Jason goes to the Hypnodrome for Shocktoberfest 16: Curse of the Cobra

The Thrillpeddlers' annual Shocktoberfest show is one of my favorite Halloween traditions, even if I didn't get to it until the following Thursday. They always put on a great show.

Cracking the Vein: The show starts with this funny, sexy, murderous story of miners and the prostitutes and whiskey they spend their meager flake on. When they finally hit a big strike, Big John just wants to spend it drinking and fucking, but everyone else--miners and prostitutes alike--has more...forward-thinking schemes. Specifically, schemes to split the loot among fewer people.

We then jumped right into the macabre musical comedy with Donner Party Diner, a hilarious ditty that is just what it sounds like.

The Model House: The next piece was broken into two parts by intermission. After the War, Sarge has gotten into the real estate game, but is still good pals with his unit. In fact, he's looking to impress them at his twins' birthday part, and convince them to buy houses in the new development he's selling. There might be some concern about the fumes, what with this built on the old dump, but he assures them there's nothing to worry about. Heck, he believes in it enough that he's willing to take extraordinary measures to eliminate the crazy old man who's warning people off. that's the first glimpse of his darkness.

Then after intermission, when 10 years have passed (funny, it only felt like 10 minutes) we get a clearer look at his darkness. The years have not been kind, the fumes have not gone away, and he's a real sick fucking bastard who must get his comeuppance. So  I won't spoil it further.

The Revenge of the Son of Cobra Woman: And then the finale is a musical romp, a tender love story between a man and his dog, a voyage to strange, exotic locales, a mystery, a revolution, and a beautifully bloody finale. Awesome.

And, of course, the climactic finale of any Shocktoberfest show is the lights-out scares. I've been coming to their shows every year since they opened the Hypnodrome (and one year before when they did a show at the old Odeon Bar) and even knowing what's coming they usually find a way to surprise me. And this time they sure did. I always love ending my nights with a little scream in the dark.

Jason goes to the Hypnodrome and sees Club Inferno

About 15 years ago, when I read Dante's Inferno (I actually read the entire Divine Comedy) along with the copious notes explaining all the characters, I thought, 'This is pretty cool, but it would be awesome if someone did a modern update with references a modern audience can get.' And now the Thrillpeddlers have done just that, in about the most outrageous way possible, in reviving a play that was written...15 years ago, about the time I read the Inferno! Whoooaaah!

Anyway, this glam-rock musical version is a crazy trip, breezily taking you through all 9 circles courtesy of the Hellavator. Xaron is the guide for knocked-out nightclub singer Dante and her new-found friend Virgil. The dead characters range all over history and pop culture, from Cleopatra to the lesbian couple of Mama Cass and Karen Carpenter (opposites attract?) From Lucrecia Borgia to Joan of Arc to Aimee Semple MacPherson (look it up.) All the time with wild costumes (or...parts of costumes) and comedic songs. All the while they're plagued by Furies and Demons, and like any good Thrillpeddlers show, they get right up into the audience (even to play with one's luxurious hair.) What fun.

And if their publicist hasn't announced it yet, let me get the scoop and tell you all that it's run (which was supposed to end soon) has been extended through September 12th! Awesome!

Jason goes to Shocktoberfest 15: The Bloody Debutante

There are only 654 3 shows left (and one is tonight!) in the Thrillpeddler's bloodiest and best Shocktoberfest yet. And they do tend to sell out have all sold out, so you know, you've been warned. (Although it's always possible for a very few people to show up and be let in if someone who bought tickets in advance shows up.)

Dammit, I need to get better at writing up these reviews faster. On the other hand, they sold out all their shows so it doesn't seem like they need my help. Anyway, on to the show.

The Taxidermist's Revenge: I originally saw this back in 2006 and their Laboratory of Hallucinations Shocktoberfest. A taxidermist who feels his art is unappreciated invites a few high-ranking members of the art elite over for dinner. But first he has to hire a good chemist to assist him with the preparations.

The System of Dr. Tarr and Professor Fether: An original Grand Guignol classic from 1903, based on a Poe story and adapted by Paulo Biscaia Filho (of Vigor Mortis, the Thrillpeddlers' Brazilian friends and colleagues, as well as crowd favorites at Another Hole in the Head. I should take a moment to plug Holehead, it's coming up!) Anyway where was I? Sometimes I feel as if the inmates have taken over the asylum. Oops! Spoiler alert!

Then a brief intermission, where I enjoyed a refreshing beverage.

