Audience Participation Cinema

So recently I have been going to the Astor Theater in Melbourne more and more. I caught a screening of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, which is great fun to watch when everyone gets into it, doing the time warp and such in front of the cinema screen and dressing up as Doctor Frankenfurter… Sure, you get a bit wet when people start firing their water pistols and I was covered in rice after just the first scene, but this is the joy of a movie like Rocky Horror.

This is an obvious example of what I have here called Audience Participation Cinema, but other examples include screenings of the “enjoyably” dreadful film The Room, in which everyone throws plastic spoons at the screen and yells whatever comes to their heads at the screen hoping to god that the director is listening to them and taking notes on why his film absolutely terrible.

In addition the Astor has recently hired a duo known as Cinema Fiasco who present the very worst horror cinema has to offer from b-grade directing giants such as Burt I. Gordon… They give DVD style commentary over the films which is hilarious… Their presentation of Blacula was a treat and The Dunwich Horror and The Food Of The Gods were also particularly good.

Is this a neglected aspect of cinema? The type of cinema that allows an audience to get actively involved in the film and, in many ways, turn the events happening on screen into a reality. Would you say that this type of cinema is, by necessity, only suitable for cult and terrible films? What are some other examples of this type of cinema?

Marcus Killerby

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Marcus…

Maaarcusssss…

A free D.V.D. to you, Marcus, if you can tell me which 1990s film I am referencing with the above.

(Yes, I live in Melbourne).

Well, I attended the previous Astor screening of “Rocky Horror” and this film has recently been much-discussed on this forum.

The audience participation element of “Rocky Horror” doesn’t work for me because the audience repeating every ordinary line from the film only highlights the overrated quality of this curio.

The Cinema Fiasco is a long-time standard at the Astor, but it did go into hibernation for a little while.

Marcus, I don’t know how good your memory is for the “Blacula” evening, but I was the one who exclaimed “YEAH!” when one of the commentators, Geoff, before the film, mentioned the song “Look The Other Way”. I absolutely LOVE that song!

“The Sound of Music” is neither cult nor terrible, but audience sing-a-longs are encouraged at some screenings, in addition to fancy dress inspired by characters from the film (I’m still waiting for the day when someone has the balls to dress as a Nazi to a “Sound of Music” sing-along/fancy dress; given the large amount of slightly sexy nuns already at these things, a few Nazis would make the whole thing appear more like an S & M kinksters convention…which is sort of what a “Rocky Horror” event resembles). Also, “Mary Poppins” is often a sing-a-long event. It is neither cult nor terrible.

Could it be Julie Andrews films inspire audience participation as much as dreadful cinema and cult favourites?

It’s wonderful to see you support Melbourne’s last remaining (regularly operational) single screen cinema palace, Marcus!

The next time you’re there, if you see the tall beautiful lad who is a dirty blonde (that’s the colour of my hair, not my reputation!) wearing the outrageous tie-dye, feel free to say hello! I’m usually playing around with Marzipan the Cat.

Speaking of which…

Yo man, it’s been 5 months since I looked at this and I’m only seeing your post now. What’s the next film you’re going to go see there?

And I have no idea what film that still is from… Please enlighten me.

That film is BOOMERANG!! I want my free DVD!

Also, Troll 2 was touring various cities with midnight screenings a couple of years ago and it was soooo much fun. People would shout out the lines and dance next to the screen during the dance sequence.

If you are interested, take this survey about which movies will become cult films in the future.

William Castle’s The Tingler sounds like it was fun in cinemas. I’m surprised there hasn’t been more use of smells in cinemas, given the various gimmicks there have been

The Naked fight scene/chase from Borat got more of sustained audience reaction then Rocky Horror does at my independent cinema (PCC London)…

Talking of which, they also have “Sing-a-long-a Grease” pretty much every weekend. They’ve also had “Swear Along” with “South Park” and “Team America”. Costume nights and quote-a-longs for “The Big Lebowski”, “Princess Bride” and “Wayne’s World” among others.

So yea, if Audience Participation Cinema is what you’re after, and you happen to be in London, that’s the place to be.

They give DVD style commentary over the films which is hilarious… Their presentation of Blacula was a treat

As someone who likes Blacula I would not want to sit through something like that.

I’m of two minds about the whole Mystery Science Theater thing. On the one hand it helped popularize some obscure trash gems that otherwise would never have gotten such exposure (Manos: The Hands of Fate for example) but on the other, as amusing as I admit it can be at times, the show is born out of contempt for the films it makes fun of, a contempt I do not share and which makes me uncomfortable.

I wouldn’t want my first exposure to any film to be via MST3K, rifftrax or running audience commentary, especially if the film in question was actually decent (This Island Earth, Marooned, Revenge of the Creature, Danger: Diabolik are all decent films that appeared in MST3K, I also enjoy quite a few of the less renowed films they riffed on).

" the show is born out of contempt for the films it makes fun of, a contempt I do not share and which makes me uncomfortable."

