Movie Night

If it was a Thursday night in 1989 or 90 that could mean only one thing, movie night. It consisted of heading over to Videomatic and renting some films from Video Bob’s Cult Corner. Then around 10:00 (about the time I got off Kmart and Vince got done sorting mail at PPS) everyone would come over to our house and partake in the viewing of the fine films we always rented. Everyone had a job. Vince and I were usually in charge of the video’s themselves. Neither one of us had a card at the Matic but we knew a friend of ours, Paul did. There were like 20 people who rented under the name Paul Hunger at one time. After awhile Bob, realizing this gave Vince and I our own personal video cards.

While we got the movies, Joe Amado would always bring Duncan Donut Munchkins. Why you ask, why not? He brought them one week and from that point in time on it was what he did. It was BYOB, so whatever you wanted to drink you brought over yourself. I am not exaggerating at all when I say we would have like fifty people at my house on some of the busier movie nights. Everyone we knew would just come over on Thursday’s.

I have to put out a huge thanks to my Mom and Lou on that one. They never complained about the noise and as long as we cleaned the house before morning we never heard a word. The main reason we had such a huge turnout was our age. No one was over twenty-one yet so, our options were very limited. Everyone knew they could go to our house and watch movies, drink and shoot pool. Our house had a big basement with a pool table and many people would just hang out down there and play billiards. It was the Moraine years so getting up early was usually not a problem for most of us. It was just assumed go to Nick and Vince’s on Thursday even if we weren’t home.

One Thursday I had made a date with this girl and the only night she could go out was Thursday. Thinking Vince would be home I didn’t say anything to anyone and went out on my date. I get home around 11:30 and as I pull into my driveway I see all my friends waiting outside. Vince wasn’t home either and they were waiting for one of us to get home to let them in. At that point I realized movie night had taken on a life of its own.

There are so many Thursday night stories that I don’t have the space to tell all of them so I will share two of my favorite. It was a typical Thursday and we had rented our typical fare. My friend Chris was going out with this girl Mary at the time. Mary was there every week and was used to our taste in film. (Which was usually bad horror or soft core porn.) One night Mary decided to bring two of her friends over whom none of us had ever met. At the exact moment Mary and her friends walked in the movie we were watching had a scene with a penis and a dog, (use your imagination.) I look over and see Mary’s friends with looks of horror and disgust on their faces. Meanwhile Mary was so used to the carnality we watched she just went on her way oblivious to it all.

Another favorite story was the time Bob the owner of the Matic, gave us a tape from behind the counter. It was the Rob Lowe Sex Tape. For some reason we decided to pop it in at the end of the evening when everybody had left with the exception of me, Vince and 6 other males. Let me tell you, watching Rob Lowe violate a teenager in the company of seven other dudes is kind of weird and very awkward. We all needed a shower when the experience was over.

Like I stated the movies we typically rented were usually from the horror genre. Here are just some of the titles and a brief description. There were many more films that polluted our VCR but I can not remember them all.

Horror House on Highway Five, I never sat through the entire screening in one sitting, it was just too hard. It basically was about a killer in a Nixon mask. I think that says it all.

Ilsa, SheWolf of the S.S. There was a whole series of Ilsa movies at the Matic. Ilsa was basically a Nazi dominatrix. Again, rent at your own risk.

Three on a Meat Hook, A title can sure say a lot can’t it. A story about some girls wondering on to the farm of an old pervert and his Mongoloid son.

Suburbia, A story of suburban punks with the oldest stripper you’ve ever seen.

Mondo, New York, This was set as a night in the City of New York with the catchy song, Fish out of water, Mondo New York.

Hollywood Chain Saw Hookers, Again a title says it all, a story that takes place in Hollywood, with hookers going around killing people with chainsaws.

Psycho’s in Love, the ultimate B movie. A pair of psychotic murders who fall in love and give us a great theme song.

Blood Sucking Freaks, Possibly the most offensive movie ever made. With Sardu and his midget assistant Ralphus, performing live torture shows that are in fact real. My favorite line, “Her mouth will make a nice urinal.” You can’t get any worse than that.

Nazi, Love Camp, The last days of WWII and the Nazi’s are running a sex test camp to find the perfect Aryan race. You can use your imagination.

The Best of Sex and Violence, Hosted by John Carradine, it showed previews for many violent and sexual films. My favorite was the Psychic, with the tagline of, he had powers that could have changed the world but instead he used them to lure young women.

Street Trash, the best scene was when there was a game of monkey in the middle with a severed penis.

Hollywood Boulevard, A typical gore movie until right in the middle a band comes in breaks into a perverted song.

The Severed Arm, A story about four friends falling down a sewer and right before they are rescued, they succumb to cannibalism and they severe one man’s arm to eat it.

These are just a handful of the titles we watched on Thursday’s. As I am sure you can tell we had are own version of must see T.V. Still, I look back at those days with much fascination and fondness. I miss those times. I have been pretty lucky in that I have a loyal group of friends and family, with a lot of good times and many great memories. And, those Thursday nights of my youth were some of the most fun I’ve ever had.