Last summer, Stacey Case began his bi-weekly screening series "Trash Palace", at his little hideaway of the same name, as a temporary little fling, that just continued to live, and grow. In the past year, the theater moved to a bigger location, and just more involved, as such amenities as a hot dog maker, a pinball machine and, most recently, the popcorn machine, have been added to the fun to be had Friday night. While the programming fare often consists of whatever 70's drive-in exploitation could be acquired on 16mm for cheap, often times whatever was-is being screened would be just part of the ambience. In short order, and with the assistance of Dan "The Mouth" Lovranski at the concession stand, Trash Palace reminded us of the fun and community to be had going to the movies.
In February, Stacey had approached me at 8 Fest about my doing screenings at his venue. I thought that was a noble gesture on his part, and put that thought in my memory banks for when I decided to do another screening series. Then a few weeks later, he had approached me again, as well as Jonathan Culp, to assist with programming at The Trash Palace, beginning in June, in his ambition to now make TP a weekly venue. While Stacey would still program two shows a month, Jonathan and I would each do one. I wholeheartedly accepted his kind gesture, and was literally bouncing up the street at this sudden good fortune. Over the past three years, I had slowly acquired 16mm prints of certain oddball films for my long-range plan of programming them when ESR did promotional screenings. All of the shows at Centre for the Arts in the previous eighteen months were video screenings. It's a cool little place to do shows, but not properly set up to show films. There is really no way to project stuff without a constant noise problem in that one room. So, when Stacey then asked us about what we could show, I offered up
This is a Hijack, and he dug that one alone just on the title.
I've already written a synopsis of the film (and its campy virtues) twice on this blog, and therefore feel no need to repeat it (you can just scroll down, if you like). Suffice to say, that a few weeks back, one Saturday morning, while still in my housecoat, huddled over a cup of black coffee, I decided to pre-screen the print, for quality checking. From the word "Go", I was keeled over in laughter at every cheesy line, and overacted nuance. I just hoped that the audience would see it in the same frame of mind....
Prior to Friday, I had a lot of anxiety because I had an extremely stressful work week, and as such, my time and energy devoted to getting the new ESR issue done, updating the web site and other things for the weekend was dwindling. But Friday was just the shot in the arm I needed. That afternoon, I finally had that radio interview with Mr. Stuart "Feedback" Andrews on CKLN's Friday show "Cinephobia", in which we discussed all things ESR, including, timely enough, the show that night and the small press fair the following day. Coming from that, despite treading on glass at work, I had a good blast of positive energy, and Trash Palace gave me another.
In keeping up with the TP tradition of presenting a short prior to the feature (and also keeping in tune with the crime theme that night), I put on the educational flick
Policeman on the Job, which extolled on such things as women squabbling over parking tickets and improper use of the 911 number. (And in keeping with another TP tradition, I hadn't yet watched this short.) Whatever concerns I had over
...Hijack though, quickly vanished, as the audience just ate the film up. After the movie, Stacey "hijacked" the projector, and in keeping with the 70s trash theme of the evening, closed the show with highlight reels from various kung fu films. What a night. The following day I was still giddy from all the laughs we had. This is what a show should be like.... a good responsive crowd, a fun time had by all, and that feeling of sharing something with an audience. After more than six months away from doing shows, I had forgotten what that feeling was like.
I am grateful for Stacey and Dan for inviting me into this venue, and look forward to further good times with the next three films ESR is presenting till the end of September. But in general, for the next twelve weeks there are even more amazing gems of drive-in cinema awaiting your attention. Check them out
here.
Below: here are some stills for
This is a Hijack. If you missed the show, don't worry, we are already planning to show it at a future date....
