First he conquered Vegas, now he has his sights set on Hollywood!
The American Society for The Appreciation of Sublimely Terrible Cinema is proud to present:
A.S.T.A.S.T.C. IV: An Evening With Neil Breen
Two epic films from Las Vegas’ top architect! One night only!
First Feature: Double Down - A rogue covert computer hacking satellite genuis government agent who can use mystical powers to reunite with his dead girlfriend at night is hired to shut down the Vegas strip with a deadly act of bio-terrorism. Can he pull it off, or will the stres of his solitude live on the run prove to be too much for him?
Second Feature: I Am Here…. Now - An alien being lands on earth…. and he is pissed…. because earthlings have distroyed the planet…. so he takes it upon himself to cleanse the planet…. of lawyers…. politicians…. and corrupt business leaders…. in this film filled with surprising metaphors…. surprising twists…. and a complete lack of understanding as to what an elipsis is…. or how to use it properly.
Be warned, movie fans, that this is some advanced level ASTASTC viewing, and not for the faint of heart.
As always, tickets are very limited…. and available here:
Yeah, we know, it’s been a long time…
We could make up excuses (and we totally have them), but why waste time with that. Instead, let us spend this time together by declaring that A.S.T.A.S.T.C. III: WTF?! is finally a go!
That’s right, BadAwesome fans, 2 of the finest, most amazingly bizarre films from the A.S.T.A.S.T.C. library will be displayed in all their mind melting splendor on Sunday, November 14th at 5pm! This is a one night only event, and tickets are already going fast, so jump on that grenade, oh lovers of the insane!
We are working on an incredibly Wiseau-tastic, post-ComicCon wrap up blog for you all, but I’m having trouble with the video element of it, so it’ll have to wait. This, however, could not. Please enjoy what could very well be The Room of action movies! The Birdemic of drug war dramas! Ladies and gentlemen, the amazing world of the internet is tremendously proud to present Uganda’s very first action movie: Who Killed Captain Alex!
Seriously, and I’m pretty damn sure sure I will never again in my life say this, but I kinda wish I was in Uganda right now. When oh when will we be able to get our hands on this little gem in the US??? Not soon enough, I tell you. Not soon enough.
A.S.T.A.S.T.C. II: Martial Awesome will KICK YOU IN THE FACE!
Dust off your old karate belts and brush up on your best Bruce Lee impressions, cause the American Society for The Appreciation of Sublimely Terrible Cinema is proud to present it’s second screening: A.S.T.A.S.T.C. II: Martial Awesome! Fists will fly! Kicks will be… uh… kicked! Honor is on the line! Can you handle this duo of BadAwesome action flicks??? Prepare yourself for Ninja Turf (aka LA Streetfighters) and Undefeatable!
Due to the popularity of the last A.S.T.A.S.T.C. screening, we have decided to do 2 shows this time around. The throw down goes down on Saturday, August 14th, with doors for the 1st screening opening at noon and doors for the 2nd screening opening at 6 pm. We’ll have a nice little BBQ in between the screenings, so viewers from both shows can mix, mingle, and compare their best wu-tang styles! And of course, there will be plenty of little surprises hidden in along the way.
Tickets are still extremely limited, so register early! And please, only register to attend 1 screening (the noon or the 6 pm). We want to spread the Bad Awesome love to as many people as possible!
For more information, or to register for tickets, click HERE!
A.S.T.A.S.T.C. II: Martial Awesome… this ain’t no music video!
Comic Con is for (A.S.T.A.S.T.C.) Lovers
It’s been quiet around A.S.T.A.S.T.C. lately. Not because we haven’t been searching, watching, acquiring, dubbing, and planning for our upcoming events. We have been. Just this week a flood of new potential BadAwesome masterpieces arrived on our doorstep. (Scott Baio gets girls naked using his new found telekinesis? Sold!) It’s been quiet because late July is upon us, and late July can only mean 1 thing: San Diego Comic Con! Your humble curators are packing up their favorite nerdy apparel and heading “America’s Finest City” for 5 days of pop culture overload and unabashed dorkdom! But we don’t want to leave you empty handed for the rest of the week, so we give you the following announcement to tide you over.
Tommy Wiseau has a new short film/web series/whatever-the-hell-it-is, and that bad mother is debuting in San Diego!
That’s right, true believers, the legend himself will be presenting his new project The House That Drips Blood On Alex Saturday, July 24 in room 7AB at 8:30 pm at Comic Con this year! I have no idea what to think of this project. Is it for real? Is it a spoof? All I know is that if Wiseau’s involved, it’ll be an experience. I’m sure it’s going to be a mad house, so line up early. And if you miss seeing Tommy on Saturday, rumor has it he’ll be a frequent guest at the Atom Films booth throughout the weekend. So dudes, give him a high 5, and ladies, be prepared for him to stare lecherously at your bosoms. For a more complete update on this possible masterpiece/trainwreck, or to watch the appropriately incomprehensible trailer, check out the /Film story here.
A side note, we will be releasing tickets for A.S.T.A.S.T.C. II: Martial Awesome next week! The throw down goes down on August 14th, with an afternoon AND an evening screening and BBQ to accommodate more happy film goers! Keep your eyes open next week for the official announcement!
The Criterion Collection made a lot of BadAwesome fans VERY happy today when they announced that Hausu (aka: House), the Citizen Kane of psychedelic-Asian-schoolgirl-haunted-house-evil-lampshade-demonic-cat-painting-bloodthirsty-piano movies, will be released on Blu-Ray and DVD on October 26th. I absolutely love that Janus and Criterion have given this much love and care in restoring, promoting, and releasing a film that falls so far from the norm of standard films, and have already pre-ordered a copy for the A.S.T.A.S.T.C. library!
