Dumber In The Summer!! / Saturdays in July & August
The Cinefamily is devoted to the elucidation and advancement of cinema's finest principles, as well as the exposure of our viewing public to the enriching potential of film history -- but it's summer, and SCHOOL IS OUT!!!! Sure, we also have a full program where you can come on other nights of the week and see stuff that's bound to make your brain better, but on Saturday nights, it's time to get Dumber In The Summer, with a series of fun films that go down easier than a teenager at a rainbow party! We've got a '70s Van party, a girls-only Pajama Party, the Savage Steve Holland tribute party, and even the Everything Is Terrible weekend-long party! The weather will be awesome (weather permitting), the grill will be fired up, guest DJs will be spinnin' all night long -- so take a trip with us and rage it up!
7/10 @ 10:00pm / Series: Dumber In The Summer!! Boys' Night Out: Bachelor Party shown with The Party Animal Bachelor Party - 10:00pm
"While some critics appreciated the humor, others found it to be vulgar and gratuitous." - Bachelor Party's Wikipedia entry
For a willfully stoopid kickass good time at the cinema, one could do no better in the '80s than look to the team of Neal Israel and Pat Proft (Real Genius, Moving Violations, Americathon and the Police Academy franchise), and the crown jewel in this classic comedy duo's arsenal is without a doubt Bachelor Party, one of the prime contenders for Heavyweight Slob Comedy Of The World. An epic monster that devilishly stretches the limits of tastelessness in forty-seven different directions, Bachelor Party stars Tom Hanks (never funnier than in this film, hands down) as a slacker who's about to get married to rich girl Tawny Kitaen; before he ties the knot, his goofball friends throw him the party-til-you-puke rager of the century. This thing's the ultimate densely-layered bahklava of a hedonistic sex farce, with its nonstop parade of T&A, endless boozing, loud rock 'n roll, neckties as headbands, hookers, shredded hotel rooms, starchy WASPs and their rightful comeuppance, dance contests, and cocaine-snorting livestock; Bachelor Party is what we all dreamed of as kids when we saw in our minds what a real party was supposed to be like -- so come freak the fuck out with us as we burn this mother to the ground!
Dir. Neal Israel, 1984, 35mm, 105 min.
The Party Animal - midnight
Remember when your mom said you couldn't rent Revenge of the Nerds because it was nothing but naked girls, crass jokes and offensive sexual attitudes? And then you finally saw it at your cousin's sleepover, but it didn't quite deliver, boobywise? The Party Animal is the film that your pre-adolescent fantasies wanted delivered straight to your door, exploding in a frenzy of enough regressive '80s college sex romp thrills to make even that guy who had the huge stack of Playboys in eighth grade blush. Set amongst a completely loony, fractured narrative, our hero Pondo Sinatra arrives at college on the back of a turnip truck (literally, he's on the back of a turnip truck!) looking to shed his virginity but can't score with the improbable throngs of hot chicks that populate the campus -- until a Faustian deal allows him to whip up Love Potion #9. This bizarre, highly entertaining 77-minute wonder, edited out of the footage from a highly chaotic (and presumably party-filled) shoot, is chock full of drugs, bangin' tunes from groups like The Buzzcocks and The Fleshtones, and enough boobage to melt the scrambler right off your cable box!
Dir. David Beaird, 1964, 35mm, 78 min.
Watch the trailer for "Bachelor Party"!
Watch the trailer for "The Party Animal"!
Tickets - $10
7/17 @ 7:30pm / Series: Dumber In The Summer!! '70s Van Triple Feature: The Van shown with Mag Wheels and Supervan
In Van-adu did horny teens
A stately pleasure-dome decree
Where pot, 8-tracks and copped feels ran
Through shag carpet measureless to man
Down to a beach party...
Like Coleridge's own opium-soaked fantasy of the mythic paradise Xanadu, groovy late '70s teens found a way to escape their own doldrums (i.e. their parents' basements) by creating their own mobile oases of hedonistic abandon. Their newly-acquired factory-designed vans were a blank slate for slightly nerdy self-expression; every side panel an open canvas onto which youth culture of the time could airbrush its dreams, every interior waiting to be transformed into a tricked-out shagadelic bachelor pad screwmobile. Cinefamily brings you two fun, fab films from the peak of this customization craze: the paradigmatic jewel of this sub-genre, The Van, in which (guess what?) a young virgin gets a van and turns it into a tricked-out shagadelic screwmobile; Mag Wheels, an outrageously fun Boys vs. Girls, Trucks vs. Vans teen sex romp square-off, produced by an actual van customization firm just to show off their fine work; and, Supervan, the tale of an experimental top-secret solar-powered laser-equipped van and the Midwestern boy who takes it for an unauthorized spin. You'll be lov-van it! The Van Dir. Sam Grossman, 1977, 35mm, 92 min. Mag Wheels Dir. Bethel Buckalew, 1978, 35mm, 81 min. Supervan Dir. Lamar Card, 1977, 35mm, 91 min.
