Films and Events
* Click Here for the Weekend Schedule of 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!
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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:
ABBY (1974) William (Blacula) Marshall is a bishop and an archaeologist working in Africa. He unknowingly brings back the evil spirit of Eshiju that takes over the body of Abby (Carol Speed), a minister’s wife. She goes through all of the expected “Exorcist” rip-off transformations, swearing, and gruel spewing while detective Potter (Austin Stoker) wonders what’s going on. Eventually Marshall does his holy-guy-thing and drives the demon out of Abby and all’s well that end’s well. Warner Bros sued over the similarities between this film and The Exorcist and won their case, driving this little seen Drive-In gem from director William Girdler into obscurity. Not quite sure if we’ll find both reels of our print of Abby, but we’ve got a back up plan if it doesn’t, so look for it regardless of how we screen it. We’ll even ask guests Carol Speed and Austin Stoker to follow the film with a Q&A session for attending fans.
THE ALIEN FACTOR (1979) A spaceship crash lands outside Baltimore and a trio of alien creatures emerge to terrorize the local townsfolk in this cult B movie gem from director Don Dohler. Look out for The Leemold, a reptilian monster that can suck the life force from humans. Side step The Inferbyce, a gooey clawed creature from beyond the stars; and beware the walking carpet known as Zagatile for rug burns can hurt a plenty! Watch for local Baltimore thespian and Dohler regular, George Stover, and TV Horror Host Count Gore DeVol sans make-up in a regular acting role.
THE GREEN SLIME (1968) Astronauts Richard Jaeckel and Robert Horton have a big problem on their hands. Seems that when they got back to their space station after blowing up an asteroid that was on a collision course with Earth, they brought back a gooey alien life form that grows into a horde of tentacled, one-eyed monsters that shoot sparks and threaten to destroy the station. A real throwback to 50’s-type horror with silly dialogue, sappy effects, midgets in monster suits, and Luciana Paluzzi sporting her space mini dress. This must see movie screened way back at our first ever show. Last time it rolled around in 2006, we were hit with a black out five minutes before it was set to screen in the Midnight movie time slot. It’s the promoter’s pick to bring back and run at Midnight on Saturday night, so don’t miss it this time around.
PHANTASM (1979) Weird happenings at the Morningside mortuary. Seems the sinister “Tall Man” is committing murder, robbing graves, and squashing the dead into dwarves that are used as slave laborers in an alternate dimension. Hot on the Tall Man’s trail is 15 year old Mike, who inadvertently uncovers the fiendish otherworldly grave robbing plot. He involves his older brother, Jody, and his brother’s ice cream truck driving buddy, Reggie (Reggie Bannister), and the trio of unlikely heroes set out to put a stop to the actions of the menacing Tall Man. Chock full of more fun that you can shake a dozen recent horror movie turds at, the Phantasm franchise went on to include three more installments in the series to date. The first film is a fan favorite, and well worth another watch if you’ve already seen it.
TRACK OF THE MOONBEAST (1976) After listening to Professor Salina talk about the legend of the Indian “Lizard God” Paul and Kathy get the opportunity to catch a meteor storm over New Mexico. When a fragment of meteor lodges itself in Paul’s brain (really), he turns into a rubber suited reptilian monster as night falls and goes on a murderous rampage in the outskirts of town. Professor Salina discovers that this sort of thing has actually happened before when he discovers ancient Indian drawings and hot-pants wearing Kathy loves Paul enough to try and save him. Effects man Pal Blasco designed the monster suit and plays the moon beast. When it comes to no budget monster suit mayhem, it’s hard to beat Track of the Moonbeast.
Here are the movies we are showing on DVD or Video Projection:
THE ABOMINATION (1986) Cody is worried about his mom. She’s fallen under the spell of televangelist Brother Fogg and believes she wharfed up a satanic tumor on the living room floor. The “tumor” turns out to be one of an army of blood thirsty monsters that begin to breed in Cody’s stomach and cause him to drive around town looking for fresh victims to hack up and feed to the ever increasing hoard of “abominations” that begin to hide in every nook and crappy of his house. Loaded with pulsing, squirting, slimy, and blood soaked effects from beginning to end. The Abomination will be making its DVD premier at October’s show. Stop over and grab your copy from producer Matt Devlen and Muther Video herself come show time.
