May 27, 2014

Day Two Of Movies At Dog Farm III - Final Chapter Or A New Beginning?

The projector warms up for night two of Movies At Dog Farm III.  Image by Herb Miller.
The projector warms up for night two of Movies At Dog Farm III.  All images in this post by Herb Miller.
      So why, exactly, do I do what I do here?  To what end?  There's no shortage of movie blogs on the Internet curated by passionate and well-informed movie aficionados, so what purpose does the Dog Farm serve?  I had a moment of clarity while driving home in the wee hours of Sunday morning, prompted by an impromptu bullshit session that broke out as I was preparing to leave the Dog Farm following our viewing of The Sentinel (1977).  I should begin at the beginning, though, so let's rewind just a bit further . . .

Movies At Dog Farm III projection screen.  Image by Herb Miller.
The Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls menu on the screen at dusk. 
     For some inexplicable reason I always feel compelled to actually schedule showtimes for these events, and this one was no exception.  Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls (1970) was scheduled to begin at 8:30, just as daylight waned and the woods grew dark enough to fire up the projector.  We had watched our movies indoors on the preceding night, but I decided at the eleventh hour to move things outdoors for the second.  I was reminded of countless childhood trips to the drive-in, when the air would grow crisp at dusk and the projector would spring to life as the final light of the day gave way to nightfall.  Anticipation welled up inside me.  Then . . . the start of the show was delayed for roughly an hour as the guests milled around and chatted, waiting for Phil to finish preparing a vat of chili for everyone.  As is always the case, the schedule was blown before the first movie began.  Lesson learned.  I waited patiently while everyone drew their conversations to a close and settled in with their piping hot bowls of chili.  We were starting late, but everyone seemed ready now to direct their full attention to the screen.

Movies At Dog Farm III outdoor theater.  Image by Herb Miller.
Our makeshift outdoor theater before the start of the show . . .
     I harbored a lingering doubt about sharing Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls with an audience, and the initial twenty minutes or so made me sweat.  Everyone was too quiet.  I felt self conscious about laughing at bits of dialog that no-one else seemed to find amusing.  BVD is an odd bird, and I began to fear that perhaps I'd chosen the wrong movie for the crowd.  Then there were signs of life.  I began to hear politely subdued discussion around me.  I began to field whispered inquiries about what we were watching.  After a slow start, everyone finally seemed to be tuning in to the campy vibe of BVD just as the character of Z-Man Barzell exulted, "This is my happening, and it freaks me out!"  Apropos, really.  The audience became less discreet about commenting on what was unfolding before them, and by the time the movie careened into its frenzied final act BVD had managed to win over the audience completely.  My gamble had paid off.

The audience at Movies At Dog Farm III.  Image by Herb Miller.
. . . and again after the movies commenced. 
     After a brief intermission between films I started the evening's second feature, The Sentinel.  Though considerably less outrageous, high spirits engendered by BVD carried over.  The evening had grown chilly, but everyone bundled themselves up in sleeping bags and blankets and settled in.  The Sentinel played out like the champion B-list horror show it is, and the audience was engaged throughout.  The final credits rolled at around 1:30 in the morning, after which the lights came up and a line formed for the bathroom.  I took that as a victory.  The audience had been sufficiently involved with what they were watching to hang in there until the bitter end, bursting bladders be damned.

     As the crowd started to gather their things and disband, I began to disassemble the AV equipment and load my car for the ride home.  Phil Neff and Herb Miller lingered for longer than the others, and we began to talk excitedly about what had just transpired.  Herb had enjoyed The Sentinel, a movie about which he'd been previously unaware, more than he expected.  Phil shared with me some details of the crowd's enthusiasm for Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls earlier in the evening.  We started to reminisce about previous Movies At Dog Farm successes - Pieces (1982) and Suspiria (1977) in particular.  We began to spitball ideas for the next Movies At Dog Farm then and there, even hatching a plot to throw a "movies only" fundraising event later in the summer to finance acquisition of our own projector for future gatherings.  I was gratified.

