Meet Agent 00: He’s lethal, charming and only three feet tall… Continue reading FOR Y’UR HEIGHT ONLY (1981) – 20th March 2014, The Cuban, Harbourside
Tag Archives: Bristol Bad Film Club
Dare you enter The Room?
This month, we’re showing ‘the Citizen Kane of bad movies’ – The Room. But why has a film that is so bad become so popular? And how, after ten years since it first came out, does it continue to sell out around the world?
Last year, co-star (and producer) Greg Sestero wrote a book called The Disaster Artist detailing how The Room came to be. In his hilarious book (which we highly recommend you get), Greg details how he met Tommy Wiseau at an acting school and was draw to the man’s bizarre accent (is he Austrian? Eastern European? No one actually knows…), his ‘unique’ style of acting and his passion for films. The two soon became friends, resulting in Wiseau’s last-second offer to Sestero of costarring with him in The Room, a movie Wiseau wrote and planned to finance, produce, and direct—in the parking lot of a Hollywood equipment-rental shop.
The shoot was a circus. Apparently, Wiseau spent $6 million of his own money on his film, opting to buy equipment outright, rather than hire it, which is the industry norm. However over eight months, which saw crew and assorted actors frequently fired, The Room came to life… like some sort of resurrected corpse.
Like a resurrected corpse, it made no sense, as Tommy insisted everyone stick to the words that he had originally written.
Despite the concerns of all the cast and crew, Wiseau rented a Hollywood billboard featuring his alarming headshot and staged a red carpet premiere. The Room made $1800 at the box office and closed after two weeks. One reviewer said that watching The Room was like “getting stabbed in the head”.
But that was not the end…
Of the few people that saw the film, a handful realised the magnitude of the film’s unintentional hilarity. This prompted a series of midnight screenings in and around Los Angeles that allowed The Room to solidify its reputation as a cinematic experience, although not in the way Wiseau intended.
Before long, The Room had worldwide cult appeal and was being shown in cinemas all around the world, with audience participation on a par with The Rocky Horror Show.
And now, finally, we are showing it in Bristol!
Get your tickets here… you won’t regret it.
That damn gang and their stupid cocaine
Last Thursday, at The Cuban in Bristol, we showed our first film of 2014, Miami Connection, to a crowd over 180 people.
Our fifth film overall, this was by far our largest: our previous largest screening had been to ‘just’ 110 people. With over 150 advance tickets sold for Miami Connection, this is hopefully a sign of things to come for 2014. Bristol has developed a taste for bad cinema, and we’re the guys with the menu.
I (Tim) kicked off with a brief welcome, before handing over to a couple of reps from the Travelling Light Theatre Company, the charity we were sponsoring for this screening. After a short video briefly outlining what they do, co-founder Ti introduced the film itself.
With a video explaining who Miami Connection writer, star, and all round awesome guy, YK Kim actually is, the audience was well prepared for the awful, awful majesty of what was to follow.
From my vantage point at the back, the audience reaction was unparalleled. Quite how many knew what they had let themselves in for, I don’t know. But I do know that many, many people went home with their lives changed after this event. Battling back tears of joy, I heard one audience member say with disbelief, “I am SO GLAD I came”.
This is what Bristol Bad Film Club is about. We didn’t start the club to make money, we started the club so we could travel through time. No, wait, that was the DeLorean. We started the club to watch bad films and have a good time. Watching a bad film on your own is OK. Watching a bad film in a group is immense. Watching a film in a group, with a drink and some food, and a great setting is the best.
One of the highlights of the evening was the visceral reaction to the trailer for what we have coming next. A custom-made teaser trailer made by Gaby Staniszewska delivered exactly what we needed. A resounding YES at the first glimpse of, followed by more recognition at the second glimpse.
Because, in February, we are, finally, showing…
Bad Films Doing Good
When Ti and I set up the Bristol Bad Film Club, it was – let’s be honest – to see brilliantly bad films on the big screen. What we didn’t expect was the hugely positive response we have had from the people of Bristol and its surrounding area.
