The 5000 Fingers of Dr. T

Did you know that Dr. Seuss wrote a screen play in the 50s? Well you do now! The 5000 Fingers of Dr. T was his only full leingth movie script to hit the silver screen. It stars Hans Conried (the voice of Captian Hook in Disney's Peter Pan) and Tommy Rettig (the original boy to TV's Lassie). Strange, dark, dripping with commentary on opression and world dominataion this is defanatly a movie for your movie bucket list, and Trylon microcinema is playing this gem all weekend!

The 5000 fingers of Dr. T, Jan 23rd-25th, show times vary, $8

The first Tape Freaks screening at the MOA will be postponed until February.

We are sad to announce unfortunately due to unforeseen circumstances the first Tape Freaks presents event at the MOA this coming Thursday will be postponed and pushed back to officially start the 3rd Thursday of February. This explains our lack of posts going into the month. We wanted to roll this thing out the right way and haven't been able to due to the circumstances. Our apologies if you were planning on attending.

On the upside there will be an event that night if you do choose to attend that we promise will not disappoint. At this time we're not sure if we can say anything but If we can we will post the details.

UPDATE:  for tonight at the Mall of America. we just found out that there will not be a replacement screening.

So if you were going out tonight to the MOA for some movie weirdness. You will just have to settle for whatever is currently running.
Sorry.
We promise February will be weird and fun.

Thank you

We're hosting our own series at the Mall of America!

   
That's right, we've taken on a monthly series at Theatres at Mall of America. Each month we will bring you a weird, unique, and cheesy movie we think deserve a larger audience. This series is based on the days when scouring the shelves of your local video store, relying on the cover art and misleading descriptions on the backs, would get you movies that would blow you away, make you cringe or both. And when you found the best of the worst, you'd invite all your buddies over to gleefully watch them be blown away too. Well friends, we've been to the video store and we've got some things to show you! We've got movies you've forgotten about, never heard of, or only heard of, and all of them are worth watching in a room full of people.

 The movies will remain secret until the title hits the screen, but we'll be dropping hints on the Tape Freaks blog to give you an idea of what to expect. We'll be exploring movies, directors, actors, and actresses that somehow relate to the movie we've chosen. The movies will screen* every 3rd Thursday and we'll be doing giveaways before each screening.

 Hopefully we'll blow some minds, but we're most excited to watch some fun and strange movies with other like minded individuals on the big screen!

 See you there! -Tim and Colette

 (*We're sourcing the best versions we can, but sometimes we're going to be screeining actual VHS copies because that's all the further they were allowed to get in the home viewing world.)

Horror for the Holidays withdrawal.

We're excited for our new monthly series to begin, but we're gonna miss Horror for the Holidays. With that in mind, we thought we'd share with you our vote for January's H4H would have been. There aren't many New Year's horror movies out there, but one that Horror for the Holidays didn't get to was Terror Train.

Jamie Lee Curtis stars in this low budget slasher that was specifically written to ride the success of John Carpenter's Halloween. (According to the filmmakers, the premise came to them when they asked themselves what would happen if Halloween took place on a train.) But for a rip-off movie, it doesn't borrow too heavily and there are some seriously amazing surprises like: a magic act by 24 year old David Copperfield, appearances from Hanz's future “white knight” and favorite B-movie Prince-protege Vanity, and John Alcott on cinematography!

“John Alcott,” you ask? Not only did he win an Oscar for Best Cinematography for Barry Lydon, he also shot most of Kubrick's iconic work. He shot Terror Train and The Shining in the same year. (Drink that in for a second. The man who shot one of the most atheistically important movies of the 80s shot Terror Train the same year. This is either a testament of how humble he was, or an incredible illustration of how little the film industry values cinematographers.) Make no mistake, his presence adds some interesting visual elements to this fairly straight forward slasher.

This forgotten classic is perfect for ringing in the new year: it's got a great cast, creepy masks, great visual effects, an appearances from a legendary magician before his prime, and a totally ripped off premise staring the same star as the movie it rips off, and takes place on New Year's Eve. (I mean really, that's the reason to watch it on New Years...)

Have you seen these kids?

