Trash Film Orgy returns with “Cry-Baby”

2010-07-27T04:32:53Z

Last week’s Trash Film Orgy was canceled due to the activation of the Crest Theatre’s fire sprinkler system, but the festival returned with a rockabilly bang Saturday night at the premiere of “Cry-Baby,” a spoof of the teenage rebel flick set in the 1950s.

It might seem odd for a musical movie starring super-celebrity Johnny Depp to be featured at TFO, but since the film is directed by John Waters, the king of trash film, the movie wasn’t out of place at all. People who are familiar with Waters’ work would vouch for “Cry-Baby” as a trash classic – they would only need reference the character Hatchet Face to make their point.

Saturday’s festivities began the same as usual – the line wound down the street past Pyramid Brewery, and once guests entered the lobby they were greeted by the same familiar TFO photo booth, Tiki’s skimpy hula girls and the Callson Manor representatives.
Instead of a trivia booth, there was a game called the Trashwood Derby Chicken Challenge where contestants raced a car down a strip and tried to win prizes. In addition, there was a line to get bunny ear headbands to support the Bloody Bunny, a really large man in a pink bunny suit, who led the Bloody Bunny Hop during the movie.

TFO wouldn’t be its trashy self without an opening skit. The skit for “Cry-Baby” involved Amy Anne, the president of the Johnny Depp fan club, singing a song aptly titled “Johnny Depp” while a greaser accompanied her on guitar.

While the lyrics were only mildly raunchy, the finale of the skit where the Bloody Bunny came on stage and pretended to make out with her got huge laughs from the crowd.

Probably the most original performance of the night was Sid the evil press manager’s “retribution” on the mystery “arsonist” who caused last week’s show to be cancelled.

Sid grabbed an actor from the front row and proceeded to kick him in the gonads and inject him with rabies, squirting the front row with blood. Finally, Sid give him a “free sex change operation” that involved strapping him to a table, sawing at his groin, eating a hot dog, and throwing the remains into the crowd.

Even though there was no actual fire at the Crest last week, the message to the attempted arsonist was clear – don’t mess with the Crest!

Audience participation and calling out are always encouraged at TFO, but “Cry-Baby” was different from the other movies shown so far at TFO because people in the audience were more inclined to sing along with the songs instead of jeer.

The lyrics to all the songs were provided in the bottom of the screen, and the movie essentially morphed into one big karaoke party, with the most popular song of the evening of course turning out to be Johnny Depp’s signature tune, “King Cry-Baby.”

“I love ‘Cry-Baby,’ and the fact that it’s a singalong makes it even better,” said viewer Kristie Brinks. “It’s very exciting. I’ve been going [to TFO] for the past four years, I believe, and it’s always a blast … I love it. They still have all the great, cool attractions that you can participate in and of course the fabulous performances.”

“It’s always astounding to see fan appreciation of that caliber for films that don’t receive praise from mainstream sources,” said Zachary Tole, a TFO attendee. “It gives you hope that there is an ounce of integrity still left in film.”

Trash Film Orgy will return Saturday with the presentation of “Nightmare,” a gory slasher movie. For more information and a complete schedule for this year’s TFO, visit trashfilmorgy.com.

Review: Public Enemies

2009-07-04T00:15:19Z

Public Enemies
Directed by Michael Mann

By Tony Sheppard
Capitol Weekly

“Public Enemies” tells the story of bank robber John Dillinger (Johnny Depp), who became both the nemesis and the inspiration for J. Edgar Hoover as he was expanding the FBI. It’s a film that I would expect to enjoy, despite not being a big Depp fan, as it has numerous other cast members and the fact that I usually like cops-and-gangsters themes. But there are aspects of the project that took me out of the moment and left the whole experience feeling flat.

I’ve enjoyed the work of Christian Bale (Special Agent Melvin Purvis) and Stephen Dorff since they were both child actors, albeit with some misses, and I especially liked the appearance here of some other favorites in smaller supporting roles: Billy Crudup (as J. Edgar Hoover), Rory Cochrane, and Giovanni Ribisi. But the film takes a somewhat stand-offish tone with the characters. After initially introducing the major protagonists, we don’t seem to be encouraged to sympathize with either side. It’s hard to tell if this is an attempt at being non-partisan or an avoidance of the inherent risk of having an audience side with a doomed character. But the outcome made me feel detached, not really caring too much about anybody’s ultimate fates. And there is a lot of ugly fate at work. In recent years police have lamented the advanced fire power of criminals, but there are enough bullets flying around in “Public Enemies” to destroy vehicles and buildings, as well as human bodies.

My larger problem with the film, and this may have been very personal, was in the manner in which it was shot. There was a turning point in the movie for me, during a scene at the Little Bohemia Lodge, in the woods of Wisconsin (and a historic location in the Dillinger story), when the nature of the action and cinematography suddenly made me acutely aware that I was watching video and not film. I’m not sure why it hadn’t occurred to me sooner than that, but it then bothered me for the rest of the movie. Film and video, depending on quite how the video is shot and what cameras are used, have a different appearance and at times “Public Enemies” felt like an extremely high budget home movie, or at least something that seemed sub-par for a production of this type, more like the video standards of a few years ago.

The story itself seems sound, and the problems I perceived may not bother others. But I came away from it in a strangely ambivalent mood, wondering if I would have liked it even less with a different cast or liked it better with different cameras.

Newest articles on The Sacramento Press tagged as "johnny depp"

Trash Film Orgy returns with “Cry-Baby”

Review: Public Enemies