The Midnight Show
SEPTEMBER 22, 2007 Listen to this Story
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In San Francisco there's a sing-along "Buffy The Vampire Slayer" midnight movie on Saturday. In Huntington, W.Va., you can catch "Transformers" at midnight. In Chicago, "Revenge of the Nerds" is playing late. These days you can see pretty much any movie when you want, in your own house, pretty cheap. So midnight movies, a tradition that's now decades old, seem like they would have been a prime target for obsolescence. But that has clearly not happened. Weekend America's John Moe looks at the evolution of midnight movies and the people who watch them.
Notes from Senior Reporter John Moe
There were a few things that just didn't make it into the story this week but that I thought were interesting. Steve Garrett, the fellow that runs the Admiral Theater in Seattle, is an insomniac. He says he only sleeps about four hours a night, so he's at every midnight movie. He makes sure the projector is running okay and then goes down to sit in the auditorium with the crowd to see how they're responding. After they leave, he sweeps up. On Sunday mornings, he also runs classic movies.
His schedule might be:
12 am to 2am - screen "Heavy Metal"
2 am to 3 am - sweep up, clean theater
4 am to 8 am - sleep
8 am to 10 am - get theater set up
11 am - screen "The African Queen"
Ruth Haler works out of a crowded office in Seattle, booking midnight screenings all over the country. She says sci-fi is huge in Seattle, while Dallas and Houston can't get enough of "Caddyshack." St. Louis is quite fond of anime. One of her latest bookings is "Italian Stallion," a 1970's adult film starring a then unknown Sylvester Stallone. The original title was "Party at Kitty & Stud's" (he was Stud) but after Rocky came out, they changed the title.
Ben Barenholtz, whom I talk to in the story, moved on from running a theater to being a movie producer. He's worked extensively with the Coen Brothers. He was also, and you're going to be jealous, a zombie in "Dawn of the Dead."
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