The Greatest Trailers of All Time: NAKED LUNCH

It was pretty incredible that a film version of William Burroughs' NAKED LUNCH ended up getting made in the first place. Despite the film's lack of adherence to the actual novel, the resulting film (one of David Cronenberg's finest) is a pretty extraordinary achievement in it's own right. No, what truly strikes me as most surprising about the film version of NAKED LUNCH was that the film was distributed by 20th Century Fox, whose marketing department astonishingly came up with a trailer that not only did a remarkable job of selling the film, but also sold it properly. Not only did they not hide the film's literary origins, but they also didn't make the film out to be anything that it wasn't. They could have sold it as a thriller, a horror film, or even a straight drama, but instead they sold it as what it was: NAKED LUNCH, a weird, one-of-a-kind hybrid of the visions of Burroughs and Cronenberg and a damn great film. Even stupid people would look at this trailer and say to themselves, "Damn, this I gotta see!". Although the film was nothing more than an arthouse success in the U.S.(unsurprisingly, much more successful overseas), you sure as hell can blame the marketing department for the box office on this one.

"The Good News is Your Dates Are Here..."

(Originally posted on the Alamo Drafthouse blog.)

Man, let me tell you about the weekend I had last week.

When my good friend, Michael Felsher of Red Shirt Pictures, called to let me know that he was producing the long-awaited DVD for the 80’s horror favorite NIGHT OF THE CREEPS, I knew we had to do something. Michael was already thinking the same thing and suggested the Alamo host a cast & crew reunion screening (not unlike the 2006 MONSTER SQUAD reunion screening), which would be filmed for the DVD. Writer/director Fred Dekker was already on board, and it was no problem getting stars Tom Atkins, Jill Whitlow, Steve Marshall and Jason Lively to agree to come in. The good folks at Sony Pictures Home Entertainment agreed to let us screen the original director’s cut that will be made available on the DVD (which hits stores on October 20), Mondo Tees and Jon Smith put together an outstanding glow-in-the-dark poster, and we got Ain’t It Cool News’ Eric Vespe (aka “Quint”) to host the show. And with this, the stage was set for a memorable weekend for all concerned.

If you were at the show (which sold out in a matter of hours), you saw how much fun these people were having on stage, obviously enjoying each other’s company and the thrill of meeting just some of the film’s many fans. But I happened to have the pleasure of hosting this group all weekend long, and let me tell you what a blast we all had. On top of the thrill of meeting the cast and director of a longtime favorite movie, everyone turned out to be super cool and just a pleasure to spend time with, and since it was the first time in 23 years they all saw each other, it was also a major kick to take part in their reunion, even though I was never there the first time out (although I actually saw NIGHT OF THE CREEPS during it’s very brief theatrical run in August 1986). Yes, Tom Atkins is as cool as you think he is (and that’s pretty damn cool), while Jill Whitlow remains a dream girl and Steve Marshall and Jason Lively are cut-ups of the highest order. And what can I say about Fred Dekker except that he’s one of the good guys, as nice as he is talented, smart as a whip and someone you could spend days talking movies with like he’s an old friend. After this weekend I’m convinced that the world desperately needs more Fred Dekker movies.

Alamo pal Heather Leah Kennedy took these fantastic pics that perfectly capture the fun that everyone had that evening (even with that biker rally going on outside), so we encourage everyone to check them out. Big thanks once again to Michael Felsher and the Red Shirt Pictures crew; Jason Allen of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment; the Alamo Ritz crew; everyone who attended, and, of course, Steve Marshall, Jill Whitlow, Jason Lively, the great Tom Atkins, and the man himself, Fred Dekker.

I guess we better that ROBOCOP 3 reunion screening going, huh, Fred?