Tonight’s Free Weird Wednesday movie is like no other. Every frame looks like the coolest European S&M comic of the sick sick ’60s. It screams supercoolness 24 times per second. And if it doesn’t make a lot of sense – well, MUSIC AND LYRICS makes tons of sense, you can watch that instead. I’ll just be over here with the degenerates and the bongos. The screening is at midnight and it’s Free!

MASSACRE OF PLEASURE
MIDNIGHT, FREE, DIR. JEAN LUC GROSDARD, 1966, 35MM, 70 MIN, R
This is a completely insane French crime-sex film with a gorgeous high contrast visual aesthetic and a jumbled plot that exists for no other reason than to propel the viewer from one unsavory scene of sex or violence to another. A Rosetta Stone of sleaze that I’m still trying to decipher. It seems to be about a drug and prostitution ring that puts a contract out on its rivals. But the film was re-edited by the American distributor to eliminate any time-wasting scenes of plot exposition so it’s often hard to determine who that naked woman is or why those junkies are beating that guy up. No complaints though. This movie is like a cluster bomb of sex, violence and pure mid-60s European Cool. I really can’t compare this to any other movie. It’s more like an extended LSD hallucination or a particularly vicious black and white dream. Rare, recommended and wrong. (Lars)

The Alamo Drafthouse Downtown is located at 4th and Colorado.

The people have spoken. The results of the Austin American Statesman and Austin 360 poll are in!

The Alamo Downtown is the best theater in Austin. We’ve kind of suspected it, but now we have the proof!

Fantastic Fest was also honored as Best Film Festival and The Rolling Roadshow won the award for Best Non-Traditional Movie Venue.

It’s an honor and we’ll keep working hard to make the Alamo even better. Thanks for your support.

So we’ve got some shows of the original TRANSFORMERS movie (you know, it’s the one that made you cry in front of all your friends) coming up at the Alamo Downtown this March. I was doing some random web searches for some pictures I could use in various promotions with it when I came across this:

Totally awesome bit of “if only” wishing. Sigh. Cause just think about how awesome his interviews with Stephen Colbert would be! I love the way in that picture he’s taking questions, though, instead of just celebrating with all the other Autobots that helped on his campaign.

Oh! And then I decided to see where the picture actually came from, and apparently it was used on Gizmodo back in Nov ‘04. So I went over to Gizmodo and did a search for “Optimus Prime” when I found this:

An Optimus Prime iPod dock! That geek who has everything? You know what to get him for his birthday.

After repeated success with bands like Cry Blood Apache, and DJs like Toddy B and Trey Lopez etc. , Music Mondays at the Alamo Downtown is considering making it a regular thing to have live music before the movies. Because it’s a discount series, there’s no cash payment, but bands will be given free food and beer, a guest list and Alamo passes. Anyone who’s interested, please email Kier-La (kier-la@originalalamo.com) a link to your website or MySpace or anywhere she can find music samples, so that she can match you up with an appropriate film. Thanks!

Click HERE for tickets to our DOWNTOWN Red Carpet Bash hosted by Owen and Jodi Egerton!

Click HERE for tickets to the Red Carpet Bash at ALAMO VILLAGE, hosted by Buzz Moran & Shannon McCormick!

Click HERE for tickets to the Red Carpet FEAST at Alamo South Lamar, hosted by John Erler with an Oscar-themed menu by chef John Bullington!

We’ve been doing our Academy Awards viewing party for 9 years now. Last Year’s Red Carpet Bash at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema was a blowout barnburner, but this year we are going even further!

Prize giveaways, drink specials, and the Academy Awards action on the movie screen is just the beginning. During the commercial breaks, check out embarrassing failed projects of the nominees, compete in the “Song of the year” sing-a-long contest (you don’t need to know the words, just follow the words on the screen), see memorable moments from Oscar nights of yore, and choose the winners in our single elimination ballot to be crowned official Academy Award Grand Poobah.

Admission is free, but to reserve your seat, you can buy a voucher for $12 that includes one glass of champagne, a copy of the Razzie award winners and one chance at the Alamo Academy Award raffle. The Red Carpet Feast at our Lamar location is $60 per plate, and oh so worth it.

It’s the biggest and best Oscar Party in town. Be sure to dress appropriately because the papparazzi will be there and they’ll be snapping photos of you on the red carpet.

Tonight’s Free Weird Wednesday movie is a made-for-TV movie. But wait! Don’t stop reading. Because in the 70’s, made-for-TV movies were killer. And this one completely freaked out everyone who saw it. Psychologists have even coined the phrase “Bad Ronald Syndrome” for people who obsessively look for crazy teenagers in the walls of their homes. After watching this, YOU will be one of those people. Happy hunting!