The Bloody Debutante: The title piece and the highlight of the show. A musical piece of gratuitous gore and debauchery, about a debutante...dressed in Yves Saint Laurent. Her date was a jerk, so she went berserk. The bloooody debutaaaaante! Yeah, she gets gruesome, perverse revenge on a jerk who spilled wine on her dress and then made a period joke about it.

Death Write: And finally, the show was capped off by this humorous two-person scene about writers who argue over credit for their latest work, with escalating deadliness. Hilarious, and of course like all Shocktoberfests it's capped with lights-out terrors!

An awesome night and an awesome show. I say this every time, but I really can't wait to see what the Thrillpeddlers create next.

Jason sees the Thrillpeddlers do PEARLS OVER SHANGHAI at the Hypnodrome

In the interest of time and effort I'll just refer back to when they first performed this back in 2009.

The show is largely the same, but after several Cockettes revivals the statement "The Thrillpeddlers haven't done this much music in their shows before" no longer applies. And it's more fun in a shockbox with a significant other. And the show has been held over through June! Tickets here. Also it's kind of amazing to watch an actor with his cock hanging out still project an undeniable femininity. That's great acting!

Jason goes to the Hypnodrome for Shocktoberfest 2013: Jack the Ripper

Oh yes, sometimes I actually go see live theater instead of movies. And my favorite live theater is with the Thrillpeddlers at the Hypnodrome. I've actually been following the Thrillpeddlers since before they had the Hypnodrome, when they were doing their Grand Guignol show, Shocktoberfest! at the old Odeon Bar. Things have changed quite a bit since then, and the Hypnodrome (especially the shock boxes) really up the game.

Anyway, in the spirit of the original Grand Guignol, Shocktoberfest 2013 was a series of short plays, alternating between sexy farces and blood-curdling terror (with bloody special effects).

First up, A VISIT TO MRS. BIRCH AND THE YOUNG LADIES OF THE ACADEMY (Scene One): Author unknown, from 1888, this...is just a spanking scene. That is, the housekeeper likes to spy on the young girls getting spanked by the headmistress, then the girls catch her and spank her. I guess this was the 1888 version of porn, and it takes a unique sensibility to put it on stage today.

JACK THE RIPPER: Originally written by André de Lorde and Pierre Chaine for the Grand Guignol in 1934, this is the premiere of the new English adaptation by Carl Grose. Based on the legend of Jack the Ripper, we have a city gripped in terror, an unruly prostitute used as bait, and a tale of blood and madness. Great, great stuff.

Then a brief intermission, and on to the second half of the show.

SALOME was a short, funny, sexy, and twisted musical take on Oscar Wilde's play. Very freakin' cool.

And finally, the grand finale with THE WRONG RIPPER: or, HEADLINE NOOSE: or, PAGEANT FOR THE HANDSOME ACCUSED. Now, I have no idea if the newspaper sensationalism aspect of this brand new play is inspired by the theory that Jack himself was the creation of a desperate crime writer. But I can tell you that the media sensationalism is played up quite a bit (in a role by Thrillpeddlers master Russell Blackwood as an editor for the '7th newspaper in San Francisco' (a city of six newspapers.) And I can tell you it's based on the very real case of one Theodore Durrant. The play mixes just the right amount of blood and comedy. From the cat burglar using the fear of the Ripper of San Francisco as cover for his crimes, to the prostitutes who simply refuse to believe handsome Theodore could possibly be a killer, to Moira Von Stepp singing about how she's "In love with a naughty, naughty man" and of course the newspaper editor constantly reminding you that the world is dangerous and the information he provides is all that stands between you certain doom! Pretty excellent stuff, and the lights-out thrills were great. This is actually the first time I've had a Shock Box (with a lady friend) for Shocktoberfest, and the extra features in there were...well, I won't spoil it, but they were pretty damn effective!

Shocktoberfest plays Thu-Sat until November 23rd, get your tickets here. And since I recognized new Thrillpeddler George Epsilanty from his work with Performers Under Stress, that also reminds me that P.U.S.'s new show SCAMORAMALAND is currently playing through Nov. 17th. I haven't seen it yet, but hope to before it closes. And I trust them to do good work.

Jason watches the Thrillpeddlers' TINSEL TARTS IN A HOT COMA

Have I mentioned I love the Thrillpeddlers? Well, I do, and while I got hooked on their Grand Guignol Shocktoberfest shows I also love their absurd, bawdy, and outrageous revivals of the Cockettes musicals. This time they do a bit of a riff on the Cockettes cult fame in SF, their glowing review by Rex Reed, and their disastrous show in New York, where they were mocked for--among other things--cardboard sets. They play well to the crowd here, claiming their show in NY was fine, they just forgot to bring an SF audience, and the audience is everything (as the star of several audiences, I'd like to agree--I am the most important part of the show.)

