Blood and Thrills and Chills, Oh My! - The Sacramento Horror Scene Through A Friend Of The Genre Adhorroration [ad-horror-ey-shun] – noun 1.A fervent and devoted love of horror. 2.The act of paying honor and homage to horror. 3.The only term to describe my personal love for horror, thanks to the Sacramento Horror scene. I've loved horror since I was a teenager (unless you count that peek at “Nightmare On Elm Street” that I was privy to as a child). Sure, I was enthralled with “Ghostbusters” when I was little, and even the nightmares couldn't dissuade me from watching it again. I wasn't allowed to watch scary movies as a kid, so I was actually a late bloomer when it comes to one of my

Little kids all over look forward with excited anticipation to Santa coming into town. They know he has a list that shows who’s been “naughty” and who’s been “nice.” Saturday night several hundred “naughty” people attended Trash Film Orgy’s (TFO) showing of “Don’t Open Till Christmas,” a film directed by Edmund Purdom. The film was one of several films featured at the Crest Theater’s “Santa's Cool Holiday Film Festival.” Doors opened at 10 p.m. for an 18 and older crowd that had been waiting outside the Crest Theater. Audience members dressed in costume were given a discount on admission. Once inside the Crest Theatre, a Christmas tree was decorated and included gifts that were given

For those whose Christmas season isn't complete without watching Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed stroll through Bedford Falls warbling "Buffalo Gals," Sacramento's Crest Theatre is bringing director-screenwriter Frank Capra's 1946 Liberty Films classic, "It's a Wonderful Life," back to the big screen for nine holiday screenings Dec. 22-24. It's just one of three yuletide-themed events scheduled for the 975-seat art deco movie palace during the week leading up to Christmas. Also on tap: the G-rated "Santa's Cool Holiday Film Festival" (Dec. 17 and 18), a syndicated package of "Greetings from the Theater Management" trailers, vintage TV segments, cartoons and the so-bad-it's-good 1964 theatri

If you're like a lot of people, Halloween is your favorite holiday, and what better way to get your Halloween week off to a rousing start than to see one of the goriest movies about Zombies ever made.  Lucio Fulci's 1979 classic, "Zombie," is making its way to the big screen at The Crest Theatre for two screenings, Friday and Saturday, 21 - 22 October at Midnight. When a young women travels to a remote tropical island in search of her missing father, all hell breaks loose when she and her companions find that a strange epidemic is causing the dead to walk…with an insatiable hunger for human flesh! This Undead classic features some of the most shocking scenes in horror cinema…don’t miss it

With the summer slowly winding down, midnight movies at the Crest Theatre are coming to a close, too. The zookeepers at the Trash Film Orgy film festival still have two Saturday night events before the end of this summer’s 11th festival season. “Werewolves on Wheels,” probably the only biker-werewolf film ever made, will see its midnight screening this Saturday. The film can best be described as the love child between “Easy Rider” and “Rosemary’s Baby,” with some early reality film thrown in for good measure. It stars “Bud” Anderson and Barry “Eve of Destruction” McGuire. If bikers who become blood-thirsty werewolves isn’t your bag, how about wrestling? Especially the luchadors in “Santo

July’s Second Saturday was the place to be for music, art, socializing, fashion and a zombie walk. During summer more people take to the Streets of Midtown to enjoy Second Saturday events. Vendors and artists move their venues each month. Many artists move their work from one Art Walk exhibit to the next looking for places to hang their artwork for a month. Other artists have established studios or areas where they exhibit on a regular basis. Local musicians find a street corner to play and then have a show at night clubs as Second Saturday begins to wind down. Law enforcement presence is reassuring and helps to know they’re patrolling the area. This month I walked the streets waiting f

A mob of the living dead invaded downtown Sacramento Saturday night. The annual Zombie Walk started at Sub-Q and ended at the Crest Theatre, where the zombies mingled with K Street’s club- and restaurant-goers in between munching brains. The 2011 Trash Film Orgy season kicked off its six-week run of sleazy, gory, trashy movies with “Return of the Living Dead,” a tale of punk rockers, zombies and punk rock zombies. As zombies and Trash fans entered the Crest’s lobby, they were greeted by a variety of interesting characters and sights to see. Guests could browse movie posters, horror and sci-fi DVDs and zombie comics. There were also games in the spirit of the zombie flick, such as “Pin th

Did you know Sacramento's very own Trash Film Orgy (TFO) is credited with being home to the first organized Zombie Walk? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zombie_walk#History The summer season is trigger for these midnight movie Trash Film Orgy fans, who descend like a mass migratory bugs filling the hallways and seats of the Crest theatre. Though their year round numbers never fully deplete, once their season starts you see them multiply exponentially for 6 consecutive Saturdays at midnight. The Zombie Walk is the yearly kickoff event for their TFO summer show season which has been growing ever since! Literally hundreds of "people" (if you can still call them that) converge on the midtown

Saturday night the Amber’s Sweets “Repo! The Genetic Opera” shadowcast celebrated its one-year anniversary with a bang by performing in front of a very enthusiastic crowd and several special guests from the film. In attendance Saturday was Nivek Ogre, who plays the role of Pavi Largo, a character known in the film for wearing other people’s faces on his own as well as his panty-snatching antics. Ogre is also known among “Repo!” fans for his work with the industrial band Skinny Puppy and for his solo project, OhGr. Actor Bill Moseley (“House of 1000 Corpses,” “The Devil’s Rejects” and “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre II”) also made an appearance. In the film, Moseley plays Pavi Largo’s homici

