April Sinema Brings Maniacal Bad Taste

The Sherman Theatre* in Stroudsburg, PA presented the films “2000 Maniacs” and “Bad Taste” on Friday April 10th as part of their Severed Sinema Series*. The evening was hosted by Severed Sinema’s Founder Earl Kessler* and featured those film chosen as audience favorites in votes cast during previous installments of the series. This gave cause to inspire more fear of the audience members than the films presented.

After a brief welcoming introduction by Earl Kessler*, the film, “Bad Taste” was played. There are times when one is at lost for words in describing something so incredibly weird that it only suffices to say, “I should have taken the red pill.” This film proved to be a mish mash of a political, action, zombie, alien movie which falls into the “So Bad, it’s good” category and being loved for it. The most notable aspect of the film is that it was directed by Peter Jackson who later directed the “Lord of the Rings” series and “King Kong.”

The film’s title, “Bad Taste” may also serve to be enough to describe it for some, but this isn’t the case in my opinion. It was funny. Some of the humor may have been unintentional, but it was funny. The effects and costumes were cheesy while some of the acting was of questionable quality. In fact, the film was so cheesy, a cardboard figure depicting the Beatles practically stole the movie.

After an intermission, the Second film of the evening entitled, “2000 Maniacs” directed by Hershell Gordon Lewis was shown. What immediately hit the audience was it’s homespun soundtrack celebrating the evanescent flavors of hickdom. Yes, it was that bad. This was another film defying explanation by its weirdness, but it did seem to have a premise. Since the filmmakers made an attempt (as feeble as it was) to keep this premise a secret till nearly the end of the film, I won’t risk giving anything away and spoiling the film for those who have not had the privilege of seeing it. Let’s just say it was a fun film to watch as it was educational to see how badly a film can be made.

To say “2000 Maniacs” and “Bad Taste” were cheesy and badly made, these assessments are not to determine the film not worth seeing. On the contrary, these film are very worthwhile seeing as they are fun to watch with a group of friends making the experience more of an event than a night out to the movies. This is actually the goal of Severed Sinema Series* in providing film lovers of the horror genre for which these type of films are known for an opportunity not only to see these films in a theatrical setting, but to engage in conversation with a community of like minded people. In other words, the films aren’t the main feature of The Severed Sinema Series*, it the people who attend.

Among those who are a part of this community included Rich Berkowitz* and Theresa Woehrel* of The Sherman Theatre* along with Arline M. Smeltz*and Kyle Kuczma*. I’m sure there were many of you there as well and I invite you to share your experiences of these two film with me. I would be eager to learn your thoughts as I’m sure others who read this would be as well.

The next presentation in The Severed Sinema Series* will feature the films “Sleepaway Camp” (1983) and “Cannibal Holocaust” (1980) on Friday May 15th beginning at 7pm with Special Guest Local artist Shane Isykowski* of Phantasmatography www.myspace.com/shaneizykowski who is known for his awesome special effects and photography for all sorts of horror and fantasy related events will be there displaying some insanely large format prints of his work along with a short video showing his processes.

The Next Events to be presented at The Sherman Theatre* in Stroudsburg, PA will be The COTA* Orchestra with Phil Woods* presentation of their ESU* Library Alive III on Monday April 13th at 7:30pm performing music selected from the Al Cohn Memorial Jazz Collection (ACMJC), The Black Sheep Productions* presentation of “Hey George (What Do I Do About This Dragon?)” on Saturday April 18th at 10:30am and their “Rock and Art” Event featuring a screening of “The Who's Tommy” preceded by a meet and greet with local artist SueBdynamo* www.myspace.com/suebdynamo beginning at 7:30pm that very same day along with The Jazz Ambassadors presentation of a diverse program of big band swing, Latin music, contemporary jazz, popular tunes, standards, Dixieland, and patriotic selections rounding up the month on Tuesday April 28th at 7pm.

In addition to all this, The Sherman Theatre* will continue their Independent Rock Series with performances by Waking Amelia on Saturday April 11th at 6pm with special guests “Taste,” “Voice of Reason,” “The Only Solace,” and “The Unmarked” along with “Throw The Fight” on Friday April 17th at 6pm with “No Comment Necessary*,” “Freshman Sunday,” “Skye is Falling,” “Belladonna*” www.myspace.com/belladonnanyc, “The Vivid Twisted*” www.myspace.com/tvtwisted, and “Five Cases of Tragedy.”

Please Explore The Sherman Theatre* Website for more information. You’ll find more photographs at The Forwardian Arts Society Film/Video 2009 Gallery at myspace.com/forwardian_arts.

(*) denotes members of The Forwardian Arts Society in good standing and are considered Our Good Friends.