cinemasubterrain

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March 23rd - Comic Book Documentaries!!!

Cinema Subterrain Returns for its Spring 2024 screening programme! There will be screenings in March, April and May (more info tba!)

Cinema Subterrain Presents: An Evening of Comic Book Documentaries.

La Mood Comics and Games has graciously hosted Cinema Subterrain since its inception in 2004. To celebrate the medium that built their business, tonight we will be featuring two documentaries on the medium on Comic Books!!!

Comic Book Confidential (1988, dir: Ron Mann).

Ron Mann's Documentary traces the origins of the medium of comics from its inception, through it's moral panics and growing pains; tracing it's growth to being regarded as a legitimate artistic medium. Featuring interviews with comic creators, the film focuses heavily on the emergence of the underground comix scene and the maturing of the medium into a discreet artform. Featuring interviews with Stan Lee, Robert Crumb, Linda Barry, Frank Miller, William Gaines, and more. This is one of the best and definitive documentaries on comics!

She Makes Comics (2014, dir: Marissa Stotter)

This documentary focuses on the crucial role that women have played in the comic book industry since the early 1900s. Much like Mann's film, the film traces the origins of the medium, but with an emphasis on the contributions made by women within comics, from the nacent industry of the 1930s, through the underground comix scene of the 1970s, to the present day.

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Sept 23rd @ Cinema Subterrain - Whose Songs are Better?

Cinema Subterrain was a free monthly microcinema held in the basement of L.A. Mood Comics and Games’ Richmond Street location, which ran from 2004-2006.

17 years later, we’ve brought it back!

For those who are not familiar, Cinema Subterrain is totally free to all! Heckling, jokes and talking during the screenings are wholly encouraged! Bring your own snacks and beverages! Bring some to share! In its original run, Cinema Subterrain had a potluck / social gathering vibe - we want to keep that feeling alive with its return!

The full Fall 2023 Schedule is live!

For more info on upcoming screenings and schedule, visit:

www.tumblr.com/cinemasubterrain

Cinema Subterrain Presents: Whose Songs are Better? Jem and the Holograms vs. Barbie and the Rockers! Animated double feature! 

Jem and the Holograms (1986)

VS

Barbie and the Rockers: Out of This World (1986)

And Barbie and the Sensations: Rockin’ Back to Earth (1987)

In 1986, as Hasbro Toys was about to release a new doll line; Jem and the Holograms - a group of glamorous rock star dolls, that was meant to compete with Barbie. As if like magic, Mattel released a new offset line of Barbie Dolls called Barbie and the Rockers prior to the release of Jem and the Holograms. 

It’s all very suspicious, and there have been stories about how Mattel got wind of Hasbro’s plans, and rushed to beat them to market. 

Whatever the case, both doll lines spawned their own animated adventures!! Jem and the Holograms ran for 3 seasons (1986-1988) for a total of 65 episodes. Jem follows the adventures of Jerrica Jones, who lives a double life as burgeoning pop Star Jem. The story follows her quest for love and fame, as she and her friends (The Holograms) battle their rivals The Misfits, a group of transgressive punk rockers!

On the Barbie and the Rockers side, two shorts were produced, released directly to VHS: Barbie and the Rockers, Out of this World (1986) and Barbie and the Sensations, Rocking Back to Earth (1987). 

Tonight, we’ll begin with the first story arc of Jem and the Holograms, which is the first three episodes, released on VHS, followed by both the Barbie and the Rockers episodes!

Whose songs are better? You decide!!!!

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We're Back! Cinema Subterrain's Fall 2023 Screening Schedule!

After taking the summer off, Cinema Subterrain returns this September with a new slate of films for the fall of 2023!

We start off with an animated double feature on September 23rd - it's JEM AND THE HOLOGRAMS VS BARBIE AND THE ROCKERS!

There's an interesting toy industry story behind these two rockin' doll IPs being released in such promixity to one another, and we'll talk about that at the beginning of the screening. Who's Songs are Better? Come watch the animated debut of both properties and cast your vote!

Then, just in time for Halloween, on October 28th, we pay homage to our favourite monster costume of all time, the Showa Era Godzilla! This screening will feature 1968's Destroy All Monsters and 1969's All Monsters Attack. Both films are just chocked full of Kaiju, and were directed by Godzilla's original director, Ishiro Honda!

Finally, we round out the fall with an evening of documentaries about comic books, which is wholly appropriate since Cinema Subterrain is held in a comic shop! First, we'll watch Ron Mann's Comic Book Confidential, which focuses on indie and underground creators. Next well watch Marisa Stotter's She Makes Comics; a documentary about women working in comics!

A big thanks to LA Mood Comics and Games, who've been supporting Cinema Subterrain since our first run from 2004-2006.

