VACC 01/20/2025 Newsletter

Welcome back to another exciting week at the Video Archives Cinema Club. I'm so glad that the theater is back in action. We had some great shows last week and we have some awesome titles coming up this next. So let's get on into it!

To start us off, let's talk a little bit about last week. As you know, when you come to the Cinema Club, you have a chance to see lots of original posters, boxes, lobby cards, and memorabilia brought in by Quentin, Matt, and sometimes even other viewers!

In this week's newsletter, I wanted to highlight one of the shows that was so special: our John Carpenter birthday double feature. And what better way to do that than to have Matt himself talk about what this director means to him...

MATT:  If you know me, you know I love John Carpenter movies. In honor of his birthday on January 16th, I wanted to showcase some of the coolest items from my personal collection.

MATT: First up, anyone who came to our double feature got to check out these original Japanese Chirashi posters of THE THING and PRINCE OF DARKNESS (Gala’s favorite!)

MATT: Next, my signed Croation ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK one sheet...

MATT: And finally - the highlight of my VHS collection: An ultra-rare “MEDA” copy of Halloween. As some folks may know, director Charles Band was a pioneer of the VHS format and the founder of Media Home Entertainment. The earliest Media releases actually said MEDA on the box (in reference to his then-wife), making this a true first release!

Wow, what a collection Matt has! He has one of the most impressive Halloween displays I have ever seen -- and him as Michael Meyers is an impressive and realistic sight to see. Do you guys collect memorabilia from any one movie? Let me know in the comments below.

Now, for the titles this week. If you've heard the episode you know that Roger joined us to talk about the movies -- and I'm glad he did, because his insights on Sam Raimi in relation to Crimewave were really cool. I also loved hearing the story about Lance buying all the guys at Video Archives tickets to go see Evil Dead!

The Cinema Club will be showing the Video Archives tape of Crimewave on Tuesday the 21st, and if I'm not mistaken, that's Quentin's handwriting on the yellow sticker.

Our other matinee of the week is one of those movies that fell through the cracks on Season One of the Video Archives Pod. Check out this badass box for The Night Visitor!

It almost looks like one of those Polish posters.

Then, for our first double of the week, we have a noir special with Rio and co-hit The Kiss Before the Mirror.

I think this may give you a flavor of what we refer to as a home made box. Eddie Brandt's was full of difficult to find tapes in interesting boxes. I've seen quite a few slip covers floating around, but this The Kiss Before the Mirror box is something of it's own! I love the caricature of who I am assuming to be Eddie on the box. And when it comes to Rio, I like this collage of imagery on the front. It almost looks like a scrapbook of favorite movie memories.

As I mentioned, The Kiss Before the Mirror is near impossible to see online ... so I would definitely recommend going down to the Cinema Club to watch this show.

As I mentioned on the episode, I think Comanche Station is the perfect western to watch on a Friday evening. It's a tight 74 minutes so you have time for dinner and a show. Plus, this movie works so many ways. It's great to rewatch, it's fun for the first time, and it's an awesome gateway into the genre!

We almost didn't post this box because, well, it's a hand made home made tape recorded off of the VCR ... but the more we looked at it, the cooler it became!

When people tell me they are interested in a "retro" look, this is exactly what I assume they are talking about. You literally can't replicate how cool this tape is!

And, for the Saturday evening show, we have Chrichton-nacht -- Looker with co-hit Coma. You'll have heard us discuss Coma on Season One, Episode 6  -- and it's still one of my favorite episodes. So much so that I had to check out Looker, and Looker made it into my 2024 Discoveries.

My boxes look a little different than the ones that will be playing at the Cinema Club...

Here’s my 50 cent tape that Chris from There Are Too Many Movies haggled for at the Video Crypt inside of The Texas Theater. He also haggled 2 other tapes for me, what a gentleman.

And here’s my box of Coma (uncut).

I love how it opens like a book…

This show is sold out, but as always there is a stand by line. I think this will be a really fun viewing, so make sure you get on out there to see it!

And for those of you playing the home game ... let me know what show you'd be attending this week at the Cinema Club!

To wrap up our newsletter, I wanted to highlight a gift that Matt received from one of the regulars at the Cinema Club. Hans came in with a framed calendar for the month of December!

Hans said he loves Matt's work on the calendars and had so much fun at the movies in December, so he just had to present this framed calendar to Matt. I thought it was very heart warming ... and it made me wonder what an entire wall of 12 colored frames would look like! How cool! Hans, if you're out there, you'll have to comment and let me know what your favorite movie at the Cinema Club was in December (and your snack order!)

xoxo gala