So this weekend I ventured to the Book Club in Shoreditch for the latest installment of Crap Film Club.
Yes that's right it's a club screening awful movies which have somehow either made it on to the big screen or been sidelined straight to VHS. Long thought lost, many of these film treasures have resurfaced thanks to numerous films clubs popping across London.
There's nothing I love more than a good B movie - the more cheese and bad acting the better! I bawled with laughter at Piranha 3D (with a little help from some brilliant comedians) and the Prince Charles Cinema's bad film club regularly delights cinema goers with the worst films ever to receive funding. Miami Connection is my favourite to date. Ninja's on motorbikes, reuniting a father and son and a 40 year old martial arts expert actor pretending to be a freshman. What's not to like. It's amazing to see how much rubbish can slip through Hollywood's beady eye. But, would we have it any other way? No!
This evening's film was called The Mighty Peking Man. No it wasn't a Chinese spy thriller, but just another reincarnation of the 1976 King Kong film. A group of explorers from Hong Kong embark on a journey to track down the supposedly mystical mighty Peking Man in India. They soon discover him along with a Tarzan like woman named Samantha, who has been brought up by the Peking Man after her parents died in a plane crash in the jungle. Johnny, who is leading the expedition, falls in love with Samantha and manages to persuade her and Peking Man to come to Hong Kong so the world can see him. Well if you've seen the King Kong films you can guess what happens next.
So the title is a bit misleading. He's not a man, but a gorilla and he's not from Peking (the romanized version of Beijing) or even China, but from an Indian village. Just the absurdity of the plot and the awful dubbing made it a film to remember. Not to mention scantily clad Samantha and her ability to befriend wild animals and swing leopards over her shoulders.
So the title is a bit misleading. He's not a man, but a gorilla and he's not from Peking (the romanized version of Beijing) or even China, but from an Indian village. Just the absurdity of the plot and the awful dubbing made it a film to remember. Not to mention scantily clad Samantha and her ability to befriend wild animals and swing leopards over her shoulders.
An interval provided us with the opportunity to regain some resemblance of self control. Whilst we replenished our pint glasses, we watched quite possibly some of the worst music videos to ever grace our TV screens. Who knew that the athlete Carl Lewis tried to breakthrough into the music industry, whilst Vanilla Ice's music videos will never be acceptable. That said, I would queue through the night to watch him in the film Cool As Ice. It looks ridiculous.
Aside from watching the film, there was also a little drawing competition. The challenge was to draw something which resembled "monkey love." I drew a peeping tom monkey whilst my sister (an illustrator I might add) created a strip joint called banana split. Somehow with my stick drawing I came third and took home a cuddly little gorilla - quite possibly the only competition I've ever won in my life.
Aside from watching the film, there was also a little drawing competition. The challenge was to draw something which resembled "monkey love." I drew a peeping tom monkey whilst my sister (an illustrator I might add) created a strip joint called banana split. Somehow with my stick drawing I came third and took home a cuddly little gorilla - quite possibly the only competition I've ever won in my life.
Next up is Star Crash, a challenger to the Star Wars franchise starring David Hasselhoff. Now who wouldn't want to see how the Hoff fares in space? Well we've just got to wait two months till we can deliver our verdict.
For details visit www.crapfilmclub.org.uk or follow them @crapfilmclub.
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