Shock and Awe

If you are lucky to live near the GTA, be sure to snag a ticket to this event!

ALL-NIGHT FILM SCREENING MARATHON AT FOX THEATRE!
ONE SHOW ONLY!
SATURDAY, JUNE 21ST, AT 11:30 PM TILL 10 AM THE NEXT DAY!
FOX THEATRE
2236 Queen Street East, Toronto, ON
WWW.FOXTHEATRE.CA
ADMISSION $25

"Night long festival showcases lost 35mm schlock paying homage to the Grindhouse movie experience, winding up the next day with Peter Jackson’s (Lord of the Rings) lost splatterfest!"

Oddball Toronto film archivist Dion Conflict returns with one of his most ambitious projects to date. Sponsored by Rue Morgue Magazine and the After Dark Film Festival, "SHOCK AND AWE" is an all night film fest showcasing long lost drive-in schlock at the FOX THEATRE, ending with the Peter Jackson splatter epic "Dead Alive", screened only once before in Canada a decade earlier. With a dossier of 6 films, "SHOCK AND AWE" promises to provide the authentic grindhouse experience, recently revived by the success of the Tarantino/Rodriguez double-feature, "Death Proof" and "Planet Terror".

Before the advent of the VCR, Grindhouse cinemas offered "low rent" fare to its audiences, 3 or 4 exploitation films (action, horror, erotic, comedy) on a continuous loop for a single price.
The cinemas themselves were in downtown areas, or "less desirable" neighbourhoods, with posters plastered on the outside of theatres promising everything but the kitchen sink. Enticed patrons would fish out their hard-earned dollars to see the scratchy, well-loved films inside, sometimes sitting with characters as interesting as the ones on screen.

"SHOCK AND AWE" plays homage to these films and the grindhouse experience, unearthing some of the hardest-to-find 35mm prints of these long lost gems (which themselves more than likely ran in grindhouse theatres or low-rent drive-ins), with some prints being the only known elements left of the films themselves. The titles include the rare Blaxploitation biker flick "The Black Six" (directed by Matt Cimber of "The Candy Tangerine Man" fame, and featuring several former NFL players); the lost burlesque epic/travelogue/Vaudeville comedian flick "Naughty New Orleans" (the only known 35mm print in existence); "Tintorera" (Mexico's answer to JAWS with Susan George and Fiona Lewis); Uli Lommell's art-house horror "The Boogeyman"; and Denmark's English-dubbed eurotrash sex film "Danish Pastries" (which has NOTHING to do with pastries). The event ends with the grizzly Peter Jackson splatter-masterpiece "Dead Alive", screened only once before in Canada at the Toronto International Film Festival.

As much an event as a film screening, "SHOCK AND AWE" will also have tables of merchandise on hand offering obscure exploitation collectables, including Super 8 films, B-movie DVD's, and small press GTA area film publications. Intermissions will also feature themed snack bar offerings at the FOX including breakfast items and local restaurant treats. Curator and host Dion Conflict will also showcase some lost music videos, surprise celebrities, world premiere short films by local directors, and trailers of other obscure grindhouse offerings from his archive (one of Canada's most eclectic private archives).

"We've worked on this event for years," says Conflict. "With the help of the Fox Theatre, we can finally offer a film experience that hasn't been seen in Toronto since the closing of the Yonge Street grindhouse cinema THE RIO back in the early nineties."

Conflict’s previous obscure offerings have included 16mm educational films, commercials, and training films titled "Hunka Junk 6", the latter actually beating the Tarantino/Rodriguez "Grindhouse" collaboration in Finland at the box office.

"SHOCK AND AWE" tickets can be purchased at the FOX THEATRE box office and FILM BUFF video stores (73 Roncesvalles Ave. & 1380 Queen St. East). Wristbands will also be given to patrons for "in and out privileges" during the marathon film screening, the first of its kind in Toronto.

The Fox Theatre's Andy Willick sums it up best, "Sleep is for suckers!"