the film. There are many ways that you can see why this film is a cult classic. I mean it was an absolute flop in the box office, but what I think makes it such a cult classic is how relatable it can be to others. I didn’t live during the Cuban Missile Crisis time but I can imagine anybody who did probably enjoyed the movie or didn’t because it brought back a hard time in their life. If they did enjoy it though I could see why because it did give them nostalgia. I also can see why this film could be a cult classic because it is almost like a film within a film. We get to see how things can change during life changing things that happen in our world but still see how they can face struggles along the way due to outside forces. The film I must also say has some amazing acting, who doesn’t love a film with John Goodman.

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My favorite reading this week was on the Fantasia Film Festival. I personally have never been to a film festival myself, but I would love to go to one. One thing that was said in the reading was that film festival is a unique kind of cinematic event that helps to sculpt mass film culture. Many film festivals we see have many independent films and don’t always showcase the best of the best films that year. It said these film festivals help define film culture. It shows quality and taste in films that may not be necessarily someone else’s cup of tea. The Fantasia Film Festival has helped bring communities together and get some films the cult following that they deserved. They help bring about other genres and help them get more attention that they need, eventually leading to their cult followings.

We also had some great presentations on films this week, making them the very last ones. Everyone has done a great job presenting their films and telling why they think it is a cult classic in their book. This week we had a presentation on Dr.Sleep which is a sequel to the Shining. Personally as a fan of the Shining I have never seen Dr.Sleep. I am afraid to watch this, not because I am actually afraid but because I am afraid it will ruin the Shining for me. I know they are completely separate films but the Shining is just an amazing film. I may watch it here in the near future to give it a shot. We also had a presentation on the Breakfast Club which is obviously a cult classic that most people know of. I grew up watching the Breakfast Club with my best friends and is a film near and dear to me. The presentation was great and covered many things that are important to the film. I will miss seeing everyones films after this class.

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It’s no coincidence that this week’s screening was an homage to the genre of film we’ve studied for the last three months. This was a fun movie to watch, a good way to start the week. Matinee, directed by Joe Dante in 1993 and starring John Goodman, is a sort of theatrical retelling of the gimmick film. Lawrence Woolsey, John Goodman’s character, is opening his new movie Mant, and decides to tour small town theaters promoting the film as the ultimate scary movie. Although this may not be the best time to try and truly scare an already atomic-anxietied Florida, Woolsey sees this as a business opportunity and makes the best of shaky circumstances. While this film may appear as a just light-hearted movie about the bygone antics of sci-fi/horror B-movies, there’s actually a lot more to it. Matinee covers a range of topics within its hour and 39 minutes, ultimately acting as an accessible example of the gimmick film. There’s no question that this is a comedy, I think it’d be hard to make a film about B-movies of this sort without it being humorous, but it also addresses the fear of nuclear war and the atmosphere people were living in at the time. Gene’s dream sequence really caught me off guard, while it wasn’t outright scary it was definitely a bit shocking for the tone of the movie up until then. But that scene served to both ground Matinee in its atomic time period and give a sense to what inspired a lot of B-movies during the time. Watching a 50’s/60’s B-movie now, a human turning into a monster due to radiation could be mistaken for an elaborate plot device and not the actual fear of radiation poisoning people felt during that time. It’s a great way to use current anxieties to scare people, you can still see it in the forms our present-day monsters. Whenever I used to watch retro sci-fi movies with my parents as a kid I’d always receive a lecture on nuclear anxiety from my dad so there’s a shortened version from me to you.

Our big topic of topic of the week focused around gimmick films and transforming the movie experience into a variety show; where you get to experience everything but the taste of the film. The gimmick film allowed filmmakers, largely low budget, to test out new cinematic innovations as a way to both boost the movie industry as well as create a more immersive cinematic experience. Some innovations sound more elaborate, like Smell-O-Vison or Hypno-vison, while others are simpler, like actors running through the aisles or props thrown in the crowd. Matinee’s Woolsey character relies heavily on gimmick to promote his movie and is based off William Castle, the ringleader of gimmick. Some of the stunts listed in the reading, “Collective Screams: William Castle and the Gimmick Film” are crazy, what really made me laugh was that Castle took out a life insurance policy for the audience’s possible death from fright.

I liked Matinee, it put a smile on my face. But it also made me really miss my job (I work at the theater in Hornell), especially the scene where Woolsey is showing Dennis the theater through his own eyes. I had to stop in to talk to my boss the other day and I can’t remember the last time there weren’t upcoming movie posters hanging on the walls :(. Most of our movies we get are big-budget blockbuster types; where the money is at. But I can’t express how much I would love to be able to experience a gimmick film like we learned about this week, man I would happily work during it (I’d even try to keep my mouth shut about the mess).

 

Born this day in 1924. Seems only appropriate we honor this Guru of Gimmicks and cinema spectatorship today!

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.

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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.