Films and Events
SPECIAL EVENTS & NOTEWORTHY ATTRACTIONS ALWAYS INCLUDE:
* MOVIE, MOVIES and more MOVIES! We cram in as many classic Drive-In movies, independent films and shorts as we can pack into a weekend. You’ll find movies and shorts on real 16mm film in our 200 seat “Film Room” and all kinds of indy films, shorts, and guest related features in our smaller, 100 seat “Video and DVD projection Room” all weekend long.
* Q&A Sessions, Live Movie Commentaries, Guest Talks and Movie Introductions... Our guests are always willing to interact with attending fans, and we’ve come up with all kinds of fun stuff for them to do over the years. Let’s see what we come up with for the next show shall we?
* Join us for “A GHASTLEE NITE AT THE MOVIES” every Saturday Night beginning at 8:00pm. Hosted by Dayton, Ohio’s very own A. Ghastlee Ghoul and featuring any number of our attending Horror Hosts from the Horror Host Underground, “A Ghastlee Nite at the Movies” isn’t really a film screening at all. It’s more a night of “live entertainment” and laughs. Join us for an evening of silly skits, bad music, interactive games and contests, surprise guests or anything else Ghastlee and the attending Horror Hosts come up with.
* SURPRISES and MORE SURPRISES! With most of the shows we run, things fall together at the last minute and we are able to cram in even more than the posted schedule will let you know about. It may be a surprise guest addition, extra film screening, a special event, movie introduction from a guest... You just never know until you arrive at the show and see if something extra fit into the schedule, but everyone likes surprises, right? Fortunately for you, we like springing a few on you every chance we get!
AND WHAT ABOUT THE MOVIES YOU ASK?...
You can't have a "Movie Convention" without them, can you? ABSOLUTELY NOT! And we plan on showing plenty of films on both 16mm Film and Video at Cinema Wasteland - Many of which may be hosted by the Stars and Directors appearing as Guests at the show. Our evening film show is Free to all attendees and hotel guests.
Here are the movies we are showing on 16mm film:
BLACK SUNDAY (1960) Barbara Steele began her horror career playing Princess Asa, a witch who has a metal mask with spikes pounded into her face before she’s burned at the stake. Revived one hundred years later, Steele and her vampire servant attempt to take over Princess Katia (also Steele in a dual role) and exact some sort of revenge. Creepy and atmospheric, Black Sunday was the first feature film by cinematographer turned director, Maria Bava.
BLACK SABBATH (1964) It’s Mario Bava double feature time as we present Bava at his best with this trilogy of terror tales. This is the US print, so it’s hosted by Boris Karloff, who also stars in “The Wurdalak”, the story of a Balkan hunter who’s turned into a vampire and forced to feed on his own loved ones for survival. You also get “A Drop of Water” where a nurse is haunted by a dead clairvoyant after she steals a ring off her dead finger, and “The Telephone”, where a prostitute is haunted by phone calls from beyond the grave.
MACHINE GUN KELLY (1958) After a decade of bit parts and television roles, Charles Bronson received his first starring role as bank robber, George “Machine Gun” Kelly, in one of Roger Corman’s best films. As his moll, Susan Cabot is the driving force behind his exploits. Morey Amsterdam loses an arm when Kelly freezes during a bank robbery, and Barboura Morris is a kidnapped nurse. Everything ends when Kelly gives himself up after the botched kidnapping but getting to the end is certainly half the fun.
NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1968) At the same time Johnny and Barbara visit their father’s grave, a living corpse, or “ghoul” as they are called in George Romero’s groundbreaking zombie film, attacks and kills Johnny. In shock, Barbara escapes to a nearby farmhouse where she encounters a handful of other people who have witnessed the dead returning to life and attacking the living. The terror never lets up as the survivors methodically meet their end at the hands of both the walking dead as well as trigger happy locals out to gun the ghouls down. We’re getting quite a nice reaction from fans about meeting some of the rare key scene ghouls and crew members from Night of the Living Dead, so we felt the time was right to screen the movie on real 16mm film for everyone come show time.
