ALONSO MELGAR

There are plenty of run-of-the-mill bad movies, and then there are the bad movies that are so bad that they are entertainingly awful. The Fifth Reel’s Awful Cinema series is showcasing some of the best worst movies; The Fifth Reel’s co-founder Alonso Melgar sat down with Swerve Going Out editor Jon

Roe to explain why the worst of the worst keep people coming back.

What made The Fifth Reel want to do the Awful Cinema series?

When we first started out way back in 2012, that was our original idea of how to program our films. Those types of movies bring a certain energy with them. They’re really fun to watch and interact with. But usually a problem with these so-bad-they’regood movies is they’re pretty rough around the edges, they’re pretty obscure. The likelihood of being able to fill up a 300-plus seat theatre is pretty miniscule. We still really wanted to showcase these films because any film that generates a reaction from an audience is worth showcasing. We figured, well, we can’t fill a 300-plus seat theatre, why don’t we try to fill a little hot spot bar? It keeps the mood pretty casual, it keeps the mood pretty light, which is what we want. It’s much easier to fill a 100 capacity bar and also we can get as obscure as we want.

Samurai Cop has become a cult-classic bad movie. What is the enduring charm of that movie?

I think it’s mostly because it’s genuinely made. It’s one of those bad movies where the person who directed it—Samurai Cop was directed by Amir Shervan—set out to make, in his mind, a good action flick. His idea of a good action flick turned out to not be the best example of a good action flick. There’s an endearing aspect to it where it’s almost like the Little Rascals made a movie. It’s different from where someone went out of their way and intentionally made a bad movie—that doesn’t seem that authentic .... There’s a certain charm to something that ends up way off course of what it was meant to be that really just affixes people.

You’ll be having food specials at Broken City as well. Do you have any word on what that’s going to be for

Samurai Cop? We’re leaving it up to Broken City, I don’t want to mess too much with what they have in mind. It’s definitely a collaborative effort. At the meeting, we were talking about a cheesey burger, like a burger that has any cheese you can possibly pile in it because Samurai Cop has to be one of the cheesiest films in existence. Just a cheesey, stacked burger that’s going to ruin a lot of people’s diets.

Anything else you’d like to add?

Maybe a reminder that admission is free. I don’t want people thinking we’re making them pay to watch these awful movies.