BONBONS ROUGES (2009) “Red Candy.” Hey look. Halloween is the same tacky affair in French Canada as it is here in the good ol’ knuckledragging states of ‘merica. And it works the same way too. Kids dress up and go from porch lit house to porch lit house begging for candy from strangers. But, as the night grows late and the porch lights go out, the rules can change. And that’s where our story begins... Another tale of terror from our horror loving pal from the great white north, JeF. Grenier. In French with subtitles, but certainly visual enough to follow along if you’re unable to read. Catch this short 44 minute film at the tail end of our poplar Friday Night Short Film Block.
DEADBEAT AT DAWN (1988) Goose (Jim VanBebber) is the leader of the Ravens. His girl convinces him to give up the gang life while the leader of The Spiders, a rival gang, has resident psychopath, Bone Crusher (Marc Pitman), teach Goose’s ol’ lady a lesson she’ll never forget. After the two gangs team up to pull off a bank heist, they set out to destroy each other to keep all the loot for themselves. Goose not only wreaks havoc with both gangs after his girl is murdered, but winds up with the cash and sets out to avoid both the cops and an entire city full of bloodthirsty degenerates to keep it. Life, death, brutality, and surprisingly well acted; Deadbeat at Dawn has earned it’s cult status over the years by supplying fans with class A entertainment on an independent B movie budget. Join director and star, Jim Van Bebber, along with producer and cinematographer, Mike King, as well as “Bone Crusher” himself, Marc Pitman, for a screening of DEADBEAT on Friday night this October.
EL TOPO (1970) “The Mole.” Director and star, Alejandro Jodorowsky, is the win-at-any-cost gunslinger El Topo, who cheats and defeats all of his rivals to become number one. But what price will he ultimately pay on his bizarre path to self-enlightenment and redemption? The movie El Topo is kind of like taking cool 60’s European arthouse cinema and mixing it with a liberal dose of Zen Buddhism and christian bible thumping to create a truly unique quasi-spaghetti-Western movie experience to say the least. El Topo was also the film that started the whole “midnight movie” craze, drawing crowds of fans into theaters at midnight to watch a two hour movie well into the 1970’s. Robert John, who played the grown up son of El Topo in the film, is making his first ever convention appearance with us this October, and will be doing an introduction (and/or a Q&A after the movie), so be sure to check your weekend schedule of events for the exact screening time.
THE FAMILY BUSINESS (2009) Johnny has high hopes for his life after college but his mom and dad expect him to go into the families specialty meat business. One afternoon, while registering for classes with his buddy Mike, Isabella catches Johnny’s eye, he asks her out, and the two start dating. Just what does Isabella have to do with Johnny, his families business, and the twist ending revealed at the end of this flick? Catch this short indy feature to find out the answers to these questions and more.
HELL UP IN HARLEM (1973) Tough guy Tommy Gibbs (Fred Williamson) gets his hands on a ledger that names every crooked cop and public official on the mob’s payroll and becomes the most hunted man in New York City. With the help of friends like Helen (Gloria Hendry) he turns on his predators and sets off a violent chain reaction that leaves the streets of Harlem beaten, bullet riddled, and burning. Hell Up In Harlem is director Larry Cohen’s sequel to Black Caesar. It features some of the same characters from Black Caesar but you don’t need to see Black Caesar to enjoy Hell up in Harlem as it stands on its own. I actually think it’s a better film than BC, so I’m sliding it in as Gloria Hendry’s guest related film of the weekend. Never seen it? Then give it a chance and see if it doesn’t make you want to check out Black Caesar on your own some day.
I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE (1977) Camille Keaton is Jennifer Hill, a writer looking to spend a quiet summer writing her first novel at an isolated lakeside house. Four locals, including the town’s resident retard, stalk, beat, rape, and leave her for dead soon after she arrives. She recovers from her wounds and sets out for revenge; eventually hanging, hacking apart, or castrating the deserving group of slimy thugs. This rape ‘n revenge exploitation flick can be quite disturbing to some viewers and retains all of the “punch” it had when originally released. Not too many films of this type can state that after thirty years.
LETHAL OBSESSION (2010) A masked killer is murdering women during their live performances on the obsessioncams.com fetish site. Most viewers think it’s part of the show. The police know differently, and detective Dennet is on the case, but he’s not getting much help from web site owner Elizabeth Waters. She’s only in it for the money and the girls are easily replaced after all. Thankfully, half a dozen murders later and she gets hers before the murderer is revealed and the mystery is solved in this short independent feature.