A friendly A.S.T.A.S.T.C. Reminder: Gone with the Pope/Massacre Mafia Style TONIGHT!
Tonight is the night, dear friends. A night for mayhem! A night for violence! The night of The Duke Mitchell double feature at The New Beverly in Hollywood! Gone With The Pope rolls at 7:30, and Massacre Mafia Style gets going at 10:00. $8 gets you in to both, so seriously, how could you say no?
BadAwesome movies can get into some pretty tricky territory when you start looking back to the 40’s and 50’s. There was a totally different sensibility about films then. Pacing was different, stories were different, and, obviously, the visual effects and aesthetic were on a totally different level. The market seemed flooded by “B” monster movies that were targeted more at the drive-in theaters than at box office dominance. You’d go see just about anything simply because it was playing, not because it was the next big blockbuster, and this opened the door for a lot of “bad” movies. Turn on just about any episode of Mystery Theater 3000 and you’ll find plenty of examples. Where it gets sticky is finding the line between the BadAwesome and the just plain bad. Enter 1953’s Robot Monster. It’s painfully slow, horribly acted (particularly by the children), and ridiculous in it’s visuals… yet somehow this film and a room full of tipsy viewers and you have a completely enjoyable experience on your hands. I’ve read a number of reviews that say that Robot monster is the worst movie ever made. (Clearly, these reviewers have never seen Batman And Robin.) But for my money, you can’t really go wrong when the film’s primary villain (Ro-Man the Ro-Man) shares more than just a passing resemblance to Billy Bob, the animatronic singing bear from Showbiz Pizza. Also, there are some dinosaurs… a crap ton of bubbles.
Duke Mitchell was a genius. He created balls to the wall, unapologetic, over the top cinema like none other. Just look at the “Trailer” For Massacre Mafia Style (aka: The Executioner, Aka: Like Father Like Son). That’s actually the opening scene to the movie… minus the title cards that keep popping up. Wall to wall mayhem, and it only gets better from there. I mean really, who can argue Duke’s grindhouse brilliance when the man creates screen shots like this…
The icing on the cake is that Duke’s unfinished film, Gone WIth The Pope has been completed by oscar winning editor Bob Murawski (Spider Man 1-3, The Hurt Locker, Etc) and is touring the country in all of it’s papal stealing glory! A schedule of it’s stops can be found here, but The New Beverly in Hollywood is treating those of us lucky enough to be free on July 13th to a double feature of both masterpieces! We here at A.S.T.A.S.T.C. cannot recommend it enough!
The Life and Death of 10,000 Plastic Spoons (aka Viva The Room on it’s 7th Anniversary!)
Anyone who knows me knows that I think The Room is a masterpiece. It is an amazing symphony of blunder, culminating in a singular viewing experience unlike like any other. When you aren’t laughing out loud at the unbelievable dialogue and characters, you are vocally questioning every decision that Writer/Director/Producer Tommy Wiseau made. Honestly, and without any disrespect, it is a FEAT to make a movie this bad. I truly believe that is more difficult to pull off a film with as many “what-the-f*&$-was-he-thinking” moments as The Room has than it is to make a really, genuinely great movie. The Lord of The Rings Trilogy took 4 years to shoot in remote locations while pushing filmmaking technology to the next level? Who cares! Tommy Wiseau couldn’t decide wether to shoot his film on HD or 35 mm film, so he bought one of each camera and shot it on both at the same time! Lets see Peter Jackson find the stones to pull off that maneuver! And yet, through it’s disappearing characters and plot lines, non sensical sets, and complete lack of flow, it is infinitely watch-able. Just ask any of the hundreds of people who line up at the Laemmle’s Sunset 5 in Hollywood on the last weekend of every month to watch it.
I’ve probably seen The Room 10 times at this point, but I’ve never seen it in the theater. Let me just say… AWESOME! The film has taken on a life of it’s own, with Rocky Horror like interactions and traditions. People shout at the screen in response to the incomprehensible dialogue and point out every plot flaw. And let me tell you, the crowd is on it’s game. Every error is pointed out, every brilliant moment covered with a chant or action. And before it all, Mr, Wiseau himself walks the line to take pictures and throw the football around.
Of all of the crowd interactions, and there are many, the throwing of plastic spoons is probably the most prevalent. One of the more bizarre production choices made in the film was the inclusion of framed pictures of spoons through out the main apartment set. Like most things in the movie, there is no real rhyme or reason to it (though I imagine Tommy would tell you about the symbolic meaning of spoons in all of our lives and how they power love between two people), but there they are, clear as day, and on screen a good chunk of the time. Whenever one of these artistic wonders appears, the crowd gleefully yells “SPOON!!!!!” at throw hundreds of pieces of the plastic cutlery into the air. The guy at the merchandise table (oh yes, there is a merchandise table) guessed that there were probably 10,000 spoons in the theater the night we went. I think he underestimated. There are scenes in the film where it does nothing but rain spoons. The floor after the movie is a wasteland of white plastic utensils. But I imagine, as a spoon, this is the way you would want to go out.
One thing you can’t deny is the joyful, vulgar glee that everyone, new viewers and veterans alike, seem to have both before, during, and after the screening. There is a sense of common purpose for everyone there, and the energy is incredible. It was an amazing night, and I can’t recommend it enough!
(And for those who want to experience it for themselves, the next screening is on July 31!)
About me
The American Society for The Appreciation of Sublimely Terrible CinemaDedicated to to the discovery, enjoyment, and celebration of truly rare, incredibly bizarre, and fantastically horrible films, television, videos, and media.
