When the acting, directing, writing, and cinematography in a movie all fail miserably the results can sometimes lead to a charming and amusingly awesome bad movie.
Joe Scott and Mike Compton want to celebrate this badness.
Every Friday in March, Scott and Compton will present the film series "Midnight Madness: Beer and a Bad Movie!" at the Carousel Luxury Cinemas. The series begins midnight Friday with "Troll 2" and continues with screenings of "The Room," "No Retreat, No Surrender" (the director's cut), and "Switch Blade Sisters" on subsequent Fridays.
"We're calling these movies bad," says Joe Scott, a contributor to Go Triad and co-host of the film series. "And they are certainly bad, from a critical standpoint, but are good movies in an accidental way."
Admission to each screening is $5 and includes three beers for patrons 21 and older. Popcorn and soda will be given to those under 21. The event also will include zany retro trailers and a few interesting giveaways.
"Bad movies are like kids," says Compton. "They can be kind of stupid, sweet and guileless. By watching kids you can get a great education in the way people work. They make mistakes but you forgive them for it because they have an innocence to them.
"Bad movies are the same way. When you're watching a bad movie, you are always aware it's a movie; you don't get lost in it. It shows you a lot about filmmaking in general."
Compton and Scott, who also co-host "The Movie Show" on WUAG 103.1 FM, share a fondness for what critics would consider cinematic atrocities.
Although making a bad film may sound easy, making a truly great bad movie is a daunting task. "You can't fake a bad movie," Scott says. "Anyone who tries to make a bad movie ends up making a boring movie, like 'Snakes on a Plane.' People making a truly terrible film often think they're making one of the greatest films of all time."
The idea for Midnight Madness came to Scott and Compton while hosting the Mixed Tape Film Series, an eclectic mix of alternative films ("Reservoir Dogs," "Edward Scissor Hands," "Rushmore") shown periodically at the Carousel Luxury Cinemas. During their screening of "The Monster Squad" and "Friday the 13th Part III: 3D" the 3D projector didn't work.
"We were expecting everyone to just get up and leave," Scott said. "Only about 10 or so people actually left, the rest stayed, had a couple of beers, heckled the movie, and had fun."
The event was such a success that Scott and Compton wanted to screen other movies similar in tone; hence Midnight Madness.
"Fridays in March you have a choice," Compton said. "You could go see a good movie for nine bucks in isolated groups or you could drop five bucks and go see a bad movie, have a few beers, and be part of a houseful of people enjoying a movie together."
Contact Charles Wood at 373-7091 or charles.wood@news-record.com.