NEXT DOOR (2010) Single New York bookkeeper Anna wins a bid on an abandoned house in small town Massachusetts. Anna arrives and seems to think the house may be haunted, and it isn’t long before she makes a few discoveries about her new house and her neighbors that are more than a little unsettling. Catch CW guest Sal Lizard, who also directed, and past guest, Lynn Lowry, in this creepy, atmospheric ghost story.
OZONE! ATTACK OF THE RED NECK MUTANTS (1986) A hole in the ozone layer is causing your typical Texas red neck to turn into flesh hungry mutants. Paced a tad slow, but offering up more than its share of gore, this sort of like “Redneck Zombies” (but made a year earlier) horror outing offers up enough blood and splatter to keep even the most jaded gore hounds in their seat once it gets rolling. And honestly, who doesn’t want to see everyone at a karaoke contest attacked by a group of mutants? Ozone: Attack of the Redneck Mutants will be making its DVD premier at October’s show. Stop over and grab your copy from director and producer Matt Devlen and Muther Video herself come show time.
SELLA TURCICA (2010) Brad returns home a war hero. Confined to a wheel chair and combating a disease that has his doctors scratching their heads, his family gather’s to welcome him home, (including show guest Camille Keaton as “mom”), they can’t help but notice there’s something obviously wrong with the guy. Brad’s color is off. He’s got open soars on his feet. He’s not eating, and he can’t sleep at night. The headaches are the worst. It isn’t long before he’s leaking a little black goo from here and there... Yes indeed, there’s something wrong with Brad. SELLA TURCICA is the latest from Toe Tag Pictures. Just in case you’re wondering, the sella turcica (literally “Turkish saddle”) is a saddle-shaped depression in the sphenoid bone at the base of the human skull.
THE SHEIK: WRESTLINGS GREATEST VILLAIN (2010) Any old school wrestling fan who doesn’t know who The Sheik is, probably isn’t half the fan he or she thinks they are. His bloody, chair hurling and flame throwing feuds with guys like Abdullah the Butcher, Bruiser Brody, Bobo Brazil, and Johnny Valentine are legendary, and there wouldn’t be “hardcore” wrestling as we know it today without him. After all, The Sheik invented hardcore wrestling years before some of you even knew wrestling existed. If you didn’t grow up watching wrestling from the heyday of the 60’s through the early 1980’s and need to know everything there is to know about the guy who brought fire and barbed wire to the squared circle, then you’re in luck. Thanks to producer Mark Nowotarski, you’ll be able to get all caught up on Detroit Michigan's hardcore madman with this little hour long documentary. Catch it Saturday morning before our usual hour of hardcore wrestling.
TABLOID (1985) Anthology comedy from CW Guests Glen Coburn and Matt Devlen, along with THE ABOMINATION director Bret McCormick, takes a poke at the once great American supermarket tabloid. Sort of sad that cable TV news is fake journalism at it finest these days. I really miss “Bat Boy” stories and the like. Over paid news whores telling me the opinions of their corporate masters instead of real news may be funny at times, but TABLOID brings that old fake news feeling back without actually wanting to head for the nearest tower with your sniper rifle in tow like today's 24-7 fake news channels do.
THOU SHALT NOT KILL... EXCEPT! (1985) After Jack Stryker took a couple bullets in the leg in Vietnam, he returned to the States to settle down with his girlfriend Sally and resume normal life. Meanwhile, a demented cult leader (played to the hilt by Evil Dead director Sam Raimi) has been conducting blood sacrifices with unwilling victims. One day, Jack finds Sally missing and her grandfather used as a human dartboard. That’s when he calls in his old war buddies, grabs a stash of weapons, and heads out to put an end to the murderous cult of killers in this enjoyable and at times, delightfully over-the-top indy from director Josh Becker. I can’t imagine it will be too hard to get Josh to do and introduction or little Q&A after his film when he joins us this October?
THE UH-OH SHOW (2009) Take a look at the game show of the future. Win big and walk away a happy camper. Lose, and... well, Uh-Oh, there goes your life! The Godfather of Gore, Herschell Gordon Lewis, has a new film ready to unleash upon the world and Cinema Wasteland attendees will get the chance to take in an advance screening at October’s show. We’ll follow the screening up with a Q&A where you’ll be able to ask the man who pioneered the “gore film” anything you’d like to ask him. Grab a seat early. You know this event will fill up fast.