Sleepaway Camp: The Musical Amongst Sacramento’s varied, thriving, and disparate art scenes are large and passionate audiences for both live theater and the trashiest of trash films. Finally, those two audiences can co-exist, and pairs of significant others with significantly different tastes can find a mutually satisfactory outlet in Sleepaway Camp: The Musical. Officially entry #62 (or rather LXII) in the hit midtown cabaret series Graham-A-Rama, this is a new and original musical adaptation for the stage of the campy and bloody 1983 film that spawned five sequels, Sleepaway Camp. I had the opportunity to sit in on one of the final rehearsals (OMG: ROTFLMAO!) and to bounce a few impro

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

There are few people in this town who have consistently done as much to promote film, music, arts and Downtown Sacramento as Sid Heberger, managing partner of the Crest Theatre.  Now, after years producing, hosting and promoting multiple film festivals, she is receiving the 4th Annual Film Arts Service Award during the opening ceremonies for the 11th Annual Sacramento Film & Music Festival.  From the Festival Program: Sid grew up in Sutter Creek developing an early love for film and historic architecture. She moved to Sacramento to attend college and in 1986 became involved in the re-opening of the historic Crest Theatre, leading to a management position two years later. Now CEO of the C

At midnight Saturday, "Galaxy of Terror," a low-budget science-fiction horror flick starring Robert Englund and Sid Haig, was scheduled to premiere during the second week of the Trash Film Orgy. Unfortunately, an arson fire in the basement of the Crest Theater canceled the showing .   The fire didn't cause any real damage to the theater, but smoke alarms activated the sprinkler system and the auditorium and lobby were soaked.   “Apparently some jacka** arsonist decided to set the basement bathroom on fire and triggered the sprinkler system and caused a whole bunch of trouble,” said Christy Savage, one of Trash Film Orgy’s managers. “Nobody’s dead or anything like that and the theater wil

The 10th annual Trash Film Orgy opened Saturday night with 300 zombie fans coming out to see “Evil Dead 2” – the premiere night for the film festival celebrating gore-filled, sleazy, cult classic movies.   Saturday’s screening of Sam Raimi’s low-budget hit “Evil Dead 2” coincided with Sacramento’s downtown Zombie Walk, so there was no shortage of “dead” or evil characters dressed up as zombies in order to get into the spirit.   “I think it’s really a fun crowd, and I can tell there’s a lot of zombies left over from the Zombie Walk, which is really exciting,” said Trash Film Orgy representative Amy. “Evil Dead 2 is really a trash classic, and we have a really fun crowd tonight.”   Not on

Zombies staggeirng down midtown last night brought to life the six-week Trash Film Orgy at the Crest Theatre. Here's some of the bullet-riddled, blood-drenched, brain-damaged zombies:  For information about the Trash Film Orgy:www.thecrest.com/calendar/expand.cfm  SacPress Photos | Kati Garner

Repo! The Genetic Opera is a feature film released in late 2008 that is challenging to categorize, although it calls itself a “goth opera.” It features classic horror movie staples such as blood, guts, and murder, but it also holds fast to classical roots by being sung from nearly beginning to end in the style of a true opera.   The Amber’s Sweets crew is a group of artists who get together to reenact the film while it is simultaneously projected onto the wall in a theatrical event called a shadowcast . The Sweets’ third shadowcast performance of Repo! took place at the Colonial Theatre Saturday. Although it was only the third time the cast performed the entire production live at the thea

We at the Sacramento Press have already spent several hundred words poking and prodding you readers to imbibe in the blood-soaked, cleavage-filled, heavy-metal hilarity that is the Trash Film Orgy. Now, we have escalated to drastic measures and must insist that you attend the last TFO screening of the season Saturday at the Crest Theatre -- at the stroke of midnight. If you have ever yelled at your television, scoffed at overacting, jeered at cornball love scenes, marveled at excessive violence and explosions or shrieked with laughter at super low-budget special effects, the TFO is for you. For the last nine summers, TFO has shared its impressive collection of exploitation, grindhouse and

The ninth annual TRASH FILM ORGY series is halfway done, with three weeks remaining in this year's blood-soaked rock & roll monster extravaganza! If you haven't had a chance to visit this year's TFO, you already missed FLASH GORDON, SATAN'S CHEERLEADERS and CHOPPING MALL...but it's not over yet! This week's offering is the original theatrical version of BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER! If you haven't been to the Trash Film Orgy before, it is more than just a movie--it is a whole experience! The "Trash Action Sideshow" features fun activities in the lobby, the "Retro-Trash Lounge" features entertaining artifacts from RETROCRUSH.COM, and pre-show and intermission on-stage performances and contests

Trash Film Orgy Saturdays, Midnight (doors open at 11:30pm), July 8th – August 15th Crest Theatre By Tony Sheppard Capitol Weekly As well known to the veteran loyal fans (many of whom routinely wear zombie makeup) as it is completely unknown to more formal film festival goers, the Trash Film Orgy (TFO) opens its 9th season this Saturday, at midnight at the Crest. Every week of the season, TFO showcases a cult or B-movie offering with audience participation, in the form of competitive loud witty banter during the movie, not just permitted but encouraged. I asked TFO Co-Producer Christy Savage a few questions about the concept and this season’s lineup: Tony: Could you explain the basic c

It's the middle of summer and time to air out your best Halloween costumes, as the Trash Film Orgy is back in town. The debauchery begins this Saturday at the Crest Theatre with the screening of "Flash Gordon," a science-fiction classic. The Trash Film Orgy (TFO) is in its ninth year running, produced by Christy Savage, Darin Wood and Amy Slockbower. "It is much more than a regular movie film. We do indeed try to find the best in cult and exploitation cinema," said Savage. Exploitation cinema? Savage defined this as, "pushing the envelope a bit. A little extra boobs, blood, more explosions, action and monsters." When researching and booking films to showcase at the festival, Savage sa