Watch an excerpt from "The Van"!
Watch an excerpt from "Supervan"!
Tickets - $10
7/24 @ 7:30pm / Series: Dumber In The Summer!! Cinefamily Pajama Party (NO BOYS ALLOWED!): Foxes shown with Valley Girl Co-presented by Bear Flag Wine and Paciugo Gelato
DO NOT READ THIS WITH BOYS AROUND. GIRLS ONLY!!!!
Are they gone? Ok, cool. So, you're totally invited to our pajama party, where we're gonna have a gelato bar and a pajama fashion show! With no boys in sight, we can feel free to dance crazy and do whatever we want, including revel in an awesome girl-centric double feature worth snuggling up to: Foxes and Valley Girl! First up is Foxes, starring Jodie Foster and Runaways singer Cherie Currie in the sensitive late '70s tale of a group of girls who have only each other to rely on in the face of a glam-rock adolescence complete with absent self-indulgent parents, abundant drugs and alcohol, and a defileably cute Scott Baio. A sparkly Donna Summer-studded score from Giorgio Moroder completes this angsty classic's decadent, vulnerable vibe. Then, we've got Valley Girl, inspired by the Frank Zappa song of the same name! With its suburbs-vs-Hollywood hoodrat Romeo and Juliet tale, the film perfectly captures the slang-riddled shallowness which would settle over San Fernando for the forseeable '80s, as seen through director Martha Coolidge's slyly satrical lens. A young, seriously hot Nicolas Cage plays the Valley princess's punk object of desire, and the soundtrack will have you bopping along to Sparks as well as other KROQ staples of its era! Drew Barrymore will be here in person to introduce Foxes, the first half of the evening's double feature! Foxes Dir. Adrian Lyne, 1980, 35mm, 106 min. Valley Girl Dir. Martha Coolidge, 1983, 35mm, 99 min.
Watch the trailer for "Foxes"!
Watch the trailer for "Valley Girl"!
Tickets - $10
8/7 @ 10:00pm / Series: Dumber In The Summer Bum Trips Double Feature: Tourist Trap (w/ director David Schmoeller in person!) shown with The Hills Have Eyes
Tourist Trap - 10:00pm
As sensory-charged as an experimental film and as graphic as a PG rating of its time allowed, Tourist Trap, one of the great archetypal drive-in horror films, initially unfolds in the classic horror tradition, but quickly swerves right off the highway into total blissful mindwarp territory. A quartet of hapless youths take a backroads vacation journey up to a desolate tourist trap run by the suspiciously hospitable Mr. Slausen (Chuck Connors); inbetween skinny dipping and exploring creepy resort attractions, the victims-to-be encounter Slausen's mannequins, which have a nasty habit of coming to life and offing folks. Thanks to its startling music score by Italian legend Pino Donaggio, its weird lyrical romantic qualities and sharp direction by David Schmoeller (Crawlspace), this oddity evokes elements of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, including its chilling rural setting and Connors' truly crazed performance as a memorable down-home psychopath. Director David Schmoeller will be here in person for a Q&A after the film!
Dir. David Schmoeller, 1979, 35mm, 90 min.
The Hills Have Eyes - midnight
After the surprise success of the infamous shocksploitation hit The Last House On The Left, Wes Craven’s cache was permanently cemented with his next film, the equally lurid and compelling The Hills Have Eyes. Transplanting The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’s basic set-up to the arid deserts of California, Craven’s foray into hick horror goes arguably further into depravity, as a band of unwary travelers (in this case a family in a Winnebago) stumble off the beaten path and run afoul of a cannibalistic family (featuring the iconic movie mutant Michael Berryman) that dishes out an equal amount of Viking-like and caveman savagery to anything in its path. As the film parallels both clans doing what they must to survive a vengeful battle to the death, Craven’s deeply satirical digs at “family values” here are just as pointed as the highly realistic and unflinching barbarism, resulting in a timeless grindhouse standard easily elevated beyond mere genre trappings.
Dir. Wes Craven, 1977, 35mm, 89 min. (35mm print courtest of the American Genre Archive)
Watch the trailer for "Tourist Trap"!
Watch the trailer for "The Hills Have Eyes"!
Tickets - $10
8/14 @ 7:30pm / Series: Dumber In The Summer A Night With Savage Steve Holland: Better Off Dead shown with One Crazy Summer
Helping to define the Golden Era of teen comedies, writer/director/animator/genius Savage Steve Holland, with his semi-autobiographical gems Better Off Dead and One Crazy Summer (both starring a young John Cusack), created a one-man mini-movement of marvelously maniacal masterpieces that blended confessional teen angst, non-stop gleefully absurdist black comedy, timeless one-liners and catchphrases, left-field cartoon interludes and coming-of-age tenderness into an unpredictable and fantastically entertaining stew that few have matched. The one-two punch of these films is an instant rite of passage, one that begs to be revisited and enjoyed again and again. Join us as Steve appears in person (along with tons of special guests) to present both of these films, alongside his legendary CalArts student film Going Nowhere Fast and other rarities from his varied and sizable career!
