MovieChat Forums > Midnight Movies: From the Margin to the Mainstream (2005) Discussion > Other midnight movies that could have be...

Other midnight movies that could have been included?

posted 15 years ago by WarpedRecord
14 replies | jump to latest

This film covered six midnight movies that matters, but it seems like some other titles deserved a mention also:

"The Texas Chain-Saw Massacre" and "Last House on the Left" – These are more drive-in flicks than midnight movies, but they still fit in here.

"Tommy" – Almost anything by Ken Russell, actually.

"Sisters" – Brian De Palma's wonderful, weird shocker.

"The Last Waltz" and other concert films.

"Pink Floyd: The Wall" – A little late for this time period, but this may have been the biggest midnight movie of the '80s, though "Videodrome" and "Heavy Metal" also merit mention.

"Basket Case," "Evil Dead" and early slasher films like "Two Thousand Maniacs"

I could go on and one, but I'd love to hear other suggestions.

[–] amsyco13 14 years ago

As a kid, I remember The Song Remains The Same playing at the local theater at midnight on weekends for years. Along with The Wall and Rocky Horror.

These don't really fit in with your question, but in the 90's when I was in college, I saw alot of midnight movies in Hollywood, most of them Asian films like Hard Boiled and Sex and Zen. Also once saw an old 1970's porn starring John Holmes and presented in 3D.

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Are you a bug Bill Murray?

[–] WarpedRecord 14 years ago

Ah yes, Led Zep and Pink Floyd go perfectly with the midnight crowd! And I actually went to a 3D John Holmes film about 20 years ago, called "Disco Dolls" I think. But it seems like they didn't have the glasses and the movies just looked a bit "off" (not that I expected otherwise).

[–] amsyco13 14 years ago

I believe the 3D Holmes flick I saw was called Rock Candy or something. And we got glasses, but the 3D was still pretty crappy.

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Are you a bug Bill Murray?

[–] WarpedRecord 14 years ago

Apparently John Holmes made a lot of 3D films. That gimmick seems unnecessary with him, or maybe they wanted to make a horror (whorror?) movie.

[–] Joshinator1989 14 years ago

Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song!

Lightytidy

[–] WarpedRecord 14 years ago

Of course! How could I have forgotten "Sweet Sweetback's Badasssss Song"? (Five s's, right?) Without the midnight circuit, that film would probably have died in obscurity.

[–] suspiria56 14 years ago

The Sinful Dwarf would be nice.....

Static by Stuart Gordon (although not seen this for many a year)

Forced Entry, Waterpower, Hot Summer in the City........all valid

Fernando Arrabal's Viva la Muerte wouldn't go amiss.....

"Gran'pa was always tha best...."

[–] WarpedRecord 13 years ago

Great titles, there, at least for the ones that I've seen.

And your screen name reminds me of another that I saw as a midnight movie some years ago: Dario Argento's "Suspiria." Some films just look better at midnight, and that's definitely one.

[–] Devans00 8 years ago

By the time I was old enough to attend midnight movies, around 1990, Rocky Horror Picture Show was the only one still around. I think the chance to dress up and audience participation kept it popular.

Watching videos at home (Beta, VHS, laserdisc) had been popular over a decade by then. So people had options to lining up at the local movie theatre to watch films.

When did publicly watching midnight movies at the theatre really die out?

No two persons ever watch the same movie.

[–] WarpedRecord 8 years ago

Good question on when midnight movies died out. I think it started to happen by the mid-'80s with the availability of home video, especially with a lot of video stores stocking "cult" sections. And the advent of affordable home theater systems and the Internet probably sealed the nail in that coffin. Movie theaters in general still seem to do decent business for new releases, but many repertory theaters have fallen by the wayside.

[–] Devans00 8 years ago

WarpedRecord
Good question on when midnight movies died out. I think it started to happen by the mid-'80s with the availability of home video, especially with a lot of video stores stocking "cult" sections. And the advent of affordable home theater systems and the Internet probably sealed the nail in that coffin. Movie theaters in general still seem to do decent business for new releases, but many repertory theaters have fallen by the wayside.

Sounds about right.

Rocky Horror Picture Show seems to have settled into an annual Halloween related event. I don't really see it advertised weekly or monthly like it used to be. But then again, I'm decades out of college, the main target audience. So I don't exactly have my finger on the pulse of what's happening.

The only time I hear about the other Midnight Movies is during film festivals. For instance, I went to a John Waters film festival at the Art Deco Castro Theatre in San Francisco some years ago. Before then, I only saw his movies on my TV screen. So watching his filthy films in a public theatre with other people on the big screen was an interesting experience. The difference between what I laughed at compared to what most of the audience laughed at was eye opening. I found a lot more things hilarious.

I still remember the singing @sshole. That grossed me out way more than the dog poo eating scene.

No two persons ever watch the same movie.

[–] WarpedRecord 8 years ago

John Waters' films are indeed best seen in a theater with a like-minded crowd. I saw "Polyester" in a theater last year, complete with the scratch-and-sniff card. The film loses a lot by watching it at home alone on a TV screen.

The midnight movie "experience" hasn't totally died because a lot of larger cities have repertory houses that screen those films, but it seems they aren't screened at midnight anymore.

[–] Devans00 8 years ago

WarpedRecord
John Waters' films are indeed best seen in a theater with a like-minded crowd. I saw "Polyester" in a theater last year, complete with the scratch-and-sniff card. The film loses a lot by watching it at home alone on a TV screen.

That sounds fun. Did anyone dress up as characters or dance any of the routines?

No two persons ever watch the same movie.

[–] WarpedRecord 8 years ago

No, unfortunately no one dressed up as the characters as I recall. The scratch-and-sniff cards they handed out were apparently a faithful duplication of the original, but I wonder how accurate they were. Of course, scratch-and-sniff still seems to be an imperfect craft. Many of the odors just smelled "good" or "bad," not specific.