Underground film fest unleashes beasts
Marriott Hotel rooftop is the place to be for Calgary’s cult movie buffs
It’s a telling glimpse into the mind of a cult-movie buff.
When Downtown Calgary suggested to programmers of the Calgary Underground Film Festival that the elegant rooftop of the Marriott Hotel, boasting a spectacular view of the cityscape, would be a great spot to hold screenings, the first idea that sprang to mind was ... monsters. More specifically, giant monsters that destroy spectacular cityscapes.
“To have Godzilla wreaking havoc on downtown Tokyo with downtown Calgary in the background seemed like too perfect an opportunity to pass up,” said programmer Cameron Macgowan.
So this year’s summer series will have a “giant monster” theme and include live music. On Aug. 10, the 1995 Japanese film Godzilla vs. Destoroyah will screen and Calgary’s Outlaws of Ravenhurst, which Macgowan defines as a “mock heavy-metal band where all their songs are clearly about Dungeons and Dragons and fantasy fiction,” will play.
On Aug. 24, there will be a screening of the 2007 Japanese film Big Man Japan, starring writer-director and CUFF favourite Hitoshi Matsumoto (it screened during CUFF’s main festival in 2009 and has been the “most requested encore” ever since). It’s a satire of the monster-movie genre and the Calgary screening will also feature music by Monroeville Music Centre, who is named after a store in the mall in the first Dawn of the Dead and performs “strange, library music. Kind of like the scores you would hear in a Jacques Cousteau documentary back in the day,” Macgowan says.
Godzilla vs. Destoroyah was meant to be the final curtain for the “King of Monsters,” but proved so successful that it inspired Hollywood to jump on the bandwagon with its own perfectly awful Godzilla in 1998 and slightly less-awful version in 2014.
“This was the last hurrah for the Japanese Godzilla movies,” Macgowan says. “They hadn’t been doing well in the ’90s and they thought Godzilla was dying off as a franchise. The creative team decided to do one final push to make the ultimate fan Godzilla movie, giving them everything they liked from the previous films. They wanted to kill off Godzilla and that was used in all the marketing: This was the final Godzilla movie.”
Big Man Japan is about a “middle-aged slacker” who becomes a giant after being jolted by electricity. His efforts to save Japan from other giant monsters does not inspire the affection he expects from citizens.
“With Godzilla, we’re setting up the tropes,” says Macgowan. “Then we’re going to subvert them and break them down with Big Man Japan. Big Man Japan is a lot funnier when you know what they are making fun of.”
The rooftop series is part of a summer tradition where CUFF offers left-of-centre cinematic treats while working out the programming for its two main festivals, CUFF Docs in November and CUFF in April.
In past years, that has included the “cannibal cookout series,” which matched cannibal movies with delectable meals at the Oak Tree Tavern; a screening of the 1988 horror film Pumpkinhead in an Alberta corn maze and the 1990 giant-underground-worm-in-the-desert classic Tremors at the Big Rock in Okotoks.
“So much of what we do at CUFF is to create a friendly, welcoming atmosphere for fellow weirdos and cult-movie fans,” Macgowan says. “These kind of events we try to custom-tailor what we think our fan base likes. It’s kind of like a bonus in between our two main festivals.”