Grindhouse Tuesdays Never Tasted so Good
Amanda By Night hangs with some Bloody Apes in Hollyweird
photos by Leslie Delano and David Cohen

Dukie Flyswatter, Jimmy Maslon, and Carl Crew: the men who gave us Blood Diner.

When Eric Caiden informs me that his ultimate goal of the Grindhouse Festival is "to capture the essence of 42nd Street," I realize that the New Beverly Cinema is the perfect venue for the parade of slice and dice Eric & Johnny Legend are splashing across its silver screen. Cult film fanatics finally have a place to kick their feet up and enjoy some of the most obscure films ever made.

Owner of the Hollywood Book & Poster Company, Eric is no stranger to the world of B movies (he's appeared in Cannibal Hookers and Army of Darkness) and is a fan of the genre himself. His passion has managed to keep the seats at the New Beverly filled. "Johnny Legend and I started this… I think it's our second year. We took a hiatus for about three months. We basically screened most of our films from our private collections. We had to locate some more." With fifty 35 millimeter films in his possession, his favorites are I Drink Your Blood and Spider Baby (both of which have enjoyed a screening at the New Beverly).

The grindhouse festival began at the Hawaiian Gardens Theater and moved to the former Ritz Theater but the audiences were small and the theaters run down. Eric and Johnny made the New Beverly an offer they couldn't refuse and the festival found a place to call home. Eric says the double features are a "co-op type thing," where Johnny picks one film and Eric selects the other. Johnny has recently taken a semi-retirement in Florida so it's Eric's choice tonight and he's brought the audience a very special double bill…

After a raffle and some incredible vintage horror movie trailers, the audience was treated to a rare screening of Rene Cardona's cult classic Night of the Bloody Apes. A Mexican trash epic about a mad scientist who desperately tries to cure his son's cancer by giving him the heart of an ape! Of course, it all goes woefully wrong when the patient becomes a horny half-man-half-ape creature who bides his time by poking out eyeballs and attacking luscious women. With cute female wrestlers, a good bit of nudity and footage of actual heart surgeries, it's a gross-out that's entertaining as hell.

A Bloody Ape models the latest pore-cleansing beauty mask.

Then a little dark angel descended upon us and gave the patrons a film even better than Night of the Bloody Apes! How can that be, you ask? Well, top any double feature with Blood Diner and you've got your answer! Originally released in 1987, Blood Diner enjoyed a small theatrical run and not much else. Yet this gory comedy has managed to build quite a reputation for itself along the fringes of filmmaking. Almost 20 years later, the crowd at the New Beverly has come to support B-Cinema at its best. How could any fan begrudge a film with nude aerobicizing cheerleaders?

Originally meant to be a sequel to Herschell Gordon Lewis' groundbreaking gore opus Blood Feast, it's a touching tale about two brothers (Rick Burks & Carl Crew, who now runs the California Institute of Abnormal Arts) who are cannibalistic killers and carry their Uncle Anwar's brain in a jar while running a vegetarian restaurant that's not vegetarian at all! The brothers intend to raise the goddess Shitar by holding a Lumerian Feast ("There hasn't been one since five million years B.C.") which is a soup du jour made up of the body parts of "sluts and whores!"

But the most exciting part of the evening is that Eric has gathered the producer, Jimmy Maslon, the writer, Michael Sonye (aka Dukie Flyswatter) and co-star Carl Crew who were more than willing to tell tales about filmmaking on the cheap. The guys kept the audience in stitches and its no wonder that their kinship translated so well into the movie. The evening took a touching turn when the trio reminisced about star Rick Burks, who died in a tragic car accident in 1989 at the age of twenty-eight. It was obvious they all held great affection for Rick and the night was dedicated to his memory. You could feel his spirit in the room through the captivated audience.

Dukie shows off the results of his own mud-mask treatment.

Eric plans to keep the good times rolling at the New Beverly. Last week's Andrew Prine double feature (Simon, King of the Witches and The Centerfold Girls) will be followed by a super splatter souflee of Pieces and Nightmare on November 23. He's also planning a tribute to Johnny Ramone. "He was a good friend of ours. We're going to try to show Rock & Roll High School and End of the Century. Also a tribute to Russ Meyer. We haven't decided which films yet. Maybe Mudhoney…"

"We basically throw in everything and the kitchen sink. You pay six bucks and get twenty minutes of sleazy trailers and giveaways. You get special guests and two movies. It's a really good deal." Now if I can just get my feet to keep from sticking to the floor…