Better Off Dead - 7:00pm
Fusing Bananas-era Woody Allen to a bizarro netherworld John Hughes landscape, Better Off Dead finds death-obsessed protagonist Lane Meyer (John Cusack, in one of his funniest roles) battling heartbreak with the help of substance-obsessed pal Charles (Curtis Armstrong aka Revenge Of The Nerds' Booger), a lovingly deranged family, and an endless depository of demented, oft-quoted gags ("I want my two dollars!!!!"). Underseen at the time of its original release, Better Off Dead is rightly appreciated now as a cult standard; Savage Steve's plan of taking the Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker template of a thousand jokes a hour and lovingly crafting around it a sweetly told tale of teenage ennui is a brilliant move, resulting in a unique and sparkling classic. Savage Steve will be joined by Curtis Armstrong, E.G. Daily, Dan Schneider and Diane Franklin for a Q&A after the film!
Dir. Savage Steve Holland, 1985, 35mm, 97 min.
One Crazy Summer - 10:00pm-ish
Upping the outrageousness quotient by several degrees, this sequel-in-spirit to Better Off Dead is the screwy story of frustrated young cartoonist Hoops McCann (a returning John Cusack), his wise-ass best friend George Calamari (Bill Murray’s gene-channeling brother, Joel), and would-be rock star Cassandra (a tomboyish Demi Moore), as they cavort with a manic, Godzilla-suited Bobcat Goldthwait and a priceless, twitchy, scene-stealing Bruce Wagner on an island in Nantucket during summer break. If all of this sounds wonderfully nuts, you're absolutely right; irreverent, charming and goofy, One Crazy Summer is on its own a helluva good time, but when paired with Better Off Dead, it's sublime. Holy crap -- Savage Steve will be joined by Bobcat Goldthwait, Curtis Armstrong and Joel Murray for the Q&A after the film!
Dir. Savage Steve Holland, 1986, 35mm, 97 min.
Watch the trailer for "Better Off Dead"!
Watch the trailer for "One Crazy Summer"!
Tickets - $12/free for members
8/28 & 8/29 @ 7:30pm / Series: Dumber In The Summer Everything Is Terrible! presents: Everything Is Festival!
Imagine a weekend where all your fantasies come true. A weekend where you can just be...free. Laugh until your sides literally split open, and feel as cool as a skateboarding, shade-tippin' dog. We're talking about the festival to end all film festivals -- Everything Is Festival! (aka the 10th Annual Gathering Of The Terribles)! For reasons beyond our control (God's plan), we at Cinefamily are giving the found footage freaks at Everything Is Terrible! free range of the weekend, and letting them do whatever the hell they want (note: we did have to say “no” to the all-night helicopter foam party). This makes it the official L.A. premiere of their latest mash-up feature-length film, 2Everything 2Terrible 2: Tokyo Drift, not to mention some of EIT!’s favorite movies in their uncut glory, plus dance parties, BBQs, a return of the Cinefamily Found Footage Battle Royal, and top-secret über-rare prints from the vaults of Cinefamily and Austin, TX’s famous Alamo Drafthouse! If that wasn't enough to drench your dick, EIT! will also be playing assorted madness from all their favorite pals they've met on their mystical journey: TV Carnage, Waverly Films, Rob Schrab, Black Magic Roller Coaster and tons more! Overall, we promise it will be the most fun you'll ever have at this dump! Think Sundance, but for discerning slobs like you! Swag-bags for folks who buy weekend passes! The only thing we ask is to bring along your old friend...Imagination!
DAY ONE (August 28th):
- 2Everything 2Terrible 2: Tokyo Drift (official L.A. premiere!)
- freakazoid feature films TBA!
DAY TWO (August 29th):
- Found Footage Battle Royal
- epic big-ass shindig to follow!
NOTE: Each of the two days of Everything Is Festival! are separate admissions, unless you are an EIF! “weekend passholder”. Sales for weekend passes end August 27, 12:01AM, and will not be available at the box office.
Tickets - $12/$8 for members, weekend pass $16/$12 for members
Boys' Night Out:
The Party Animal - midnight
'70s Van Triple Feature:
Cinefamily Pajama Party (NO BOYS ALLOWED!):
Bum Trips Double Feature:
The Hills Have Eyes - midnight
A Night With Savage Steve Holland:
One Crazy Summer - 10:00pm-ish
Everything Is Terrible! presents:
