Pass the popcorn for some B-movies

The big movie hit of the summer, The Dark Knight, is out and by all accounts awesome. So check that off your list. Now on to some totally cool, classic B-movies.

Starting Thursday (7/24), Studio@620 in St. Pete is putting on their Summer Camp. Emphasis on "camp". They'll be showing some of the all-time great B-movies like Plan 9 from Outer Space, A Bucket of Blood, Mothra vs. Godzilla and a slew of other films that would make Bruce Campbell proud. They'll also do re-enactments from Hairspray (the good one by John Waters, not the new travesty starring Mr. Scientology) on Thursday and a fashion show on Saturday between films. They promise to have some other spectacles throughout the festival so it's well worth it to pay the $5.99, which covers all the movies. I'm hoping there will be some MST3K action as well so I can break out my Tom Servo.

Too tame? Then check out the Beach Theatre in St. Pete Beach. Mix in a love of human flesh with a need to catch some waves and you have the Zombie Beach Night. If you go, let loose and dress the part. Interchangeable Parts (the people putting on the event and acting it out) tends to get a little crazy with anyone the least bit apprehensive. Plus, they're showing Return of the Living Dead, the absolutely horrid second sequel to Night of the Living Dead. (The first is Dawn of the Dead, and if you want to learn how one movie got two sequels, check here.) They're showing Rocky Horror Picture Show right afterward, so get ready for a whole night of cult classics.

Summer Camp at the Studio@620, 620 First Ave. S, St. Petersburg, starts at 7 p.m. Thursday and goes until Saturday night. It costs $1.99 for each movie but given the quality of what they're showing, I'd go for the $5.99, which will get you into all the movies. For a detailed list of what they're showing and when, check here

The Zombie Beach Night at the Beach Theatre, 315 Corey Ave., St. Pete Beach, starts at 10 p.m. Saturday and costs $5 to see Return of the Living Dead or Rocky Horror Picture Show or $8 to see both. I recommend showing up 30 minutes early. Don't want to miss the antics at an Interchangeable Parts show.

Comments

[steves]

Great on all counts. Except the movie version of Hairspray was fabulous.

[Patrick]

Ummm....Return of the Living Dead is horrible? It's probably one of the only movies of its time that blended dark comedy with the horror movie element. That and it was written and directed by Dan O'Bannon. For shame.

[George]

Patrick is correct about Return of the Living Dead is it is a smart and funny/gory take on the zombie genre. And Return of the Living Dead was NOT a sequel to any of the George Romero "Living Dead" films. The sequels to Night of the Living Dead are Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead and Land of the Dead. You might want to try doing your homework before writing an article for the St. Pete Times.

[Patrick]

Now if you want to talk about bad....BAD..movies, Return of the Living Dead II is right up there with the worst. In a way it represents everything that went wrong with the franchise.

P.S.
Do you really have a Tom Servo? If so, where do you live....and are there locks on the doors?

[Leigh Armstrong]

See this is where it's funny. John Russo, co-writer of Night of the Living Dead, split with Romero after the release of Night of the Living Dead after a legal dispute. The dispute ended with Romero having rights to the time portion (thus dawn, day, etc.) and Russo kept the rights to the living dead. Then Russo partnered with O'Bannon to create Return of the Living Dead but he remained uncredited for it but was the co-writer for the script. Check out IMDB on Russo and the article on wikipedia explains the majority of it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Living_Dead#Russo.27s_Living_Dead_series

Trust me, when it comes to Zombies, I do my homework. Don't get me wrong though. I love the film and watch it all the time (the script is classic camp). The Return of Living Dead Part 2 is better left alone though. It hurts to watch.

[Patrick]

Leigh, you're right about the camp aspect of Return. Still, I found it always to be a really fun movie that was bandaged together by probably one of the finest screenwriters in the Sci-Fi genre.

[Richard]

Just thought I'd mention that Friday's bill at the Camp includes Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls, an all-time psych classic, written by bloated film crit Roger Ebert. Heavy medication, Walter, I'll expect to see you in the front row.

[Chris]

ooops George there's one more "Diary of the Dead".

[Chris]

You forgot one George, "Diary of the Dead". And who can forget the dismal remake of Night and the pretty good remake of Dawn.

[Patrick]

Diary was such a letdown. I get the impression he's just going to continue to make movies "his way" and never adapt to different changes. Still, I love the old dude.

[Richard]

The Hairspray movie was no travesty. It was terrific.