I’m not entirely sure that’s the case. They are riffing on the films but the humor is lighthearted and points to one of the reasons why those movies have appeal in the first place: the kitsch, irony, laid-bareness of it all.

Think about it like this: the ‘story’ of MST3K is that Joel and crew are trapped in the ship as part of an experiment by an evil doctor (a b-movie story using b-movie production value from the get-go) to see if he can break their minds by showing bad movies; but if they really thought the movies were bad, I mean mind-breakingly bad, they would have figured they wouldn’t have an audience sit through their episodes.

—PolarisDiB

I’m not entirely sure that’s the case. They are riffing on the films but the humor is lighthearted and points to one of the reasons why those movies have appeal in the first place: the kitsch, irony, laid-bareness of it all.

That’s one way of looking at it. The other is that it encourages the cult of irony. Part of the charm of that particular brand of cinema lies in how earnest they are their eagerness to please despite the lack of a budget or sometimes even the most rudimentary of understandings on the language of cinema. If you meet them halfway they are often worth sitting through for their own sake. MST3K is too cool to meet them on their own terms though and treats them as objects of ridicule instead of affection. While much of the humor is relatively harmless, it feels like kicking a puppy. I’d much rather attend an event where people make fun of Bad Boys II, you know?

I used to love it as a kid. Now? Mixed feelings all around.

but if they really thought the movies were bad, I mean mind-breakingly bad, they would have figured they wouldn’t have an audience sit through their episodes.

Well, they never really had much of a choice. They had to rely on public domain films or movies with cheap copyrights. I’ll also be the first to admit that some of their selections really were that bad,

" While much of the humor is relatively harmless, it feels like kicking a puppy. I’d much rather attend an event where people make fun of Bad Boys II, you know?"

Well one of the reasons why they couldn’t riff on movies like Bad Boys II is because of copyright, as you mentioned. Now, with RiffTrax, they are capable of avoiding copyright by recording standalone unaccompanied audio that syncs with movies, the audio itself stands alone from any other materials. Hence, RiffTrax now takes on Twilight. And their humor has become a bit more biting and less ironic in the cases of movies that I think they think are really bad. For instance, they hadn’t really anything biting in The Dark Knight rifftrax but went all-out for X-men 3: the Last Stand.

—PolarisDiB

Drive In theaters are perfect for this sort of things. They’re always showing some silly action movie, and you can be much more relaxed and talk during it and make snide comments. I’ve even been to one once were we grilled hamburgers during the film.

PolarisDIB i think that there’s alot more biting stuff to be said for “The Dark Knight” then for X-men. Maybe, if they weren’t fanboys that enjoy that brand of tedious nihlism and empty pretentiousness they could really expose it. Even if they aren’t fanboys, that kind of specious faux-darkness (aka “realism”) and high school philosophical musings are very popular these days.

I meant audience participation riffing whenit comes to Bad Boys II, like the kind the original poster described for Blacula, and not MST3K. From what I can tell (and I couldn’t attend one even if I wanted to given where I live so my experience is all second hand) these events tend to focus on older, low budget films that are often quite enjoyable on their own terms. I’d happily attend one that pretty much took cynical, high budget garbage to task and made something that was genuinely unwatchable (Michael Bay’s magnum opus) even halfway enjoyable.

“PolarisDIB i think that there’s alot more biting stuff to be said for “The Dark Knight” then for X-men. Maybe, if they weren’t fanboys that enjoy that brand of tedious nihlism and empty pretentiousness they could really expose it. Even if they aren’t fanboys, that kind of specious faux-darkness (aka “realism”) and high school philosophical musings are very popular these days.”

I am referring to the RiffTrax recordings themselves, not my opinion on the matter. I’d rather not have yet another Dark Knight debate, I’m just saying the RiffTrax guys’ sense of humor seems to change in correlation to their relative appreciation of the movie itself and the MST3K recordings weren’t always meant to earnestly kick a guy when he’s down (sometimes, though. The Manos episodes are infamous for that reason).

—DiB

Yea i know PolarisDIB, they’re opinion (and the vast majority it seems) not your’s, i was just venting lol.

Though in terms of that theory of “sense of humor seems to change in correlation to their relative appreciation of the movie itself” it means that they’ll end up being a bit too obvious on the choice of films that they go hard on, that most likely, the majority of people don’t take seriously in the first place.
This, rather then subverting things intelligently for a new satirical, even iconoclastic take on popular or critically acclaimed movies that will not only provide laughs, but expand our perspectives rather then just confirming (and pandering) to them.

Not their job.

—DiB

Well, it’s up to them really isn’t it, just putting the idea out there on what i think would be useful; to have truly satirical and subversive commentaries and/or parodies.

There’s a market for it or you could call it a podcast, if you see a need I’d encourage you think about the possibility of doing it yourself. I’d like to see it I just like the RiffTrax guys for what it is and don’t really want them to take on that function that is not their whole appeal.

—PolarisDiB

It’s certainly an idea worth considering. Though off course not by myself, any ideas on the feasibility of something like that would be much appreciated.