Anyway, it's a hilarious, musical, cross-country-and-back show about fame, the desire for it, and the trouble with it. And by the end there's quite a bit of glittery nakedness. Quite a show indeed, and a lot of fun if you're into that sort of thing.
 

And it's held over until June 29th. Tickets are available here.

Jason goes to the Hypnodrome to see Shocktoberfest 13: The Bride of Death

The Thrillpeddlers never fail to deliver, and their annual Shocktoberfest show is what started it all. I've proudly been a fan since they were doing their show in the old Odeon bar, and have been delighted to see how they've grown since getting their own space--the fabulous Hypnodrome.

Their Shocktoberfest show is their homage to/recreation of Grand Guignol theater (for more information, check out grandguignol.com, which is also maintained by the Thrillpeddlers.) In recent years they've also delved into the Theater of the Absurd and musicals, recreating some of the old Cockettes musicals. Music found its way into Shocktoberfest last year with their Fear Over Frisco show (in collaboration with Czar of Noir Eddie Muller.) And there are some very clever musical interludes this year, too. But I'm getting a little ahead of myself.

First up, Coals of Fire, which is the simplest and most serious of the plays in the show. An old, blind wife spends an evening talking to her young female companion. Secrets are revealed, and of course there's a violent end. But it's really all built on just the two women talking, if that didn't work I'd have been bored way before the big payoff.

Next up, the first musical piece, I'm a Mummy. A comical duet of Mr. and Mrs. Mummy singing about...well, being a mummy, and all that goes with it.

And then, The Bride of Death. A newspaperman and his photographer travel to an old mansion wherein lives Evelyn Maxwell. She's the former star of several bloody horror plays (including Coals of Fire, and many titles from previous Shocktoberfest shows) but has been out of the public eye for decades. Now she's making the jump to the silver screen with an adaptation of her most famous role--The Bride of Death. But something is pretty odd in the house. A creepy doctor, a mute servant, a star who hasn't aged a day in 30 years, and strange singing from the hidden corridors in the house. Very well done!


And then an intermission. Time to fill up on a little more beer.


Coming back from intermission we had another musical piece, Those Beautiful Ghouls, all about sexy demonic ladies. Lady Dracula, Lady Werewolf, etc. Nice.

And finally, the climactic play of The Twisted Pair. Two scientists--Earnest McKenzie and his assistant Anthony Lark--are working in the basement of their boarding house. Their trying to discover the secrets of life--it's in the blood after all. So far they've failed (and just learned Watson and Crick made a big breakthrough on DNA.) All they've really accomplished is making a powerful adhesive. That was Lark's invention, but it turns out that contact with the skin can cause powerful hallucinations. Too bad McKenzie has glued his scalpel to his hand so he can work non-stop. A wonderfully psychotic and hilarious descent into madness and murder. All for the sake of fame, because first comes fame, and then comes funding. Yup, that seems to be how science works. And, of course, it all ends with their famous lights-out horror effects.


There are only a handful of shows left. The special Halloween and night-before-Halloween shows are sold out, but they still play Thursday through Saturday for three more weekends. Advanced tickets are here and I'd suggest you buy early because they tend to sell out.

Jason watches the Thrillpeddlers do Marat/Sade

I've been a fan of the Thrillpeddlers since back when they were doing their Shocktoberfest show at the old Odeon Bar at the intersection of Mission and Valencia (yes, go down far enough and these parallel streets meet.) I was thrilled when they got their own space--The Hypnodrome, a cozy little place under the freeway for their Grand Guignol and Theatre of the Absurd happenings. But lately they're shows have been so popular that while it's still relatively easy to get tickets you do have to plan in advance. It's not so easy to just show up on the day of the show and get a ticket.


So I'm extra thrilled that their latest show (only one more performance on Sunday evening--last chance everyone!) is in the much larger and beautiful Brava Theater. And I'm extra impressed that they had a pretty full house last Friday (not quite sold out, but pretty darn full.)


And the show certainly deserved such a large crowd. It's their take on Peter Weiss' MARAT/SADE (English translation by Geoffrey Skelton,) full title: The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade. 