     As I drove away, the theme for Suspiria played on my car's CD player, a perfect sound cue to end Movies At Dog Farm III.   I spent most of the hour long drive home chewing on ways to set up that fundraiser we had discussed, and I began to think of all the other cinematic obscurities I still wanted to share.  It occurred to me that my usual mode of movie consumption - home alone on the couch watching the movies unfold on a regular old television - is lacking.  There's simply no substitute for enjoying a movie on the big screen in the company of an appreciative audience.

     I don't really fancy myself a critic, and I tend only to write here about the movies I love.  I spend a little too much time watching these flicks, and I relish the opportunity to share the best of them with friends both old and new.  Nothing can convey the satisfaction of hearing a group of otherwise normal individuals enthusiastically sharing their best dramatic renditions of movie quotes like, "You will drink the black sperm of my vengeance!"  Presenting these odd little cinematic gems to an audience not predisposed to watch such things is why I do what I do here.  That's a simple motive, but I think it's a worthy one.  Thanks, everyone, for affording me the opportunity to do so.


11 comments:

  1. Sounds like it was a really magical evening, Brandon! Your descriptions made the event come alive for me, even though I wasn't there (obviously, since I'm in Texas). Glad to hear you want to keep doing what you're doing. I'm with you on the critic thing - I'd rather describe myself as a film enthusiast. Cheers, from one enthusiast to another!

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    1. Thanks, Barry! I'm not qualified to be a critic, but I did get a passing grade on the minimum competency exam for "enthusiast". I know my limits. lol

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  2. Brandon, there were reasons I offered you this venue, and I continue to be very happy that you accepted.

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    1. You still think I'm agoraphobic, don't you? lol I'm really just anti-social. There's a difference. Regardless of your motives, Phil, I've greatly enjoyed each and every one of these events. They're directly responsible for the existence of this blog, as well, so you've done your part to keep me off the streets. Now we just need to figure out how to acquire our own projector to enjoy some degree of autonomy.

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  3. How do you keep your eyes on the screen when there's such beauty in the surrounding environment? What an event! I am jealous, and I hope that some day I can attend. Also, I would love to premiere one of my films there. Now I just need a directing job.

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    1. So get to work on that spec script for a Star Wars spinoff, Carl. I'm sure Disney would be thrilled to have the world premiere of a summer tentpole in Timberville. It is a beautiful environment. Fortunately for me, I'm not predisposed to be much of an outdoorsman. I initially thought by "beauty in the surrounding environment" you were referring to the lovely young models wandering around all weekend, but then I realized I hadn't really provided any pics of that element. Maybe one of the photographers there this weekend would be willing to shoot one of those pics my way to publish here?

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  4. Sounds like a ton of fun. Wish I could have been out there for it Brandon!

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  5. IT sounds like MatDF-III was a smashing success! I'll tell ya what, I wish I could of been there, it sounds like it was a blast! I've long wanted to host my own movie nights on a nice big projected screen and hopefully I'm moving closer to that!

    Keep up the fantastic work, amigo. I would hate to think of a world without MatDF!

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    1. Movies At Dog Farm (the blog and the movie nights) aren't going away any time in the foreseeable future. I'm still plotting acquisition of my own projector, which would likely mean more frequent movie nights at the Dog Farm. I love the quasi-drive-in vibe of it. Also, I've never had the opportunity to see so many of my favorites as anything other than a movie on tv, so it's always like seeing these movies for the first time for me. You haven't lived until you've seen Kingdom Of The Spiders in the middle of the spider infested woods on a warm summer night. Suspiria was pretty spectacular, too. That was at he first event, when I went whole hog and had several thousand dollars worth of Klipsch speakers scattered through the surrounding woods. I've since scaled back on the sound, opting instead for high quality soundbars. The full surround was nice, but a logistics nightmare. Of course, it rained that entire weekend, too.

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  6. Wow, that must have been freakin' amazing with the surround! I imagine it was a massive pain in the ass too! I was looking at projector prices the other day....some of those high end projectors are ridiculously expensive, but I imagine that they have really great sound & image.

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  7. The projector we're looking at is $1300 retail, but I can get it as an employee purchase for about a grand. I'm checking with Epson to see if I can do a little better than that. I'd like one with a better contrast ratio, but this model worked nicely. It's a big jump in price for the higher contrast ratio.

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