Taking a retro approach to films isn’t new. A retro sensibility can make both low-budget and not-so-low-budget films look extra classy, if done well. Designers love the idea. Or maybe it’s just nostalgia. In any case, there have been many within genre circles in recent times, including Max Neptune and the Menacing Squid (US-2010; dir. John Garside and Colin Fleming), The Ghastly Love of Johnny X (US-2008; dir. Paul Bunnell), Monster from Bikini Beach (US-2008; dir. Darin Wood), Alien Trespass (US-2009; dir. R.W. Goodwin) and the upcoming Iron Sky (Finland/Germany/Canada/Australia-2011; dir. Timo Vuorensola). And that’s barely scratching the surface of the phenomenon. Jun Awazu’s 2005 animated tribute to early Toho giant monster/scifi flicks, Negadon: The Monster from Mars, is certainly worth seeking out for monster fans.
Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino took the idea one step further, of course, in their 2007 Grindhouse project — a double feature of two pseudo-80s exploitation films, Planet Terror and Death Proof, along with fake trailers for coming attractions by Rodriguez, Eli Roth, Rob Zombie and Edgar Wright. The full thing came complete with scratches and an “old-film” look, including breaks in the action that were supposedly the result of the film being split and haphazardly spliced back together in the projection booths of umpteen flea-pit cinemas. Ironically, Rodriguez’s fake trailer for “Machete” has turned into a real film — again adopting the retro-80s style. There were rumours of Zombie doing likewise with his “Werewolf Women of the SS” trailer, but as far as I know that one hasn’t come to fruition.
Now Ollie Bostock and his film partner Jonny Eveson have concocted something along the same lines — and it has the potential to grow.
The story goes:
In 1970s New York one cinema broke all the rules: The Hewitt and Walker Cineplex of Brooklyn, a cinema that played back-to-back hardcore horror and non-stop gut-wrenching gore.
The cineplex was burned to the ground by an angry mob in 1985, killing both the owners who were trapped inside.
Now for the first time in motion picture history, out of the ashes of time and the rubble of eternity, comes the last remaining film reel from the most infamous cineplex of all time.
Trailer:
Opening of the Film:
Bostok explained to Undead Backbrain:
The film came about after my filmmaker partner and I made a spoof 80s B-movie horror trailer called “Death Chair”. That film was so much fun to make, we decided to make another. “Killer Flies from Mexico” won a competition to be among the extras on the UK release of the Paranormal Activities DVD earlier this year.
Since making “Flies” we have made three more. A Vietnam war film trailer called “Hunter”, a horror called “The Return of Dr Mike Griffin” and another B-movie horror called “Sponge”. These trailers now feature on the film we are in the final stages of editing: The Hewitt & Walker History of Cinema.
It’s about a fake Cineplex in the 80s Brooklyn called the Hewitt & Walker Cineplex. Our film is the last remaining film reel to come from the burned-down wreckage of that cinema.
You can see the posters for all the “fake” films in the Gallery below. But here’s Killer Flies From Mexico, followed by the trailer:
Bostock commented on this: “Killer flies could be a good feature. I might think about a script!” Let’s hope so.
- Source: Ollie Bostock via Avery Guerra. Pictures via MySpace site. Writing by Robert Hood.
Gallery:
I absolutely love these two’s work and for them to get such enjoyment from making them, really is conveyed in the trailers