So the actors have the chaotically free experience of playing insane people playing roles in a play (complete with an on-stage audience of the director of the asylum and two lovely high society ladies.) Marat is played by a paranoiac, his assassin Charlotte Corday is played by a narcoleptic, her completely platonic friend is played by a sex addict. And various other inmates make up the supporting cast and band. And, of course, it's all overseen by the infamous Marquis de Sade. 


Of course, the premise of insanity allows the inmates to freely deviate from the script and spout their own banned opinions, while the asylum director runs on stage to protest such indecency and force the proceedings back on track. 


Never lost is the fact that modern day questions of revolution, human rights, the plight of the poor, and class conflicts are really behind everything. Although never mentioned in the play, the set design is full of references to modern American politics, including Paul Ryan, Gingrich, the Tea Party, and Obamacare. And so little bon mots like, "My patriotism is bigger than yours" ring true to life today. Or even, "You can't have a revolution without a little general copulation" (leading into the orgy scene featuring plenty of nudity.) And the final call to take a side and take action is easily applicable to modern life. Heck, I want my rights and I don't care how. Give me the revolution...NOW!


One more chance for you all to see this. Tickets here.

Jason goes to the Hypnodrome to see SHOCKTOBERFEST: FEAR OVER FRISCO

I do love me some Thrillpeddlers! And this year for SHOCKTOBERFEST they've teamed up with the Czar of Noir Eddie Muller for a trio of short plays set in San Francisco (all written by Muller.)

We start with a musical number "Fear Over Frisco" taking us through the various decades of debauchery and death in San Francisco. Lyrics by Eddie Muller, music by Cockette and Thrillpeddler Scrumbly Koldewyn.

The first play is The Grand Inquisitor. I had earlier seen this story in short movie form, but it works even better on stage. An old woman living alone gets an inquisitive visitor. Seems some young woman had bought some old books and found tons of cryptic scribbles in the margins. Turns out the books had been owned by the old woman's husband, and the symbols might just be important clues to a famous old San Francisco mystery.

Then a little musical interlude of Johnny Mercer's "I Remember You" while they changed sets for the next play. That play was An Obvious Explanation, and "I Remember You" is a perfect lead-in, because it centers around a man with amnesia. He has escaped from the hospital with just an address, which turns out to be his own home. His brother is there, with a story of robbery and murder, and an important question--where's the money? This was the comedy show of the night (horror-comedy-horror is the traditional Grand Guignol "Scottish shower") and it was hilarious. And it featured the best surprise of the night.

Then we had about a 20 minute intermission. Time to get another beer before the finale.

Post intermission, we came back to a musical performance of "Pack up You Sins and Go to the Devil" by Irving Berlin.

And finally, the closing play was The Drug, adapted from the 1927 Gran Guignol play "La Drogue" by René Barton. A party at an inspector's house. We learn the details of a troublesome case involving an artist who was blinded by his lover. And we learn just who that spiteful, jealous lover might be. And then we sink into an opium dream, gouge out some eyeballs, and have some scares in the dark. Awesome!

There's one more weekend of this show. I don't know if there are any tickets left, but you can find out at thrillpeddlers.com.

Jason goes to the Hypnodrome to see VICE PALACE

The Thrillpeddlers' are now down to their final weekend of their latest outrageous Cockettes musical, and I'm so glad I managed to make time for it.

Based on Poe's The Masque of the Red Death, but spiked with a huge dose of outrageousness, it's a musical revue that takes place in the mansion of Divina. While a plague sweeps the city (there's blood on the piazza), Divina invites all her beautiful, intelligent, trendy friends to her sealed mansion, where they can ride out the plague in safety. To amuse them, she has a series of colored rooms--yellow, green, white, blue, purple...but not red! There she and her staff put on a series of amusing diversions. One esteemed guest is the famed filmmaker Federico Fellatio. He has a grand dream to film real life, which to him means the plague. So to counteract the seduction of his camera, Divina's diversions get increasingly outrageous, up to sci-fi number "A Crab on Uranus (Means You're Loved)," to "Just a Lonely Little Turd," and Federico's own production of "Flesh Ballet." Oh yes, there's nudity (although maybe not quite as much as some previous shows), but mostly it's about the outrageous, hilarious music, ranging from "No-Nose Nanook" to "Song of Abdul the Camel Trainer" (A dromedary camel has one hump / While a bactrian camel has two)

A hilarious, outrageous night. I'm so glad I caught this while I could. They did tape the performance, so that might be available sometime soon, no promises. But I can say that their Shocktoberfest (#13!) is coming up in a couple of months. They'll be doing Fear Over Frisco, with plays by the Czar of Noir, Eddie Muller! I can't wait!

