MiDNiTES FOR MANiACS: Pump up the Volume, Footloose & Masacre at Central High! August 31, 2007

August 31
“MiDNiTES FOR MANiACS” presents “SWITCHING SCHOOLS SUCKS” TRIPLE FEATURE
Hosted By Jesse Hawthorne Ficks
ALL THREE FILMS for only $10.00!
There was nothing worse then having to transfer to a new high skool. In fact, it was so traumatizing that a whole teen genre was created to try and help kids through this right of passage.

F 7:30p: Pump Up The Volume
Directed by Allan Moyle (TIMES SQUARE); Containing: Christian Slater, Samantha Mathis, Cheryl Pollak, Seth Green, Ahmet Zappa; 1990, 105 min.

We kick off the evening with Christian Slater giving the performance of his career as an angry young man who’s forced to move to Arizona during his senior year. Out of total boredom, he starts his own pirate radio show with the pseudonym of Hard Harry. But as his ranting and raving grows more subversive, more students and adults start to pay attention. This Grunge classic was a prediction as well as a wake up call to the apathetic youth of the 1990’s. And the film is as relevant today as it was 17 years ago. If you are looking for the film that defined the 1990’s, dust off your flannel shirt, don’t comb your hair and be prepared to “talk hard” to some bitchin’ songs by The Pixies, Bad Brains, Sonic Youth, Leonard Cohen, and The Decendents! Preceeded by some totally awesome teen trailers.

9:45p: Footloose
Directed by Herbert Ross; Containing: Kevin Bacon, Lori Singer, John Lithgow, Diane Wiest, Chris Penn, Sarah Jessica Parker 1984, 107 min. NEW 35MM PRINT!

Tuff times continue for transfer students as Kevin Bacon plays Ren, a big city kid who’s forced to move from Chicago to a West coast hick town, only to find it so repressed that they’ve banned Rock n’ Roll and dancing entirely! (The filmmakers wanted repressed realism, so they filmed in American Fork, Utah.) This New-Wave adrenaline-fest showcases some of the most memorable mainstream movie moments of the 1980’s. Come on now, who doesn’t want to be dancing in the Castro Theatre aisles to Kenny Loggins?!

Midnite: Massacre at Central High
Directed by Rene Daalder; Containing: Derrel Maury, Andrew Stevens, Robert Carradine, Kimberly Beck, Cheryl “Rainbeaux” Smith; 1976, 87min.

Our evening concludes with one of the most notorious Teensploitation films of the 1970’s. This rarely seen socially aware “meanie” layed the groundwork for the onlslaught of campus revenge flicks, that thrived throughout the 1980’s. After David transfers to his new high skool, he’s threatened by a gang of bullies who almost paralyze him. David reacts by forming his own gang (complied of Geeks & Losers) and starts an all-out campus war. You’ve probably seen the mainstream remakes of this film (HEATHERS and REVENGE OF THE NERDS) but this exploitative-treasure sheds some very serious social commentary on our class structures on high school campuses, which seems to be quite relevant today, 30 years later. EXTREMELY RARE PRINT. NOT AVAILABLE ON DVD! Preceeded by some of scariest teen trailers ever!

MiDNiTES FOR MANiACS programming & notes by Jesse Hawthorne Ficks
Advance Tix available at www.ticketweb.com or at the Castro Theatre box office. Please contact Jesse at www.midnitesformaniacs.com or email him at freekyfridays@gmail.com

Official Website: http://castrotheatre.com/p-list.html