SECRET MOVIE CLUB presents
THE CRONENBERG CODE! Thursday, September 23, 2021
LOCATION: The Secret Movie Club Theater, 1917 Bay Street, 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90021
*Please note entrance/parking is actually in the back of the building. Make a right on Wilson Street, then a right behind the building. We’re the first set of black steps after the big gate. We’ll have staff to help guide/park you.
8pm VIDEODROME (1983, wri/dir David Cronenberg, Universal, 88mns, 35MM)
10pm EASTERN PROMISES (2007, dir by David Cronenberg, Universal, 101mns, 35MM)
IMPORTANT NOTES:
***ALL GUESTS WILL BE TAKEN THROUGH PROTOCOLS PRIOR TO ENTERING THEATER SO EVERYONE CAN HAVE A FUN AND SAFE TIME.
***EVERONE WILL STILL BE REQUIRED TO WEAR MASKS INDOORS WHEN NOT EATING/DRINKING CONCESSIONS IN THEIR ASSIGNED SEATS.
HOW TO:
1)PLEASE BRING AND BE READY TO WEAR A PROPER MASK AT ALL TIMES INSIDE THE THEATER AS A SAFETY PRECAUTION.
2)PRE-ORDER ANY CONCESSIONS OR MOVIE MERCHANDISE you would like from the additional Add-Ons. You can pick up all concessions & merchandise at our tables in our lobby prior to the screening.
We will be able to sell concessions & merchandise at the theater. But it will make everything much quicker and easier if you pre-order!
3)PLEASE BE AWARE THAT ANYONE EXHIBITING COVID OR FLU LIKE SYMPTOMS AT THE DOOR, WILL BE OFFERED COMPLIMENTARY TICKETS TO A FUTURE SHOW AND ASKED TO RETURN WHEN HEALTHY. So please, if you’re feeling sick, just write us at community@secretmovieclub.com and we’ll offer your complimentary tickets to a future screening when you’re healthy. Let’s all do our part to beat this thing so we can go back to the complete movie going experience!
We've been itchin' (in a good way) to do some Cronenberg and now we're scratching that itch.
First we show Videodrome, possibly the fullest, most graphic and intense expression, of Cronenberg's first period devoted to out and out body horror. It is, in many ways a culmination of the cycle he started with Shivers, Rabid, The Brood.
Videodrome still feels from the future in terms of its story of TV head Max Renn (a wonderfully committed James Woods) who discovers a "secret" TV station that seems to broadcast horrific snuff-cult like acts that slowly consume/draw in the viewer into this cult/new religion. Filled with terrifying sexual/horror imagery (the Cronenberg hallmark), the movie, as with all of Cronenberg's best work, bypasses logic to make its point deep in the psyche. Will we one day willingly fuse ourselves with technology for the dopamine instant gratification that is also destructive? We seem a lot closer today than we did even back in 1983's TV saturated era.
Next up, one of this programmer's favorite late period Cronenberg's, Eastern Promises, which takes the Videodrome concept of being seduced by a destructive "code" and turns it on its head. Here we get Russian gangster Nikolai (a never better Viggo Mortensen), a trusted member of a psychotic and violent Russian mob family in London, and slowly learn he's not what he seems at all. Here Cronenberg seems to be exploring the costs and discipline necessary to live amongst a destructive code but not submit to it.
Containing one of Cronenberg's greatest late period sequences (the naked bathhouse fight to the death), Eastern Promises seems like a standard story until you realize it is anything but.
Join us for two of Cronenberg's most fascinating movies. On 35mm!
Best always,
Craig Hammill
35mm Secret Movie Club Founder.Programmer
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS FOR OUR IN-DOOR THEATER SCREENINGS
REFUNDS:
We can offer refunds up to 24 hours before showtime. Please request a refund through Eventbrite and we will process ASAP. After that, no refunds. Sorry.
However if something last minute comes up and you can’t make the screening, for whatever reason, just write us at: community@secretmovieclub.com and we’ll offer you complimentary tickets to a future screening.
WHY ARE THE TICKET PRICES HIGHER THAN NORMAL?
In order for us to re-open, maintain health protocols , and screen movies on 35MM, we need to temporarily raise our ticket prices. We apologize.
However, if you could look at this as partially helping the Secret Movie Club Theater re-open, make the improvements as we go to turn this into the amazing movie watching, movie making center we know it can be, we would be eternally grateful.
We should be able to lower our ticket prices soon as we are able to increase capacity and lower restrictions.
If you could look at this as all of us being in this together, we WILL remember your kindness.
HELPFUL SECRET MOVIE CLUB (1917 Bay Street, 2nd Floor, LA, CA 90021) THEATER PARKING TIPS:
We recommend that you park just outside our theater. Remember our theater is actually in a beautiful street art alleyway in the back of the 1917 Bay Street building. You get to our entrance by taking a right on Wilson, then a right behind the building. We are the first set of black steps on the right after the big gate.
We will have a staff member on duty to monitor all cars parked in the street-art alleyway at our entrance.
There is also a parking lot at the corner of Mateo and Violet Street, just 2 blocks from our theater, which costs $7 per car.
HOW WILL OUR STAFF MAKE SURE THE THEATER IS AS SAFE AS POSSIBLE:
We will have staff in the theater at all times who make sure everyone is wearing masks and obeying protocols. We will have signage at entrance, markings at concessions, restrooms, etc so folks keep 6 ft distance at all times.
Anyone not observing safe protocols will kindly be asked to leave. On top of this, we’ll be making announcements at the head of each screening to make sure everyone understands the rules & regs!
HOW CAN WE STAY ON TOP OF NEWLY ANNOUNCED 35MM SCREENINGS, EVENTS, ETC?
You can follow us on Facebook: @secretmovieclub35mm or Instagram/Twitter: @secretmovieclub
You can also subscribe to our weekly email newsletter by writing us at community@secretmovieclub.com and using the header “SUBSCRIBE ME TO NEWSLETTER”.
HOW CAN I CONTACT YOU IF I HAVE OTHER QUESTIONS/RECOMMENDATIONS:
You can always email us at community@secretmovieclub.com with any other questions, concerns, thoughts, recommendations.