See you at Cinema Subterrain!

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The Return of MINI-SHATNERFEST!!! May 20th, Mini-Shatnerfest 4!

Cinema Subterrain was a free monthly microcinema held in the basement of L.A. Mood Comics and Games’ Richmond Street location, which ran from 2004-2006.

17 years later, we’ve brought it back!

For those who are not familiar, Cinema Subterrain is totally free to all! Heckling, jokes and talking during the screenings are wholly encouraged! Bring your own snacks and beverages! Bring some to share! In its original run, Cinema Subterrain had a potluck / social gathering vibe - we want to keep that feeling alive with its return!

This will be the final screening of our Winter / Spring season. Then we’ll be taking a hiatus for the summer, with a return to monthly screenings in the fall! 

For more info on upcoming screenings and schedule, visit:

www.tumblr.com/cinemasubterrain

The Return Of Cinema Subterrain Presents: Mini Shatner Fest 4!!!

In its original run, CInema Subterrain hosted two editions of Mini Shatner Fest, celebrating the odd, weird and lesser known films and ephemera of William Shatner’s acting career. The 3rd edition was held in Toronto, hosted by Greg Woods’ Eclectic Screening Room. And now, we’re doing it again! 

This edition of Mini-Shatner fest brings you some of his iconic television work, as well as one of the oddest entries in the Shatner filmography!!!

Twilight Zone: Nick of Time (Season 2, Episode 7) dir: Richard L. Bare - 1960:

A pair of newlyweds stopping in a small town are trapped by their own superstition when playing a fortune-telling machine in a local diner.

TJ Hooker: The Night Ripper (Season 5, Episode 8) 1986:

A murder of a college co-ed puts TJ Hooker hot on the trail of the notorious serial killer, the NIGHT RIPPER! 

Incubus. dir: Leslie Stevens. 1966. 

This surreal horror film is well known as one of the only films to be shot and screened in Esperanto - a “constructed universal language”, created by L. L. Zamenhof in 1887. Shatner plays Marc, a soldier with a ‘pure soul’ who visits a mysterious village to heal his war wounds, where he falls in love with a succubus named Kia. 

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The Return Of Cinema Subterrain Presents: MARJOEFEST! 

Exploring the Strange Life and Work of Marjoe Gortner.

This month’s screening is dedicated to looking at the strange life of Marjoe Gortner; child evangelist, conman, and Hollywood character actor.In the 1940s, Marjoe’s parents had him ordained as an evangelist - AT AGE FOUR!!! He spent his youth touring on the revival circuit, fell out of that world and became a beatnik, then returned to the circuit in the late 1960s / early 1970s. After becoming the subject for Marjoe, a documentary about his life and final tour on the revival circuit, he moved to Hollywood and became a character actor, starring in a bunch of weird movies.

Our screening for this evening will be a double feature of Marjoe! First, we’ll watch the documentary, then we’ll watch one of the films he starred in!

Marjoe. 1972. Documentary. Dir: Howard Smith and Sarah Kernochan.Winner of the Oscar for Best Documentary in 1972, this film covers the final revival tour of Marjoe’s Evangelical Career. It shows footage from his sermons, intercut with interview footage, where he willfully admits that he is not a believer, where he also reveals the manipulative tricks that preachers use in their work. It’s a fascinating documentary, and its success was part of the reason that Marjoe moved on to become a Hollywood actor.

STARCRASH! Aka Scontri stellari oltre la terza dimensione 1978. Dir: Luigi CozziAfter the Cinematic success of StarWars, there were SO MANY Space Opera / ScFi films that came in its wake. Most of them are horrible. This is one of THOSE movies! StarCrash was written and directed by Luigi Cozzi, and was distributed by Roger Corman's New World Pictures. Marjoe Gortner plays Akton, a young human with mystical powers and the ability to wield a “laser sword”. He’s joined by Caroline Munro, Christopher Plummer, and David Hasselhoff!! Spaceships! Lasers! Stop Motion Robots! All the signposts of a directionless, low budget Star Wars knock-off!!!

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The Return of Cinema Subterrain’s March Screening: THINK OF THE CHILDREN! Videos about toys and moral panics!

Cinema Subterrain was a free monthly microcinema held in the basement of L.A. Mood Comics and Games’ Richmond Street location, which ran from 2004-2006.

17 years later, we’ve brought it back!

For those who are not familiar, Cinema Subterrain is totally free to all! Heckling, jokes and talking during the screenings are wholly encouraged! Bring your own snacks and beverages! Bring some to share! In its original run, Cinema Subterrain had a potluck / social gathering vibe - we want to keep that feeling alive with its return!

The full Winter / Spring Schedule is live!