If you aren't familiar with Y.N. Rich Kids, take a second to get aquatinted because they will be hosting the Defenders Series at the Trylon microcinema tonight! To quote the organizer "Their movie pick is amazing by the way. You'll be surprised." 

The Defenders Series is always hosted by a local celebrity who picks a movie to screen No one in the audience knows what's been chosen, and after the movie ends the Defender stands in front of the audience to defend their selection. It's amazing, and to the best of my knowledge it's never been hosted by a kid (let alone a group of them) before. Don't miss this amazing chance to see what these bright and talented kids have selected to Defend!

Tonight (Wed 12/17) @ 7pm, Trylon microcinema $8 (half of the proceeds will go to the Beats & Rhymes Program at the Harold Mezile YMCA.)

Michael Crichton

Usually recognized as the guy who wrote Jurassic Park and Lost World (and The Andromeda Strain, and Congo, and Sphere) Michael Crichton’s career wasn’t all writing books that were well suited to be made into movies. He was also a director and almost a doctor.

Crichton pursued a writing degree long before he went down the path to science. But when he felt one of his literary professors was unfairly grading him, he switched his undergrad to biological anthropology and ultimately enrolled in Harvard Medical School. While in med school he wrote the Andromeda Strain and a Case of Need (the latter winning him an Edgar Award). After becoming disenchanted by the medical field’s priority to doctors careers over patient's needs, he didn’t pursue his licence to practice medicine after obtaining his M.D.. Instead he shifted his focus to writing, and eventually directing films based on his own novels or screenplays. Eventually he tapped into his medical school experiences to create and executive produce the hugely successful T.V. series E.R.

Coincidentally, the 3rd film in the Theaters of MOA Movember series happens to be Runaway, Michael Crichton's 80’s killer robot flick starring Tom Selleck and Gene Simmons. Don’t miss an opportunity to see what kind of gems Crichton committed to screen!

Wednesday Nov 19th, Theaters of MoA @ 7:30, Free with suggested donation.

Dick Miller Triple Feature Tonight in the Twin Cities!?

If you've made it out to all of the JoeDante series screenings, you may have noticed a certain actor making brief but memorable appearances in each flick. In Small Soldiers he was the toy delivery driver, in Piranha he was the resort owner, in The Howling he was the bookstore owner, in The Burbs he was one of the garbage men,and tonight he'll be plow driver Murray Futterman in both Gremlins 1 & 2. (Bonus Horror for the Holidays appearance: in Night of the Creeps he's the guy who gives the flame thrower to Tom Atkins!) Yes, we are talking about everyone's favorite “that guy” Dick Miller!

We've been pumped for the Gremlins double feature all month long, and just yesterday it was brought to our attention that we could make this a triple feature night if we stopped by The Southern Theater. The Southern has been featuring some pretty fantastic plays, performance pieces, and live accompaniment movies this month, and after each day's performances they've topped the night off with some amazing movie screenings. Tonight they are screening the original Little Shop of Horrors, featuring the one and only Dick Miller!

So come see Gremlins 1 & 2 and make the drive over to the Southern Theater by 12:45AM and catch LittleShop of Horrors in an amazing old theater. (if you get there a little early you can see some of Tim's monster taxidermy adorning the walls to boot) We're totally making it a Miller triple feature night, join us won't you?

Gremlins 7:30 and Gremlins 2 (on 35mm) 9:30(ish) @ Theatres at Mall of America, 5 bucks each movie. Little Shop of Horrors 12:45 @ The Southern Theater, free!

Super Awesome Bonus Trivia:

Dick Miller has appeared in at least 174 films, and we've seen our fair share of them, but so far we've only seen him play the lead in one film. Dick stars in the Roger Corman classic Bucket of Blood as a beatnik sculptor Walter Paisley. That character name became somewhat of a inside joke to those who loved to cast him. In The Howling, Chopping Mall, Twilight Zone The Movie, and a handful of other films his character credit is some version of Walter Paisley. (We're beside ourselves excited for the documentary That Guy Dick Miller to be released, we've heard nothing but good things about it and we could listen to stories about Mr. Miller all day!)