Midnight Madness

The Sunday Age

Sunday April 8, 2007

Iain McKay

4/5

MIDNIGHT MADNESS

(M, 88 mins) Hopscotch

Anyone over the age of 35 will remember the midnight movies that ran here at the Valhalla. They not only attracted full houses and ran for years on end, but fed young audiences with what they wanted most: drugs, sex, violence, horror, and lest we forget, lots of existentialism. Not all of this occurred on the screen either, which was one of its great drawcards. A similar, phenomena occurred in America, and this highly entertaining doco covers all the great midnight movies from El Topo to Eraserhead, including the daddy of them all The Rocky Horror Show. It interviews directors, cinema owners and fans, is generous with the clips, and is sure to make those YouTube late-night loners, green with envy.

Extras: Two-disc set with two feature films. Reefer Madness and Night of the Living Dead. And a commentary.