Jason goes to the Hypnodrome to see some HOT GREEKS

Ah, the Thrillpeddlers. So I wasn't born yet when The Cockettes were first doing their magic in San Francisco, but if the Thrillpeddlers' resurrection of their work is any indication, I would've been a fan (if I had been of age). Their revival of Pearl Over Shanghai was outrageous enough to be held over more than a year (now running through August 1). And HOT GREEKS was the Cockettes other "book" musical (as opposed to a revue, it actually has a story--if you can call it that).

HOT GREEKS is a college campus/Greek mythology musical comedy. The boys (one of which was a girl) of Athens U are preparing for the big game against Sparta State, and completely ignoring the sorority girls (most of which were boys) who are left "pining for their pins." So the girls get together and plan plan a little something to get the boys to play their game. And there's singing, dancing, hilarity, a lascivious sculpture professor, and basic Cockettes/Thrillpeddlers outrageousness.

It is, however, a little short (maybe about an hour), so after an intermission we were treated to HOT COCKETTES, a musical revue and a bit of a Cockettes history lesson led by original Cockette Scrumbly Koldewyn (who also wrote the music and played the piano for HOT GREEKS). Lots of hilarity, gotta love "A Crab on Uranus" from JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF URANUS (1972). Oh yeah, and plenty of nudity (of whatever variety you prefer) all the way through.

HOT GREEKS plays Thursdays and Sundays until June 27, 2010.

Jason goes to the Hypnodrome for Shocktoberfest '09: THE TORTURE GARDEN

Last Thursday was the opening night/sorta-preview of the Thrillpeddlers newest Shocktoberfest show (BTW, Shocktober is just about my favorite month, competing only with Scotchtober). This was their first time performing this show in front of a live audience, so there were just a few stumbles and missed lines, but not enough to detract from the fun.

The show consisted of two plays, starting with an original story THE PHANTOM LIMB, set in a New Orleans 'house of ill repute' just after the Civil War. Madame du Charmes runs a house that bears no ill will against either side of the war. The war is now over, and the country (or at least her house) is united under one flag--the flag of money. She's an honest businesswoman, taking money from Confederate and Yankee veterans alike. Sure, she had some trouble back in Kentucky, but that certainly won't come back to haunt her. While she employs a team of whores, their services are not always of a sexual nature. They also tend to the wounded, like using voodoo magic to remove shrapnel or scratching phantom limbs. Really, most of their services involve serving "punch" until the customer is too incapacitated to notice his wallet being lifted. Fun story, good payoff, and a surprisingly powerful dénouement in the form of a song. And now that I know the story, I can go watch it again and just focus on the two whores who are always making out with each other [insert "the south will rise again" joke here]

So then during intermission I got a chance to be guillotined. That was a lot of fun. Officially, my capital crime was "being too fluffy":


I am proud that I was the only one that night with the guts to go into the guillotine facing up so that I could see the blade. But I completely wussed out and closed my eyes when the blade dropped. Gotta try that again. Still it was lotsa fun.

And then the second show was an old Grand Guignol classic from 1922, based on a novel by Octave Mirbeau which was once described as “the most sickening work of art of the nineteenth century” (woo hoo!) It's an example of "Orientalism", an artistic movement in 1920's Paris that depicted the far East as a savage, ruthless land of endless depravity (I could go on about how in my modern, enlightened view I abhor the racism and enjoyed the show more as an artifact of European attitudes of the time than for the story itself. But that would sound like I'm so in love with the smell of my own farts that I've stuck my head up my ass). Instead, I'll just tell you it's a story of a mysterious, dangerous woman, the man she seduces, the Prince Li-Tong he (sorta accidentally) kills, and a garden where the blood of tortured prisoners feeds the most beautiful flowers. Oh yeah, and there's rebellion, politics, intrigue, and death.

And that is that. Shocktoberfest is officially on, and officially awesome. Shocktoberfest plays every Thursday and Friday through Nov. 20th. Oh yeah, and Pearls Over Shanghai has been so popular it plays every Saturday and Sunday through the end of the year!

Jason goes to the Hypnodrome for some PEARLS OVER SHANGHAI

And the Thrillpeddlers have out-outrageoused themselves again. This time by reviving the Cockettes gender-bending comic sex farce set in 1937 China.

There are sailors on leave, innocent singing girls, Chinese gangsters, Chinese peasants, Chinese whores, Russian whores, love-struck millionaires (okay, just one of those), and lording over it all, Mother Fu (Thrillpeddlers fearless leader Russell Blackwood).

