This past weekend, yours truly made the trip out to the historic Carolina Theatre in Durham, NC for the annual Nevermore Fundraiser. Every year, the Carolina Theatre hosts the Nevermore Festival featuring fantasy and horror films both new and old. This past weekend marked their fundraiser event for this year’s Nevermore Festival. What better way to get the event started than by hosting a double feature of Jim Henson’s fantasy epic – The Dark Crystal and the final film of Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead trilogy – The Army of Darkness?
Ignoring warnings of encroaching winter storms – I traveled to Durham to partake of the weekend’s festivities. I arrived a good half hour before the events started – allowing me enough time to tour the facilities and take in all the sights and sounds of the theatre. I wandered through the halls like a stricken country mouse – mouth agape as I looked in wonder at the array of rare horror and cult film one sheets adorning the walls. I appeased my inner geek by taking a few photos of the amazing collectibles staring down at me. I stopped by to sign up for the zombie walk scheduled for the Saturday of the Nevermore event. I figured if I’m going to check out the festivities – I might as well go all the way and get in on the gutmunching action. If you want to go with me – shoot me an email at streebo [AT] mutantville.com. I grabbed one slice of pizza and a nice beverage and plopped down into some primo seats ready to begin the night’s activities!
Before the movies – we were treated to a greatest hits assortment of classic movie scenes ranging from Rocky to Wargames to Scooby Doo and so on and so forth. There was a brief announcement about the upcoming Nevermore festival including the scheduled films and special guests which will include director Kevin Tenney hosting his cult horror flicks Witchboard and Night of the Demons! Once the announcements were out of the way – the entire theatre turned into a way-back machine and transported us all to 1982 and opening night of Jim Henson’s dark fantasy epic The Dark Crystal!
First up – we were treated to a bevy of period trailers from 1982 including the ultra rare early promo for the third film
in George Lucas’ true Star Wars trilogy – Revenge of the Jedi! That’s right – this was the original trailer that aired the year before its release. The title was subsequently changed to Return of the Jedi leading to months of confusion amongst the card carrying members of the Star Wars fan club as we were suddenly expecting two Star Wars movies in the coming year! Alas that was not meant to be. Back to the present and the amazing presentation of The Dark Crystal in glorious 35mm. This was audacious filmmaking at it’s finest. Long before James Cameron came along with the waterhose of money to spray 3D blue tint on the celluloid of Avatar, The Dark Crystal left audiences awestruck by it’s breathtaking visuals. Every frame of The Dark Crystal featured new and amazing sights – imaginative creatures, new cultures, and lifeforms that seemed to crawl from the depths of our collective subconsciousness and wiggle their way across the screen. If you have never watched The Dark Crystal – do yourself a favor and pick up the special edition DVD on the cheap at Wally world and experience it for yourself. You will thank me later.
Our next stop was 1993 and the premiere of The Army of Darkness! This film was preceded by trailers of it’s own era – featuring the Stephen King adaptation Needful Things and the mainstream hit – Grumpy Old Men. To say the trailers of 1993 reminded me of a less than stellar time of cinema would be an understatement. But enough of that – we were here for one thing and one thing only – to get down with that deadite bashing badass Ashley Williams! Ashley was never a very heroic name – that’s why we know him better as Ash – the man with a chainsaw for a hand and a boomstick at his back. As long time Evil Dead fans will know – the movie begins with a five minute prologue explaining the convoluted history of Ash and the Evil Dead and introduces a third actress in the role of ill fated girlfriend Linda! I can only imagine how confused first time viewers must have felt at this moment – but this movie wasn’t for them – it was for us – the fans that know better. Luckily once all of that backstory is out of the way – Army of Darkness never let’s exposition get in it’s path again and sets off like a rocket through this medieval landscape. It’s not long before Ash gets pushed into the pit and puts his deadite bashing fu to good use. And that was when the sound went out!
This crowd wasn’t about to be deterred by a little thing like the sudden loss of sound. We had risked life and limb to make this trip, sat through two hours of movies and trailers to get to this moment. So what should one do in the event of the loss of sound during a showing of an Evil Dead movie? A) complain to the manager? B) get up and walk out? Or C) make up your own damn dialogue? If you guessed C) then you are correct. Suddenly this turned into a make-shift Rocky Horror Show as the crowd started making sound effects and shouting out key lines from the movie. Yours truly had to get in on the action by shouting out a “groovy” or two of my own. of course the technical issues were solved and the movie played on as planned.
All in all – it made for an amazing night at the theatre. I am glad that I was able to attend. I met some fun new people, saw some great memorabilia, and enjoyed some classic movies. To me this is what it means to be a Mutantville Player – to show an eagerness to enjoy oneself by sharing the love and appreciation of the arts with our fellow fans. I’m sorry that you couldn’t join me – but perhaps in reading my recap – you will have lived it vicariously with me. At least you didn’t have to worry about the drive home. Suddenly the movies were over, it was 12:30 AM and the streets were piled with snow. I had to drive home across what looked like the frozen wasteland of Hoth – but it was a small price to pay for another night at the theatre.
Be sure to join us as we attend the Nevermore Festival next month. Check the Carolina Theatre website for further information.