PEEPING TOM (1960) Mark is a cameraman who moonlights taking nudie photos. His childhood was filmed and documented by his sadistic psychologist father who used young Mark in a series of fear experiments. Because of his father, he’s fascinated by physical imperfections and can’t control his urge to kill models with a spike tipped tripod while he’s filming them. He also gets the job of documenting his dastardly deeds for the police investigating the murders. He ultimately documents and films his own suicide. Ahead of its time, and much like Todd Browning’s Freaks, this unflinching horror film almost ruined the career of director Michael Powell when it was released but found acclaim years later.
Here are the movies we are showing on DVD or Video Projection:
DON’T TORTURE A DUCKLING (1972) In a small remote village life with superstition, several young boys are found murdered. When a hard-nosed reporter and her promiscuous female cohort begin to investigate the murders, the clues point to, what else? The local priest, naturally. And he probably had the permission of the pope, who would have gladly spirited him away to molest and murder children for the rest of his life if he didn’t meet his just end at the finale of this well done Lucio Fulci murder thriller. Florinda Bolkan, Barbara Bouchet, and Tomas Milian star.
ROCK ‘N’ROLL HIGH SCHOOL (1979) P.J. Soles is high school rocker “Riff Randell.” Dey Young is her straight-laced BFF “Kate Rambeau.” Mary Waronov is the school’s tough new principal “Miss Togar.” PJ lives for the Ramones, and they’re about to hold a concert in town, but Miss Togar has outlawed not just rock and roll music, but most of what makes high school fun, so the war is on in this teenage drive-in comedy classic from Alan Arkush and Joe Dante. With Clint Howard as the school’s supplier of everything you might want, Vince Van Patten as the nerdy jock, and Dick Miller and Paul Bartel show up in small roles. The Ramones play a few songs, Dey Young’s character learns to love rock and roll music, the school ultimately blows up, and everyone cheers.
TORSO (1973) After a couple of sex murders shock a small college campus, Suzy Kendal and three of her girlfriends decide to head off to an isolated country villa to get away for a few days. Unfortunately for them, the killer follows them and makes it a vacation to dismember for the helpless female victims in this drive-in horror classic from Sergio Martino. This is an uncut print of the film, with all the nudity and gore that was cut from US film prints.
TOURIST TRAP (1978) Chuck Connors runs an out-of-the-way roadside museum full of mannequins. One day, a group of friends wind up stranded at the roadside museum and Connors traps them there. Obviously off his nut, Conners has telekinetic powers and is able to control his ghoulish mannequins and send things flying through the air, while it seems that some of his past victims have actually become mannequins in his ghoulish collection. Directed by CW guest David Schmoeller. The creepy mannequins were created by our old friend Robert Burns, who also created “Leatherface” in the original Texas CHainsaw Massacre. It was also one of the first feature films that future “Charlie’s Angel” Tanya Roberts starred in.
UP! (1976) An over-the-top Russ Meyer directed adult nudie classic about a small town where everyone isn’t quite what they appear to be. The story is told through several vignettes and hosted by Kitten Natividad as “The Greek Chorus”, who helps fill in the blanks along the way. If you look hard enough, you might even find a moral to the story too. At least I think you will?… Then again, I could be wrong. With Candy Samples, Janet Wood, and Raven de la Croix. Not a hardcore film, but with more than enough naked flesh to rate it for adults only.
Please check back more to come ....
AND DON’T FORGET ABOUT ALL THE OTHER “WASTELAND” VIDEO AND FILM BITS WE SCREEN ALL WEEKEND LONG. PLENTY OF HORROR MOVIE TRAILERS, ASSORTED SHORT FILMS, AND EVEN SOME CLASSIC THREE STOOGES ARE GENERALLY ALWAYS RUN SOMEWHERE DURING WEEKEND!
** Please consult the Cinema Wasteland Program Guide upon checking in for a complete film show listing and their approximate starting times. The film line-up is subject to last minute changes. **