UNDER THE SCARES (2010) So you want to make a movie? Seems easy enough with today’s technology. Grab a camera, gather your cast, and you’ll be done in no time shooting your low budget Citizen Kane. You’ll cash in at the hundreds of film festivals and conventions out there and be making money as a filmmaker before you know it. It all seems so easy, anyone can do it, right? Not quite. There are a lot of talented people making enjoyable low budget movies that few people get a chance to see. There may have been hundreds of film festivals and conventions since movie making became popular, but there are only a few dozen actually running during any given year. Steve Villeneuve’s UNDER THE SCARES takes an insightful look at low budget film making in all it’s gory glory. While talking head interviews from original showmen like Herschell Gordon Lewis to director Frank Hennenlotter and Troma’s very own Lloyd Kaufman were fun to see, the most insightful comments come from several interviews with a talented class of more independent filmmakers, producers, actors, and critics looking to establish themselves with a fan base large enough to continue to make movies outside of your every day corporate owned and controlled theater screen. I’d also like to mention that I couldn’t help but notice that many of the people you’ll see interviewed in UNDER THE SCARES will be at our October show.
ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE (2009) Roommates Mark and Tom head out to get shit faced during cheap beer night at a local watering hole on the same night a zombie outbreak decides to ruin their plans of drunken debauchery. At the bar, they meet a mysterious stranger. You know he’s mysterious and knows something because he talks low, carries a machete, and kicks ass when the zombies attack the bar. Along with an ex-video store clerk who fancies herself a photographer, the four beat it out of town in search of answers, survivors, and a safe place to hide from the growing hoard of undead all around them.
ZOMBIE CHRIST (2010) A new age is upon us and the druids call upon the skeletal remains of Christ to do their bidding and eliminate the last of his bloodline. Jeebus stalks the state of New Jersey, talking trash and taking out hot tattooed chicks. He even bones a nun (literally!) who knows just how much a spit slick shave can do for a daughter of Christ in search of his last descendant. A hot babe detective is on his trail. An old guy kicks some slow motion ass. A scholarly guy helps out the girl Jeebus is hunting, and a twist ending ties everything up in one neat little package! It takes a filmmaker as fearless as Bill Zebub to make a movie called Zombie Christ. It takes a convention promoter that’s completely anti-religious and equally as fearless to want to screen it. It takes fans like you to scratch your head wondering why either of us would bother!
THE FRIDAY NIGHT SHORT FILM BLOCK: A tradition since our first show, the Friday Night block of short films has always been a crowd favorite. So far, we have the following short films to present this time around:
BELATED BY VALENTINE’S LOVER (2009) Mix a little of this and a few parts of that which make up our lives, and what do you get? Why, a beautifully cultivated bloodworm, that’s what! And they make the perfect gift too. From actress and now director (and show guest), Ruby LaRocca, comes this odd little short film.
BRAIN MAGGOTS FROM OUTER SPACE (2010) Poor Michael thinks he caught some sort of virus. He feels like crap and can’t sleep. When he does get a little shut eye, he’s plagued by nightmares. Sounds like brain maggots to me.
CYCLONE (2010) The touching story of two chicks who bond over cheap beer and the death of a deserving douchebag.
GARGALESE, THE TICKLE MONSTER (2009) It’s ET gone wrong after a furry alien critter escapes a crash landing in a guy’s back yard. After being shot, it escapes in a slug-like form to take over the body of a female victim and transform her into something else. Something from her past. Something that tickles.
GET OFF MY PORCH (2010) Beware those pesky little girls selling overpriced cookies door to door. Behind their big toothy smiles and pleasant demeanor lies something more sinister and evil then you’ll ever know. Another top notch short from Patrick Rea and SenoReality films.
LIVING DEAD (2010) Trapped in an abusive relationship, Amy finds herself beaten, berated, bruised, and close to falling off the edge of sanity. Then comes the day she’s had enough and takes matters into her own hands.
PUZZLED (2010) Putting together jigsaw puzzles seems like a nice safe thing to do when you get old and slow down if you ask me. But what happens when elderly widow Emily runs out of puzzles to build? Does she put together the mysterious puzzle that showed up on her doorstep, or are some puzzles never meant to be completed?
THE RE-DEADENING (2009) When you set out to kill a vampire, it’s always a good thing to remember exactly which side of the body the human heart is on. It’s also a good thing to hightail your ass out of any situation you can’t explain to the cops, but I already learned that lesson the hard way so I digress.
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. **