Bruce Fletcher is one of my favorite madmen. My mother warned me about buying beers for men like him; but, since when have I ever listened to my mother? Besides, I'm very fond of beer and any excuse will do. Bruce was the Director of Programming for the San Francisco Independent Film Festival and San Francisco's Another Hole in the Head horror film festival. He's also the Founder and Director of the Idaho International Film Festival in Boise (which is another kind of horror all in itself). I have a fabulous and provocative taped interview with Bruce that he won't allow me to publish for fear of being driven out of town. It would just be terrible if it somehow leaked out to the press.
He's just advised that he and his new cohorts Dan, Scott, Serge, and the rest of the team at Cosmic Hex (some of whom were instrumental at San Francisco's legendary Werepad) have devoted their collective energies to kickstarting a new festival project—Dead Channels: The San Francisco Festival of Fantastic Film!
As he explains on the Dead Channels MySpace page (which has great Youtube clips and big ol' photos and all sorts of bells and whistles) The Dead Channels Film Festival "will showcase a diverse selection of amazing fantastic films from around the globe—usually presented by the artists who made them. We will be playing something for every taste—from the retro Saturday and Sunday matinees for the whole family to the more twisted offerings we unveil at midnight. The Programming Team are scouring the globe at this very moment to unearth the finest international and independent cinema out there. Incredible movies, thrilling parties, and the City of San Francisco itself, guarantee a truly memorable week-long celebration of mind-bending fantastic films—and their creators. So if you enjoyed the movies that played at the Indiefest and Holehead for the last few years; there's an extraordinarily good chance that Dead Channels will slake your thirst for cool film." Hell YEAH!!
To get things going and to drum up initial support, Dead Channels roars into town with SLEAZY SUNDAYS: "three mind bending explosions of raw unadulterated cinema excess unleashed the first four Sundays in April!!!"
On Sunday, April 1st, Dead Channels offers "Other Worlds", first with War of the Robots (7pm), followed by an 8:30pm double feature: Planet of the Vampires and Starcrash.
On Sunday, April 8th, it's the "Infernal Beaster" program, kicking off with Crimson Cult (7pm), followed by an 8:30pm double feature: Dunwich Horror and Werewolves on Wheels. Bah-ROOOOOOOO!
On Sunday, April 15th, the focus is "Nature Revolts", first with Squirm at 7pm, then with an 8:30pm double feature: Kingdom of the Spiders and Son of Blob. The Blob had a son?!! I never knew.
Finally, on Sunday, April 22nd, it's a tip of the hat to Grindhouse. First with Maniac 1934 ("The Original Grindhouse Movie!") at 7pm followed by the 8:30pm double feature: Preacherman and Black Gestapo.
Is this all too exploitive and fun or what? The madness takes place at the Victoria Theatre, 2961—16th St in San Francisco (1/2 block from the 16th & Mission BART station). Individual films are $8, $15 for the double feature and $20 for all three. Sonic delights provided by Zonetech.
Get them going, boys and girls. Support the madness! Cross-published at Twitch.
03/28/07 UPDATE: Dennis Harvey overviews Sleazy Sundays for the SF Bay Guardian, situating the program in Grindhouse mania.
