VACC 01/13/2025 Newsletter

Hey everyone!

I'm so happy to report that the Video Archives Cinema Club is open after the holidays. I'm even further touched because the cinema club has become a mini-hub for people seeking refuge from the smokey air in Los Angeles, and during last week's 3 show run we had a great turn out with people who wanted to come together and see movies. A lot of friends were made over these three nights, and my heart is touched by this.

To honor that, I'm also including the boxes from last week (which did not have a newsletter). To start off, we had a double for Elvis Prestley's birthday where we played Jailhouse Rock with co-hit Viva Las Vegas.

It was awesome to honor the King on his birthday! Quentin keeps all of his Elvis music tapes on a special shelf that I don't typically see when we record, so it was awesome to see these pulled for viewing.

Next up, on the 9th, we had a really cool double feature of I Wanna Hold Your Hand and Corvette Summer.

If you heard my special bulletin episode, I Wanna Hold Your Hand is my favorite Zemeckis movie. It switches between that and Who Framed Roger Rabbit? in the same way that my favorite Kubrick film switches between The Killing and Dr. Strangelove or: How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the Atomic Bomb). I haven't yet seen Corvette Summer, but I heard from Matt that this had a super active and engaged audience who loved these two features together.

And to round out our mini week, Coffy hit the screens. Coffy is the color of her skin, coffy is the color of the world we live in ... yeah, I got it stuck in my head!

Obviously the coffee shop next door to The Vista, Pam's, is named after Pam Grier. Pam's isn't open in the evening, but you can still get a cup of Pam's coffee at the snack counter inside the Vista for the evening shows. I really love this box, it's so colorful -- and I also really love this movie. I wish that the Cinema Club would make this movie a semi-regular showing, because it was a very popular title!

Okay guys, now for this week's movies that will be playing. Remember, tickets are still available over at The Vista Hollywood. As of me writing this, none of this week's shows are sold out, but several other shows this month have already sold out their tickets. So make sure to get what you want while you can!

First up, on Tuesday the 14th at 2PM, we have Zabriskie Point.

The box shows off the scene that Matt was talking about: with them rolling down the hill in the sand as they make out (or make love, I can't decide!). I like that they show it all over the cover, so as your eye works down you put the pieces together of them "falling" down the hill.

The other 2PM of the week, we have Logan's Run playing on Wednesday the 15th.

This is a really cool box showing them running away from ... well, the crystal in their hand. I actually picked up a box from Logan's run recently from Matt, who had it in a box of tapes he purchased. I bought it from him for a dollar!

And, as promised, here are my posters that hang in my kitchen. Hopefully you can see them, I'm taking this picture in the middle of the night as I write this newsletter.

And, lastly, here's me and my friend Erik messing around as I pretend to be a emerge into the big world after being freed. Thank god they freed me before I turned 30!

I love my little half frame film camera, and thanks to Erik Clapp over at Cinema Force for showing me around while I was in town!

I know that this next show has a low ticket alert on it as I'm writing this newsletter, with only a few left, so if you're dying to go celebrate John Carpenter's birthday with a bunch of other fans, get your tickets to January 16th's 7PM showing of Eyes of Laura Mars with co-hit In The Mouth of Madness.

Fans of the podcast will recall this tape for Eyes of Laura Mars being shared in the corresponding newsletter that Josh wrote for episode 107 (which, by the way, you can still find on our Patreon!). It's a super rare version of this tape, and was #8582 at the Archives. Even though it's not directed by Carpenter, they still put the sticker on there to remind you he had something to do with it. I have this same cool white box in my collection, I know Matt is super jealous.

For our creature feature of the week, we have January 17th's 7:30PM showing of The Wolf Man with co-hit The Mummy.

Look how cool these boxes sare, and look how awesome these figures are as well! It's cool to think about the Universal Monsters as their own gang of super heroes (or, rather, super villains...?). I guess that's what Monster Squad is kind of all about, but I digress. I can't wait to see the cool t-shirts that show up at this screening, because I know the Universal Monster fans are going to show up and show out! If you go to this show and wear a cool t-shirt, take a pic and post it in the community chat. I'd love to feature it on next week's newsletter.

For our last show of the week we have a Richard Fleischer double feature tribute with See No Evil and 10 Rillington Place.

This box for See No Evil is from Video Archives and was tape #4161. After hearing Matt talk about 10 Rillington Place, I need to see it ... but I think I have to gather up the courage, it sounds dark!

Well, that's this week at the Archives! By the way, if you read last week's newsletter, you'll know I shared that cool Train Killer variant tape I found at Quentin's. Yup, I managed to track one down! As soon as I get it I'll show you guys. It's only a matter of time before it plays at the Cinema Club...hehe!

xoxo gala