There are outrageous costumes (even more than any previous Thrillpeddlers show), drag quuens, innuendo coming out your end-o, sadists, masochists, partial nudity, more-than-partial nudity (warning to any squares--that includes male nudity), lights-out hallucinations, and singing. Oh, so much singing. The Thrillpeddlers haven't done this much music in their shows before. The songs are funny, and they keep everything moving very, very briskly, but you can tell the troupe has practiced acting a lot more than they've practiced singing.

And it's funny. It's hilarious. And even if you've seen everything else the Thrillpeddlers have done before, you haven't seen anything like this. And it even has a moral.

Oh yeah, and this was supposed to be the closing weekend, but the show has been such a hit that their held over until September 20th! So 5 more weeks for all y'all to go out and get some culture.

Jason goes to the Hypnodrome for some AUDACIOUS ARTEFACTS

The Thrillpeddlers are at it again, with their spring revival of Parisian Grand Guignol running until May 2. And this show is actually a bit kinkier than they've done in the past (ooh la la!)

First up was a grade school play based on a 1940's grade school first aid manual and the fact that 4th grade kids were traditionally made to do a skit on first aid at the end of the course. Pretty funny, with a weird obsession on splints.

Next up was PRIVATE ROOM NUMBER 6: A drunk, lecherous Russian General reserves a room in Paris to cavort with a lady of the evening. Too bad his legs don't work when he gets too drunk. Why, he'd have no way to defend himself!

Then there was TICS, or DOING THE DEED, a slapstick sex farce about tics certain gentleman have after...being intimate. Tics like stuttering, or twitching legs. Why, those sorts of tics could easily give away a secret infidelity!

Then intermission, time to drink a few more beers.

THE HEAD HUNTERS was the scary show of the night (part of the hot/cold/hot "Scottish Shower" style of Grand Guignol). An ethnologist is lost in the Amazon. His father and his fiancee search for him, while his guide turns on him. Hope they don't run into the really nasty tribe of natives.

And finally, the night ended with THE DISCIPLINE, based on an anonymous French play from 1788. Two nuns in the convent need to be punished, and the rugged, handsome gardener is just the guy to "discipline" them...with his cock! Yeah, porno plots really haven't changed in over 220 years (and I assume, later).

Jason has a birthday Shocktoberfest at the Hypnodrome

It's that time of year for the Thrillpeddlers big Grand Guignol show, Shocktoberfest!  And this year, I chose to see it on my birthday (Halloween), with as many of my friends who could make it.  So thank you Cynthia, Ira, Alan, Keith, Gerry, and everyone else there!  

The show runs through Nov 22, and it's a good one.  So all my SF Bay readers, check it out.

For those of you who don't know what Grand Guignol is...go learn about it here.  But, in a nutshell, it was a small theater in Paris, now a style of theater specializing in gory special effects and appealing to the baser instincts of mankind.  A typical evening is a series of short plays, some funny (often sex farces), and some scary (and very bloody).  

Oh yeah, and you can get a beer or wine there to help calm your nerves (or just make everything more fun)

The show started with "A Difficult Passage", a tale of danger and sadism in the frozen Yukon.  A group of Yale chums (Bonesmen both, named Bush and Prescott) are on their way to a mining camp where they're promised office jobs (family connections, of course).  But they've fallen into a hole, they're starving, and they've eaten the last of their sled dogs.  If only a Royal Canadian Mounted Police would save them.  Yes..."save" them....

Next was the comedy "A Slight Tingling" (which I had seen them perform before, but is still funny).  A sci-fi blood comedy based on the single line synopsis "Dr. Verdier has lost his scissors, and brings his last three patients back to try to find them."  Add a little imagination, a little wicked humor, and some magnetism, and a good time is had by all--even the confused transsexual.

Then it was intermission, allowing me to drain a little beer from my bladder, pour a little more beer down my throat, and do one of my favoritest things--help lead a sing-along to "Bohemian Rhapsody" on the player piano.  Woo hoo!

And then they even played Happy Birthday to me on the player piano.

And finally, the last play and the big, scary dramatic finish was "The Kindest Thing".  Set in the French embassy in China during the Boxer Rebellion.  The few remaining soldiers keep watch as cannons fire all about.  The ambassador keeps a brave face for his daughter, as the soldiers whisper about how if things get desperate they should kill her--it'd be the kindest thing, compared to the rumors they've heard of what the Chinese would do to her.  Particularly powerful in the staging is how the scene is facing the audience, implicating us in the horrors they witness.  And it all ends with lights out, glow-in-the-dark scares.  Lots of fun.