This wasn’t a venture we set up to make money. It was for the love of cinema, especially really bad cinema. So, since it wasn’t to make money, we figured that we could give something back to the community in the unlikely event it made some small amount of profit.
Because of YOUR support and love of bad films, we have been able to donate the frankly phenomenal sum of over £1,100 in 2013, split across the following charities:
Awamu – a charity helping children with HIV in Africa;
The Whiteladies Picture House Campaign – Bristol’s very own Kickstarter-assisted campaign to restore a beloved cinema;
Help for Heroes – helping those who suffer life changing injuries sustained in the line of duty, and;
Millie’s Trust – providing Paedriatric First Aid to help reduce the instances of cot death, following the tragic death of the girl who gives the charity its name.
The charities are not all promoted at the screenings themselves: they are not necessarily appropriate to be discussed before or after what is essentially a night of comedy. But these are charities with focuses that are important either to us, or to someone connected to us, and they deserve the recognition and the funds that, through your help, we can provide.
In 2014 our charities continue to be diverse, and important. We may not make a big thing at all our screenings about it, but it is one of the real-world outcomes of your attendance at our screenings.
Thank you.
Tim
SOLD OUT: THE ROOM (2003) – 20th February 2014: Cresswell Centre, Bristol Cathedral Choir School
The “Citizen Kane of bad movies” is finally here…
Who’d have thought that ‘destroying’ Bristol would be such a big problem?
How our attempts to make a new Bristol Bad Film Club logo got us into hot water with the city council.
At our StarCrash screening, some of you bought our stylish t-shirt that with our logo on it. However, with 2014 fast approaching, we thought we’d give it a slight design re-jig to herald in the new year.
Our friend and talented illustrator Sian Rees leapt at the challenge and immediately started working up some designs based on Bristol’s famous coat of arms (see right).
After all, what’s more ‘Bristol’ than that castle and boat coat of arms, which can be seen on everything from public bins to the uniforms of local Scout groups?
Sian quickly put together a design that we loved – recognisably Bristol, but with elements that are clearly from ‘bad’ movies.
However Tim, being the more legally-concerned member of our organisation, wondered if we might be in breach of certain copyright laws.
“Nonsense,” I replied. “It’s the Bristol coat of arms. Surely it’s in the public domain and anyone can use these elements?”
Yeah, turns out I was wrong.
Contacting the city council to see if this was the case, we discovered they own ALL aspects of Bristol’s coat of arms and they didn’t want it to be re-used by the likes of us… especially if we’re throwing giant monsters at it.
Still, their reasons were valid enough:
“Unfortunately due to the use of the elements of the BCC logo, we can’t allow you to use them this way. There are two issues that concern me; it could be seen as either part of BCC or that you are funded by the BCC.
It also gives the impression you are ‘destroying’ the ship and tower and as they are elements of the BCC logo, this doesn’t reflect well.”
Gives the impression? Well, seeing as we were going for the full out destruction of it, clearly we must try harder.
Still, we were surprised that the city of Banksy would object in such a way to us ‘amending’ the city’s coat of arms for charity and entertainment purposes.
Especially as the council logo (see left) is, in our opinion, quite a bit different.
Still, it was back to the drawing board of Sian.
However, now she has created a logo that not only surpasses her first attempt, but is as Bristolian as Isambard Kingdom Brunel eating a Magic Roll at the Watershed, whilst watching the best of Aardman Animations.
BEHOLD!
Remember, tickets for our next screening – Miami Connection – are on sale now!
To peruse more of Sian’s work, click here.
StarCrash screening: “I only have logic and emotion circuits. No room for craziness.”
For our final screening of 2013, we pulled out all the stops with a fantastic venue in the heart of Bristol, a knowledgeable and witty guest speaker and a film that features chauvinistic robots, The Hoff in a laser beam-firing monster mask and some of the best/worst dialogue this side of the Haunted Stars.
