Alamo Drafthouse and AGFA

Well Kiddies it has been a crazy couple of weeks here and I admit that I am still standing strong.

We have been hard at work on the upcoming HauntShooter project and in early preparations on this year's Texas Frightmare Weekend. There are also some other projects that I am Hard at work on but I choose to keep them on the down low for now at least.

What I really want to talk about here is The Alamo Drafthouse.

Founded by Tim League, The Alamo Drafthouse was one of the original Dine-In Theatres featuring a wide assortment of Beers of all types and Genre films. The Alamo is greatly respected by both fans and filmmakers.

 The Drafthouse has experienced Premieres and Festivals and sneak previews for upcoming releases and has attracted headlines for the enforcement of its No Talking rule as well as its Banning of Texting in theaters. 

The Drafthouse attracted the attention for this in 2011 when I young woman was ejected from the establishment after using her phone in the theatre and called the front office to complain leaving a voicemail.

As many of you will know when I was in Austin the Alamo was where I found my sanctuary. I enjoyed Terror Tuesday's, Weird Wednesdays, Master Pancakes, and Horror Remixes among other special events. 

 These along with Rolling Roadshows and Fantastic Fest.

When I returned to the Dallas area in 2013 it was not long until a Alamo Drafthouse was built and opened it's doors in Richardson Texas and naturally I became a regular at the establishment and James Wallace was the programmer bringing us events like Master Pancake and the Horror Remixes as well as introducing us to the monthly AGFA Secret Screenings and the Dismember the Alamo event in October.

While I am an advocate for the Angelica as well as it is a great place to view Arthouse and Indeflicks, The Alamo is the place for Genre film screenings.

The opening Night of Star Wars was a blast.

Now I know that I have in the past been quite critical of the cuisine of the Alamo but that was in fact in Austin where the places were far more of the Vegan friendly but the DFW locations don't fall for this because when you order a burger you actually get a decent burger and fries and I had the pleasure of attending some of the feasts there are some great items on the Menu.

Now we can't forget the Beer with the events and the utilization of local breweries The Alamo still lives up to it's name as the Drafthouse even utilizing events such as special screenings utilizing the beers and seasonal Ale.

Dallas has received the opening of its second Drafthouse in the Dallas area just off Lamar next to the Southside and Gilley's...Trust Me you can't miss it. Naturally I was going to be there for the Soft opening that they have had this Week to check the place out.

This theatre is awesome! They have 2 stories for movie lovers and social types alike. 

With the first floor being the cinema intended like many of the Drafthouses is from Genre fans where we are shown posters ranging from Dallas produced films like Robocop and the Phantom of the Paradise to more cult titles like Barbaraella and Dementia 13.

I personally like the fact that there is a poster of the Amicus classic Anthology flick Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors which is one of my favorites featuring Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee.

The Auditoriums feature more personal seats for the moviegoers and is far friendlier for couples but the seats are far more comfortable and recline and I was able to watch both The Martian and Mad Max without pain in my back. The tables feature holes for your cup on the table thus preventing the table from getting wet from the sweat from the glass with the menus are placed under the tables for you to place your orders and still have the flags with pens to do such.

Above the Theatre is the Vetted Well pub where you can kill time before the flick in the bar or grab a bite with some of its own individual eats or just hang out in the Patio.  My friend Beth works there and can always recommend the best cocktails.

You can even sing Karaoke with your friends win individual rooms similar to the Highball in Austin.

Needless to say check it out.

James Wallace told me that the new place will feature many new events which we discussed potential ideas for screenings but don’t fret AGFA will stay at the Richardson location.

Last Week I headed out to Richardson for this Month’s AGFA and sadly Bri could not join me due to some issues where she worked and I met up with my Alamo gang Chris and Alan to check out the flick.

James Wallace soon took the stage and caused Alan to have a fit when he announced that the print was none other than 1985’s Demons.

This now considered Classic Italian Horror Film directed by Lamberto Bava and produced by Horror Master Dario Argento Demons is a flick about a group of people attending a free screening of a film about Demons who end up turning the moviegoers into Demons.

The Demons are malformed homicidal zombies that can in fact be killed with a shot to the head but anyone they attack will soon become a Demon themselves after being scratched in a Dawn of the Dead meets Evil Dead sort of Way.

Needless to say nice flick for AGFA with its 1980’s Gore and Effects as well as it’s soundtrack featuring Musicians like Billy Idol, Rick Springfield and Mötley Crüe.

Now this Flick spawned 9 Sequels but not all are canon I personally recommend Demons 2 and apparently Cemetery Man is considered canon to this flick.

23 Dead Bodies

1 Breast

19 Demons

Eyeball Gouging

Tongue Ripping

Brain Eating

Samuari Bikers  

Crashing Helicopter

  

Shark Week 2015 and AGFA

Well Here We are Kiddies it’s Shark Week 2015 and it is off with a bang…Literally with the week being moved from August to July one day from Independence Day appropriately naming the date of Kick off as Findependance Day.

There has been some changes for the annual seal chomper and some of them are bittersweet.

With the new management of The Discovery Channel comes the end of the Shark Week Found Footage Mockumentaries which I have to say that I am happy about.

While Megalodon and Submarine were entertaining I feel that they are not appropriate for Shark Week and the Discovery Channel where audiences will be led to believe that the films were real and misleading.

Megalodon was okay I felt that Submarine was too far-fetched and scientifically inaccurate for the specials that we are accustomed to from Channel’s programing which has worked diligently in the past 20 plus years to change the image of the shark.

