Classy Cult Cinema

Lightning can do strange things. Strike places twice, stalk people, roast chickens, even cause annual conventions. And it can blow out phone lines. Specifically, my phone line. About a week ago, Frederick experienced two full days of lightning storms. While my neighbors and I sat (safely) under our porches to enjoy the night sky crackling, one apparently smacked my 30-year-old split and switch. For days, my phone fluttered between stone silence or laughing static, as if the lightning bolt still danced on the line. My Internet connection also suffered: After about 10 minutes online, the connection would sputter and fade out, leaving my browser grasping blindly.

But the phone guy just left, after installing a completely new line and adopting the burned-out switch for his display wall at work. The computer connection is finally healthy, and I jump online to see what's happening.

And at the prestigious AFI Silver Theatre, this greets me.

Big Trouble in Little China? Evil Dead 2? The Terminator? This is Spinal Tap? Repo Man? Porky's?

What, did lightning strike me, too? Am I really in heaven? Or did reality's axis just go all unhinged?

A few years ago, The American Film Institute helped Montgomery County restore the historical Silver Theatre in Silver Spring, Maryland, for the purpose of showing classic and world cinema. With two stadium-seating screening rooms, the theater usually shows older foreign and American art films, classic cinema, and even the occasional first-run indie feature. The line-ups usually feature the likes of Seven Samurai, Ingmar Bergman's Wild Strawberries, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, My Own Private Idaho, and The Lady Vanishes. In a week, a Sunday Buster Keaton retrospective ends after playing all spring. Recent pulp films, however, never really have been shown there. Sure, a few years ago, I got to see the original Japanese Godzilla at the Silver, but that movie is now regarded as a monster classic alongside the likes of Frankenstein and Dracula.

But that's really the point, isn't it? Many of the films we regard today as important classics were the entertainment of yesteryear. John Ford, Alfred Hitchcock, Akira Kurosawa, Tod Browning...they all created timeless work that helped shape film history, but they all were storytellers first. Some filmmakers simply were more subtle than others.

The films the AFI Silver Theatre is showcasing as great 1980s cinema boast growing reputations: The Termintor is regarded as a contemporary time-travel classic, while Evil Dead 2 begatted Sam Raimi's career, hyperactive filmatic style, and comedy horror. Porky's, for better or worse, predated today's tasteless teen comedies; you can thank the late Bob Clark for the likes of American Pie. This Is Spinal Tap helped introduce the modern concept of the mockumentary, one that star Christopher Guest has continued to develop with Best in Show and A Mighty Wind. All these films from my teenhood influenced the makers of movies today; the cultural ascension to critical respect just seems odd to me, who still remembers them for the celluloid escape they originally gave us.

Of course, that still doesn't explain Jack Burton's appearance. But who cares?



Oh yeah, I have my tickets yesterday.