And finally, let me just give my congratulations to Thrillpeddler masters Russell Blackwood and James Toczyl on getting married last Saturday!  

And in my one act of political advocacy in this blog for this election season, I want to urge all my California readers to go out and vote No on 8 tomorrow!

Jason goes to the Hypnodrome and has a Shocktoberfest!

Ah, I love the Thrillpeddlers, but I've been too busy to catch their Shocktoberfest show this year. I finally rectified that last night, and I can tell all my loyal SF area readers that you should go see it before it's too late. It plays this weekend and next, just a few shows left (and those final shows come with free posters!)

Anyway, it's a Grand Guignol stage show, meaning short bloody dramas and sex farces (or combinations of the two--my favorite!) The show opens with a translation/adaptation of a classic from the actual Théâtre du Grand-Guignol, "The Maker of Monsters". A Circus employs an doctor/artist to create interesting animals for their side show--like a dog that he's turned into a sea creature, or a spinning "Dervish Duck". The competition tries to steal him away, and bloody intrigue ensues.

This segued into a modern vignette, "Google: Fetish". 3 short scenes depicting popular fetishes, along with the number of results you get if you googled them. Go ahead and try googling "fart fetish", "ball-busting", or "forced feminization"--I dare you. I don't know if the fetishes are always the same, or if they change it up every night. I'll have to go back to see.

Then intermission, meaning time for another beer (oh yeah, I had a few before it started). Intermission also featured some fun with their player piano, including the oddly post-modern irony of a live woman sing "Material Girl" to a puppet. And then back to the show.

"The Colossus" is a bloody, gory tale of art and tragedy. An artist is commissioned to build a giant statue (including an excellent description of the lost wax casting technique). An accident causes the death of his daughter--his pride and joy (his wife, her mother died in childbirth). He becomes sullen, despondent, destroys his wax statue and starts on a new, deadly project.

And finally, it all ended with "The Bloody Con", a bloody comedy about a group of deranged prison inmates who are forced to undergo medical experimentation. It all ends with lights out glow-in-the-dark thrills.

Awesome.

Jason tells you how to see (almost) everything at Dead Channels

It's possible, but not trivial, and here's how you do it (sort of):



Bruce (the founder/programmer of Dead Channels and former programmer of Indiefest and Another Hole in the Head) has made it difficult, I have to see something in every time slot. And, in fact, it's impossible to see absolutely everything. You can see the Thrillpeddlers "Spookshow Salute" at the Hypnodrome Monday night, but not their "Thrillpeddlers Flashback" on Wednesday night.

So, this will be exhausting, we'll see if I survive. I wanted to write more about the actual program. I've already written about how I'm excited to see if Uwe Boll actually made a good movie with "Postal". I also wanted to mention I'm excited about a new Miike film, "Bang Bang Love, Juvenile A" (Miike does a boys-in-prison film?). "Trail of the Screaming Forehead" is by Larry Blamire, who made "The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra" which is one of my favorites. With "Crimes of the Future" I'd thought I'd seen everything Cronenberg did, but this is a surprise from his early career. "Living and the Dead" was one of my top picks from Holehead, and is repeated here. "Z. P. G." (Zero Population Growth) is an old forgotten film from 1972. Bruce told me that when he saw "Children of Men" (another of my favorites) he thought, 'this is a remake of ZPG!', so that's awesome.

Plus there's "Spider Baby", "Gamera the Brave", the old "War of the Worlds". Basically, there's a lot too look forward to. Stay tuned here to see how it all goes down.

[Update: Multiple people have commented that I forgot to put in the Cosmic Hex secret screenings. So here it is: 3 pm next Mon-Thurs, at the Roxie, is ???? from the Cosmic Hex vault. Since I work in Milpitas and am very busy currently, it'll be a struggle just to make the 5:15 shows, but I'll try to make at least one of the secret shows]

Jason previews upcoming events--Dead Channels

Those who read the last post carefully will notice that I said there were a couple of film festivals coming up that I'm excited about, and then I went on to only talk about the SF Jewish Film Festival. The other upcoming event, right after Jewfest, is Dead Channels, the San Francisco Festival of Fantastic Film. Their schedule just came out, here.