BAD RONALD
FEBRUARY 21 MIDNIGHT, FREE, DIR. BUZZ KULIK, 1974, 16mm, 74 MIN
“A new home comes complete with three bedrooms, two baths and a psycho!” In this made for TV movie, a nerdy teenager accidentally kills a girl who taunts him. His mother hides him from the police in an improvised concealed room behind their pantry. Unfortunately Ronald’s mom dies and a new family moves in, unaware that Bad Ronald is still there, watching, waiting. Inside his womblike inner sanctum Ronald creates a (pretty badass) mythological dream world called Atranta. The art-deco murals he draws on the walls with magic marker are intense. Like all TV movies, this was seen by millions upon millions of people. It dug its tentacles into the collective unconscious of an entire nation like few theatrical releases ever could. And this was at a time when everyone had three or four channels. Which means that approximately one out of every six living Americans has Bad Ronald living in a little hollowed out corner of their minds! (Lars)

The Alamo Drafthouse is located at 4th and Colorado. Weird Wednesdays are free!

If you and your loved one have a perverse streak as wide as Mopac, you won’t want to miss tonight’s Free Weird Wednesday movie.

LOVE ME DEADLY (1973)
MIDNIGHT, FREE
Director: Jaques Lacerte
Rating: R
Runtime: 95 min.

Just in time for Valentine’s Day! This legendary necrophilia shocker has become an extreme horror classic. French director Lacerte takes a sympathetic view of California blonde Mary Wilcox’s “problem”, as if it were an afterschool special about a teenager who takes too many diet pills or something. In this movie, she’s driven to join a cult of devil-worshipping necrophiliacs by the intolerance of a few bluenoses. And really, why can’t we have more compassion for those who break into mortuaries and hump our recently deceased loved ones? Maybe if we all get together and watch LOVE ME DEADLY we can get over our silly Victorian hangups about sex with corpses! (Lars)

The Alamo Drafthouse Downtown is located at 4th and Colorado.

For anyone who has waited too long to book Dinner Reservations and is looking at the doghouse in anticipation of living in it for the next year – don’t fret. There are still tickets available for two great Alamo Drafthouse Valentine’s Feasts.

At the Alamo South Lamar, there are seats still available for the 9:45 EAT DRINK MAN WOMAN Aphrodisiac Feast. The romance is on screen, on your plate and in each other’s eyes. Click here for more.

And at the Alamo Village, there are tickets available for the 9:45 HAROLD AND MAUDE Feast. It’s an offbeat romance for an offbeat city and the menu looks amazing. Click here for that one.

So don’t fret, we’re here for you when you need us.

This week, a classic Stewardessploitation movie starring Ursula Andress (and coincidentally a Quentin Tarantino favorite) LOADED GUNS will be screening as part of the Alamo’s ongoing Free Weird Wednesday series. The movie starts at Midnight. The Alamo Drafthouse Downtown is located at 4th and Colorado.

SUPER FILM GEEK BONUS! The First 35 People at the Screening will receive a free vintage metal film can. These cans are veterans of the grindhouse era and will make you the envy of all your friends.

LOADED GUNS
FEBRUARY 7 MIDNIGHT, FREE, DIR. FERNANDO DI LEO, 1975, 35MM, 96 MIN

A Stewardessploitation Classic! The late Fernando Di Leo made some of the toughest, funniest crime movies ever. He was the master of ultraviolent comedy. Usually his films feature a tough hombre who gets caught up in a struggle between two mafia factions and gets over on the mobsters using superior intelligence and nerves of steel. Along the way, Di Leo creates brutal and hilarious poetry among the bloodshed. LOADED GUNS is different from his other movies like MISTER SCARFACE and THE ITALIAN CONNECTION: Ursula Andress is the heroine, a stewardess who’s had just about enough shit from everybody. She takes on Woody Strode and his tough bunch of carnival workers with the help of acrobat Marc Porel. The movie is played as a broad farce and it’s a crazy love story to boot. Everyone in the movie is having a great time and there’s a contagious feeling of mischief and conspiracy between film maker and audience. The climax of the movie is a huge brawl in which Di Leo’s entire stock company of hoods tear down the whole carnival while trying to keep a straight face. If that doesn’t grab you, Ursula Andress gets naked again and again and again. See it with someone you love! (Lars)

Round 4 of the Austin Air Guitar championships will be held at the Alamo Downtown at 9:45 PM on Tuesday, February 6. Round 3 featured the most smoldering licks of the 2007 season. Can round 4 possibly top the fury of the January performances? Come find out, only at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema.

If you would like to compete, please send your song to Lars. Everyone who competes gets 4 free tickets to the Alamo Downtown, just for giving it a whirl. For complete rules and info, check out the Official Austin Air Guitar Website.

Austin Air Guitar is sponsored by Bird’s Barbershop.

If you aren’t up to speed on the Air Guitar phenomenon that is sweeping Austin, we invite you to check out the blog on the Austin Air Guitar MySpace Page. We have posted Brian Miller’s play-by-play commentary, and damn if it doesn’t make you feel like you right in the middle of the blistering virtual fretwork.

See you on Tuesday!