Since discovering that Bristol Planetarium had the facilities to host a screening (not to mention weddings should you be interested), Tim and I have been racking our brains for the perfect film to show there. Something space-related obviously, but something that would entertain the 100 or so people that we could accommodate.
Proteus? Too rubbish. Inseminoid? Too disturbing. The Pink Chiquitas? Too much Frank Stallone.
And then it hit us. StarCrash.
“I’m the bad guy!”
With its perfect blend of on-the-nose dialogue, rubbish FX, a mixture of over-the-top (take a bow, Joe Spinell) and underplayed (Christopher Plummer) acting and the slowest walking ever seen on screen, it was perfect – and the city of Bristol seemed to agree.
Tickets sold out in 8 days due to the unprecedented demand and people were pleading with us to do two showings. Unfortunately, we opted to just do the one, but after the wonderful service we received from Sarah Gwynne and the staff of At-Bristol, we can guarantee that we’ll be back in the future.
The night itself was a roaring success. Dr. Mark Bould opened the proceedings with some wonderful insight into Italian sci-fi cinema and the production of StarCrash. He also managed to expertly deal with some heckling from an unexpected source – a very enthusiastic 7 year old, whose recall of cinematic trivia made Tim and I doubt our own extensive knowledge.
The film itself hit all the right spots. Whether it was the awkwardly long tracking shots of the poorly made models, Joe Spinell strutting around the sets shouting “Kill! KILL! KILL!!” or the bizarre sidekicks that were Elle and Akton, there was something that simultaneously produced laughter and disbelief for everyone.
If you missed our screening last night, for your pleasure below is one of the great, no – the GREATEST, scene from StarCrash. Enjoy, and we hope to see you in 2014 for Miami Connection.
Tim also promises not to cough all the way through the next screening. His recent bout with man flu unfortunately left him unable to thank you all for coming, but he will return! Just like Elle…
“It’s so nice to be turned on again…”
Bristol Bad Film Club’s STARCRASH Poster
Even though the screening has sold out, our wonderful designer has once more designed a stunning poster for Starcrash.
While it won’t be going up around the city, you will still be able to purchase your own A3 copy at future screenings.
SOLD OUT: MIAMI CONNECTION (1987) – 16th January 2014, The Cuban, Harbourside
It’s a tai-kwon-do rock band battling drug smuggling ninja bikers. Need we say more? Continue reading SOLD OUT: MIAMI CONNECTION (1987) – 16th January 2014, The Cuban, Harbourside
“Gentlemen, it’s time to spread the word. And the word is… ‘bad movies’.”
As well as using social media to spread the word of our screenings, we’ve also been reaching out to and receiving a wave of good will from some of Bristol’s biggest magazines, websites and radio stations.
When we first started the Bristol Bad Film Club, our first problem was – how do we let people know that we even exist? In this day and age, the answer is generally social media, so our first step was setting up a Facebook and Twitter account.
This was all well and good, but we soon realised that we wanted to let people that might not be online know about who we are and what we were attempting to do. As one of us is an online editor, we wrote a series of press releases which we then sent out to the likes of the Bristol Post, Guide 2 Bristol and Bristol 24/7. Anything to get a couple of column inches or a passing mention.
The response we got was beyond anything we ever hoped for.
The Bristol Post put us on the cover on their weekend magazine and both Guide 2 Bristol and Bristol 24/7 ran articles on us. All of them were instrumental in building buzz for our first screening.
Now, ahead of our fourth (Starcrash), we’ve even been getting requests for interviews.
This month, co-founder Tim was featured in the ‘Bristol Lives’ section of Clifton Life Magazine, while the both of us were interviewed for Bristol’s biggest monthly magazine – Bristol Magazine (see below for both interviews).
We’ve also been invited numerous times on to BBC Radio Bristol to plug our shows and are very grateful to Laura Rawlings, Phil Hammond and Martin Evans for having us on.
Local movie podcast The Bioscopist has even had us on twice! Clearly we have the perfect faces for radio…
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