Dead Channels is the brain child of Bruce Fletcher, former programmer of Indiefest and Another Hole in the Head festivals. I've enjoyed his programming over the years, so I'm very excited to see what happens when he has full, unfettered control and is programming only horror/fantasy/sci-fi films. Plus, he's the guy who programmed Indiefest so it's possible--but not easy--to see everything. I assume he's done the same for Dead Channels. More info on that soon, including my planned schedule.

A couple of extra news bits. Dead Channels are teaming up with the Thrillpeddlers before, during, and after the festival. Although I don't see it on either website yet, starting next Wednesday, July 18th, and every Wednesday leading up to the festival they'll be showing "Live Acts and Dead Channels" at the Hypnodrome. Earlier I reviewed Hypnodrome Head Trips and bemoaned the fact that I saw it near the end of their run and therefore didn't have a lot of time to tell everyone to see it. Well, they're reprising the longest of the plays from that show, "The Revelations of Jean Vadim: The Oracle of the Cephalic Vivarium", and showing a different cult film every night, as follows:
July 18th: Terror of Tiny Town
July 25th: Witchcraft Through the Ages
August 1st: White Zombie
August 8th: Creation of the Humanoids

Plus during the festival they're hosting two nights:
August 13th will be "Spookshow Salute!" featuring Dick Newton, an original spookshow cast member of "Dr. Ogre Banshee's Chasm of Spasms" ('47) and "Den of Living Nightmares" ('48), followed by a screening of the Boris Karloff film, "The Sorcerers".

August 15th will be "Thrilpeddlers Flashback" featuring a reprise of another "Hypnodrome Head Trips" play, "The Empress of Colma" with some psychadelic shorts of some sort. This is a fundraiser for their trip to Burning Man. Awesome, I hope I see you guys there!

And finally, they're hosting a post-festival "Rock n Roll Wrap Party" on August 17th, with glam rock and a screening of the Brian De Palma classic re-working of the more classic "Phantom of the Opera", "Phantom of the Paradise".


And, of course, the festival features gobs and gobs of films. I know a bit about some of them, but for now I just want to mention one of them--the opening night gala presentation of "Postal" by Uwe Boll--the crapmeister behind "House of the Dead", "Alone in the Dark", and "Bloodrayne" has allegedly made a great pitch black politically incorrect comedy, and he'll be there for the screening. I've heard this from multiple sources now, so I'm holding out hope. We'll see. But more importantly, you have to understand the history behind this. You see, back in 2003, before anyone knew who he was, he came to Indiefest to present his high school shooting drama "Heart of America: Homeroom" and the World Premiere of the uncensored director's cut of "House of the Dead", and I was there to see it. Now I know this was a) cut down from the version I saw, and b) went on to be one of the most universally reviled films ever. Now I didn't know b) would happen when I saw it, but in that spirit I reach waaaay back into my archives to find out what I wrote back then. I'm afraid to look:

Then I went to the world premiere of "House of the Dead", based on the Sega video game of the same name. This was directed by Uwe Boll, who also did "Heart of America: Homeroom", and I think it's wonderful that he can do a thoughtful, political movie like "Heart of America" and follow it up with a brainless shoot-em-up zombie movie. "House of the Dead" is very close to a deal for distribution (if they haven't signed by now), and I'm sure when it's released, it'll be savaged by the critics. I don't think it's entirely unfair, it is a pretty brainless movie, with little plot and even less character development. But I believe video game movies should be held to a different standard (that is, if you accept the dubious prospect that they should be made at all). You don't make a video game movies for the plot or character development, you make video game movies to recreate the fun of playing the video game in live action. "House of the Dead", the video game was about zombies jumping out of everywhere and you shoot at them. "House of the Dead", the movie, had zombies jumping out everywhere, and the heroes had to shoot them. Perfect. One thing I'll note, like "Hell's Highway" [author's note: think the original "The Hills Have Eyes" with raver kids], the heroes were a bunch of raver kids (this time the zombies attack the rave, instead of them getting lost on the way home). The ravers in "Hell's Highway" were a lot more convincing. "House of the Dead" had raver "kids" who looked more like young adults on their way to a cocktail party. Oh, one other thing of note, Uwe Boll used a lot of the same actors in both movies, including Jurgen ("Das Boot") Prochnow and Clint (brother of Ron) Howard. Clint Howard (along with Uwe and a lot of the cast was at the Q&A session afterwards), and he was pretty funny.

So, that gives you an idea of my compulsion to find something nice to say about any movie, and hence I've now lost all credibility as a critic. So what, I've never claimed to be a real critic. But if you want to see me really lay into a crappy film, remind me to dig up my review of "Bettie Page: Dark Angel".

See you at Dead Channels!