For more info on upcoming screenings and schedule, visit:

www.tumblr.com/cinemasubterrain

Our March Screening promises to be one of our most eclectic! 

The Return Of Cinema Subterrain Presents: THINK OF THE CHILDREN!!!! (A Screening of Videos about Toys and Moral Panics!)

Violence! Depravity! Think of the Children! 

Moral panics are part of the fabric of culture, a reaction of an older generation when emergent media and cultural forms threaten to disrupt the moral order: Cinema,Jazz, Comic Books, Rock n’ Roll, VIdeogames! All have faced their moment where parents, religious groups and politicians took aim and claimed that impressionable youth were going to be compromised and corrupted!

This month’s screening looks at moral panics through the lens of toys - and features newsreels, artist projects, and religious propaganda. Are toys too violent? Are they the tools of the devil? Remember the great Cabbage Patch Kids Riot of 1983? All these questions and many more will be asked! Some will be answered! And these answers will (hopefully) amuse, delight and elicit laughter and mockery! 

Newsreel Highlights from the screening include: Lego! Laser Tag! Mr. Potatohead! Capt Power! Ninja Turtles! More! 

Featured videos include:

Action Man: Battlefield Casualties. (2015) 3 mins. Darren Cullen, aka Spelling Mistakes Cost Lives. 

A series of short satirical commercials, showing us what happens to Action Man (The UK version of Gi Joe), after the battle is over. Created by British Artist and Culture Jammer Darren Cullen, commissioned by UK organization Veterans for Peace, with narration by Matt Berry! 

Barbie Liberation Organization: Operation Newspeak (1992) 28 mins. 

The newsreel / manifesto video created in 1992 by the Barbie Liberation Organization artist group, famous for swapping out the voice boxes between Teen Talk Barbie and talking Gi Joe Dolls of the era, which was a critical response to gendered stereotypes in the toy industry. 

Deception of a Generation. (1984) 79 mins.

Is My Little Pony using witchcraft to entice young girls? Are He-Man and Voltron part of the Devil’s strategy to corrupt the minds of young boys? Two American evangelicals discuss this, and much more in Deception of Generation. Released directly to VHS in 1984, this video undoubtedly led to some poor kids having their parents throw out and / or burn their dolls and action figures.

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Cinema Subterrain Winter/Spring 2023 Screening Schedule!

Here’s the full schedule for our first screening season in 17 years! 

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We’re BACK!

Cinema Subterrain Returns after a 17 year hiatus!!! Our first screening is a double feature of Turksploitation films from the 70s and 80s!

After wandering the earth for the past decade and a half like Kang from Kung Fu, CinSub’s chief programmer Skot Deeming has returned: slightly thinner, somewhat wiser, and a whole lot older! (oooof - my joints are aching just typing this!). What better way to mark coming home than with the return of a whole lot of weird cinema, ephemera and other motion picture nonsense? 

For those who are not familiar, Cinema Subterrain is totally free to all! Heckling, jokes and talking during the movie are wholly encouraged! Bring your own snacks and beverages! Bring some to share! In its original run, Cinema Subterrain had a potluck / social gathering vibe - we want to keep that feeling alive with its return! 

For more info on upcoming screenings and schedule, visit: 

www.tumblr.com/cinemasubterrain

 The full Winter / Spring Schedule is live! 

CInema Subterrain’s Winter / Spring 2023 Schedule begins with an EPIC DOUBLE FEATURE of Turkish Cult Cinema! 

 Dünyayı Kurtaran Adam/ The Man Who Saved the World  (aka TURKISH STAR WARS) 1982. Dir: Çetin Inanç,

Released in 1982, as part of a larger wave of science fiction and superhero “turksploitation” in the era, the film is called the Turkish Star Wars, because of its appropriation of film footage, music and sound effects from its namesake. It’s an epic science fiction, martial arts extravaganza, often called one of the worst films ever made. Clearly these critics have not yet seen Avatar 2! 

The film stars Turkish actor and martial artist Cüneyt Arkın, and features what you’d expect: robots, lasers, kung fu, space battles, good triumphing over evil, and a whole lot of copyright infringement! 

3 DEV ADAM / Three Giant Men. (aka El Santo vs. Capt. America .vs Spiderman) 1973. Dir: T. Fikret Uçak

This is is a weird one! 

Spider-man works as a US Currency counterfeiter in Istanbul, and only a superteam made of El Santo (Celebrity Mexican Luchadore Superhero!) Captain America, and Cap’s girlfriend Julia can end Spidey’s reign of terror! 

Epic Superhero crime fighting action and copyright infringement abound! It’s an adventure not to be missed! A RAT EATS A MAN’S FACE! Seriously!

See you at the Cinema! 

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17 years later. 

We’re coming back!

Stay Tuned for details!