I also want to give credit to Spawn of Jaws and the tribute to Paul Walker who had loaned his talents to one of his many passions in the preservation of sharks in the oceans of the world.

Spawn of Jaws follows scientists and documentary filmmakers who are keeping track of a pregnant Great White hoping to film the birth of the Shark’s Pups.

While the film was in production Paul Walker was killed on Thanksgiving Weekend 2013 in a car crash and his death is acknowledged in the film and tribute to him is paid in the opening by his Fast and Furious co-Star Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.

My Favorate Flicks on this year's line-up is Bride of Jaws and Lair of the Mega Shark

One of my favorite additions to Shark Week is the inclusion of Shark After Dark to the line-up. 

Gone this year is Josh Wolf and Taryn Southern as they have gone on to their own endeavors.  Wolf can be seen on CMT with his own show and Southern can be found hosting Movie Therapy  on www.movietickets.com

Remaining to pitch Dunkin Doughnuts and Red Apple Ale is none other than Bob the Shark who remains in commercial capacity.

Taking the reins of Shark After Dark  is Horror director Eli Roth serving as host. With guests including Kevin Smith and Greg Nicotero.

The Discovery Channel is not the only place to celebrate Shark Week anymore! While other networks make it a point to have Shark related programing in their own right there are also Shark Week Themed gatherings at many beaches across the country as well as other Shark Week events in non-oceanic areas.

On Monday night Scarface and I headed over to the Alamo Drafthouse where they are having their own Shark Week Line-Up which began on Sunday night with Jaws 3D and other programing includes a gimic showing of Sharknado with flying Sharks in the theatre and one of my favorite Shark films Deep Blue Sea which I reviewed on a previous Shark Week entry here on the Video Creep.

The screening that we attended was the monthly secret screening of the AGFA.

Now there was much speculation on this film and while many of us predicted that the screening would be the 1981 Jaws mockbuster Great White which was sued by Universal Studios because of too many similarities to its 1975 inspiration that the United States release was halted and remains a collector’s item among Genre Fans.

While our speculation continued and included Jaws the Revenge and Cruel Jaws James Wallace took the stage with his Jaws t-Shirt and informed us that the film was 1969’s Shark.

Now this was another flick that I had seen in my childhood that followed Burt Reynolds as Cain, a gun runner who finds himself stuck in a small village by the Red Sea where he soon takes a job working on a boat with a mysterious woman and her partner.

What Cain soon discovers is that his employers are actually treasure hunters that are trying to retrieve gold from a sunken ship that happens to be in the prime feeding grounds of many killer sharks.

I have to say not too many Sharks in a film titled Shark but I am willing to look past that because the film was not too bad.

The film is what is and it reflects the time that it was made and the audience reacted much to the events in the film that were common back in 1969 but not accepted in today’s films.

The production was marred in controversy when director Sam Fuller fought with the producers to have his name removed from the film due to both their editorial fails as well as the marketing of the film using the actual death of a stunt diver during production of the film.

3 Dead Bodies

0 Breasts

3 Sharks

1 Runt

1 Drunken Doctor

1 “Fatso”

3 Betrayals

2 Stars

Check it out. 

AGFA Screening: Never Too Young To DIe

Well I have to admit that the Alamo Dreafhouse in Richardson got me with this month’s sectet screening for the AGFA.

They as they have in the past couple of screenings sent out pictures of different posters giving hints.

The first was stated that the character was not Han Solo but he is a childhood hero.

The second poster shot was a Asian character with an unusual weapon.

I have to admit that I had nothing and Alamo Drafthouse manager Champ even asked me if I had a clue and my suspicions were quickly shot down, Well Kiddies, for the first time since the screenings of the  AGFA began I was unable to figure out what the screening was until James Wallace announced that the film was Too Young to Die starring John Stamos, and Vanity along with Gene Simmons and George Lazenby.

Released in 1986 the film billed Stamos as the next Big Action Star which was derailed by a little sitcom called Full House released a year later and well a few Yogurt commercials later.

The flick follows Lance Stargrove (Stamos) a college gymnast who after the death of his secret agent father (Lazenby) at the hands of the transvestite terrorist Velvet Von Ragner, Stargrove must avenge his father and foil Ragner’s plot to destroy a city’s water supply with the help of sexy female agent and love interest Danja Deering (Vanity) and his Gadget ready roommate Cliff (Peter Kwong).

Kiss musician and future reality star Gene Simmons plays the role of the villainous Ragner in a role that is not too unknown to him and he is joined by Freddy Kruger (Robert Englund in a small role) and Genre veterian and Twilight Zone regular John Andreson joins the cast as Stargrove’s boss Arliss.

Honestly at times I thought that I was watching a live action version of James Bond Jr while I was watching this movie, which that is not a bad thing just for the record.

Now on to the flick, I’m sure that this flick did receive a theatrical run but I can see that this film had its life in the video stores.

I can see why it is in the AGFA because of the action and the campiness of the film.

One of the most memorable scenes in the film is the awkward seduction where Stamos who attempts to avoid Vanity by constantly getting fruit and drinks while she entices him with her sexuality.

Fans of the James Bond 007 films would enjoy this flick with it’s blend of Action, Comedy, Drama and campiness.

15 Dead Bodies

2 Breasts

1 Beast

7 Explosions

1 Car Chase but no Crash and Burn

A 7 on the testosterone Meter

2 ½ Stars

Check it out