Night of the Living Film Geeks

Midnight Movie Madness screens insomnia cinema at Liberty Hall

Monday, March 10, 2008

For less than the price of a medium Mr. Pibb at the movie theatre you can get a movie and a PBR at Midnight Movie Madness. And it’ll be a good movie, too—none of this “Jumper” crap. Classics like “The Goonies” and “The Shining,” screened in the film nerd-vana of Liberty Hall, and accompanied by a crap-ton of beer. Midnight Movie Madness organizers Malcolm Miller and Jeremiah Johnson joined us to talk about their mission to keep you up late with quality cinema and cold brew.

lawrence.com: How did Midnight Movie Madness come about?

Jeremiah Johnson: Well, the official origin of Midnight Movie Madness is that it started in 2003. I’m the senior projectionist at Liberty Hall and we did “Evil Dead 2” and “Pulp Fiction” as a one-off, and that was it. Then Malcolm came to me and said, “Hey, I want to do these late shows with old movies.”

Malcolm Miller: It seemed like every four years there’s a group of people who try midnight movies, but it never lasts. I asked Jeremiah why it didn’t work, and it was lack of interest from the people doing it, not the public. I remember going to the first Midnight Movie Madness as a teenager and I liked it. I know everyone at Liberty Hall pretty well so I came in one day and said, “Hey, let’s try it.”

Jeremiah: Malcolm does all of the leg work and is the cool public face of Midnight Movie Madness—I’m kind of Quasimodo up in my bell tower, like, “Yeeuuuuhhhhnnnn!”

Quasimodo is a bit harsh—you’re more of a Phantom of the Liberty Hall. I assume that this is a labor of love for the two of you—would you call yourselves “film nerds”?

Jeremiah: I most definitely am.

Malcolm: Oh yeah.

Do you track down film prints of the movies you screen?

Jeremiah: Whenever possible. It depends on the availability. Most of the movies that we want to do are available on 35 millimeter, but usually the distributor only has one or two and it’s already booked. Amazingly enough, we’re not the only theater that does this. We were going to do “The Never Ending Story” this month but pushed it back because we found out we could get it in 35 millimeter if we waited.Malcolm: So we’re doing “The Breakfast Club” instead this month. We needed one that was immediately recognizable and could pull in a good crowd with little promotion, which “Breakfast Club” can do.

Midnight Movie Madness: "The Breakfast Club"

When: Friday, March 14, 2008, 11:30 p.m. to 2 a.m.
Where: Liberty Hall, 644 Mass., Lawrence
Cost: $4
Age limit: All ages

Full event details

What’s the recipe for a quintessential midnight movie, and does it generally involve a transvestite?

Malcolm: Midnight Movie Madness is all about showing some of the best movies from our past. Some of them you know by heart, some of them you may not have ever heard of, but all of them are good. We focus on, but aren’t necessarily limited to, the ’80s.

Jeremiah: We prefer movies that people are passionate about that are at least 10 years old. We try and pick movies that you would want to see on a big screen that you may not have had a chance the first time around. Like “The Never Ending Story”—it’s a film that I grew up with, but had never seen on 35 millimeter in a theater. I bet there’s other people like me out there that want to see this. That’s how this started for me. There are all these movies that I’d like to see again. Why not? I’m the guy that watches 300-plus movies a year.

Malcolm: They’re the types of movies that we want to see. We don’t get enough money that we do this just for the money—we do it for the movie.

Are you turning a profit with this?

Malcolm: For the most part. We took a risk with “Meet the Feebles” last month and that was a horrible disaster.

Jeremiah: I don’t know if I’d qualify it as a “horrible disaster.” Turnout-wise, it was probably the least attended. The first film we did, “Return of the Living Dead,” we only had about 75. That still beats “Meet the Feebles” by about 70 people, which is too bad.

Does Liberty Hall, a venue best known for art and foreign films, mind that you’re hijacking the theater and showing movies about puppets who mainline heroin?

Jeremiah: Not at all. “Meet the Feebles,” in particular, they were very much behind. It’s actually the opposite of what you might think—it’s the bigger, more mainstream movies they sometimes have an issue with. It kind of goes against what Liberty Hall is all about. We rent the hall, and their involvement consists of making sure the concessionaire is there to sling popcorn and beer—because everyone wants to have a beer. They make gobs of money on concessions, so they’re very happy with us doing our thing.

Do you have full creative reign over what you show?

Jeremiah: It’s entirely up to us. The only thing that ever gets in the way is the studio. Disney won’t let you show their movies in any form unless you can get a print, and then it costs an insane amount. Lucasfilm is the same way. We were going to show “Indiana Jones” and they were like, “Not unless you can get a print. We have some, but they’re all taken.”

Photo by Gavon Laessig

Malcolm Miller and Jeremiah Johnson of Midnight Movie Madness.

So that probably means no “Howard the Duck,” either. Drat. What sort of audience comes out for Midnight Movie Madness? Is it like the scene in “Gremlins” where they’re watching “Snow White” and ripping up the screen?

Jeremiah: You know, I was a little concerned about that the night we showed “Gremlins.” You get enough alcohol in people and they do crazy things, but everybody seems to come out and have a blast.

Malcolm: I remember during “The Shining,” people really got into it. “The Shining” was our best showing so far as numbers—it nearly doubled our second best. We got it on 35 millimeter film and from where I was sitting, I could tell that it was definitely the first time some people had seen it. That’s one of our goals, is to get people who haven’t even seen the movie to come out.

Jeremiah: That’s definitely a bonus. After the movies, random people will come up to us and say, “I never saw that. It was amazing, thank you!” That’s worth it for me more than anything else.

Top three movies...go!

Jeremiah: Oh, jeez... “Aliens,” “Lawrence of Arabia,” and “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.”

Malcolm: Maybe “A Bronx Tale,” “Brick,” and let’s go with “The Shining.”

What’s next for Midnight Movie Madness?

Malcolm: We’re talking about an animation festival. “The Never Ending Story” and “Ghostbusters” are coming up. We’re debating between “Independence Day” and “Rocky IV” in July. We’ve got to have something manly and with explosions.

“Big Trouble In Little China”—greatest film of the ’80s, or greatest film of all time?

Jeremiah: Man, I didn’t put it in the top three, but it’s definitely in the top 10. In fact, that one may be screening in July. I’ve had so many people ask about that movie.

Malcolm: It’s on our short list. Most of the things that people recommend to me, I usually say, “It’s on our short list.” That short list is about 50 long. «

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Posted by mtoplikar (anonymous) on March 12, 2008 at 2:44 p.m. (Suggest removal)

This is awesome!!! When I worked at Liberty a lot of us talked about doing something like this, but when it came down to it we were all too lazy. Kudos to Jeremiah and Malcolm (two of the nicest guys you'll ever meet). I really wish I could have been there for The Shining.

So you guys are looking to do a "manly night" huh? Here's a few recommendations. I'm sure you've thought of them already, but just in case...

Fight Club
Payback
First Blood
Die Hard
Terminator 2
Robocop
Drunken Master 2

Night of the Living Film Geeks

Midnight Movie Madness screens insomnia cinema at Liberty Hall

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