Well, I attended the screening of SLITHIS last night with my pal Mark Pavia, director of THE NIGHT FLIER, and we were pleasantly surprised to see that the theater was packed. Copies of Gugan's photo above were given out to everyone with their paid admission. The theater was on the small side with a juxtaposition of old seats and renovated seats. There was red lighting on the screen and chirpy, quirky music playing, as if Goblin had scored a children's film. The ceiling was marked with large black scorches of dirt extending in four directions from each exhaust vent, and there was the faintest musty whiff of old attic smell in the air. In other words, the perfect venue for what we were about to see.

Before the film began, one of the organizers of the grindhouse fest talked about his first viewing of SLITHIS. He had one of the official Slithis Fan Club packages and showed its contents to the audience.

After some kung fu (THE DRAGON'S VENGEANCE was particularly memorable) and nudie trailers (THE SWINGIN' PUSSYCATS), the film began. The opening title SPAWN OF THE SLITHIS seemed to take everyone by surprise, but when the mon-star appeared on screen for the first time, he was greeted with thunderous applause. The audience really enjoyed the schlocky aspect of the movie, the dopey journalist, the bizarrely-overacting police detective, Dr. John's car flight into the canal and the sexually ambiguous but hip black Captain Chris. The final freeze frame shot gathered huge applause, too.

There was a 15-minute intermission, then trailers for a couple of the "Don't" horror films (DON'T ANSWER THE PHONE and DON'T GO IN THE HOUSE), then SCREAMS OF A WINTER NIGHT began. The audience tittered at first, expecting it to be schlocky like SLITHIS, but the film was a bit more serious, and the laughter died down as everyone started getting into it. The cameo by a 14-year-old FRIGHT NIGHT star William Ragsdale was warmly greeted. By the beginning of the third story in the film's anthology, the audience was getting restless which resulted in some MST3King by the audience, but that ended when the story finished. SCREAMS OF A WINTER NIGHT is an odd film in that the wraparound is more interesting than the stories it tells. The film ended with another freeze frame shot, and the audience applauded again, slowly pulling themselves from their seats and exiting the theater, happily chatting about the films they'd just seen.

Overall, a very pleasurable experience.

DOCTOR 13