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“Grindhouse,” filmmakers Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez’s collaborative homage to retro exploitation cinema, will play state-of-the-art cinemas when it opens nationwide on April 6.
But if these two pulp mavens had a say, “Grindhouse” would play slightly worn, urban auditoriums like the New Beverly Cinema in Los Angeles. Great pulp — and “Grindhouse” is penultimate pulp — requires the right atmosphere: worn seats, slightly sticky aisles, and a talk-back-at-the-screen crowd whose refreshment of choice comes in a hidden beer bottle.
Tarantino and Rodriguez understand this and as part of the “Grindhouse” countdown, the New Beverly Cinema, Los Angeles’ lone seven-day revival house and onetime “X-rated” venue complete with a stage nudie show, becomes exploitation ground zero March 4 with a two-month festival through April 30. Over fifty films, many from Tarantino’s collection, will screen at the New Beverly. For the first time in years, lucky audiences will have the chance to watch little-seen gems like “The Girl from Starship Venus,” “Chinese Hercules” and “Asylum of Blood,” the Blaxploitation classic “The Mack” and the Kung Fu action film “Return of the Tiger.”
Find the complete “Grindhouse Cinema” calendar at www.newbevcinema.com or call the theater: 323-938-4038.
The only downside that Tarantino and Rodriguez haven’t considered is that after watching original cut fare like “Grave of the Vampire,” their own film may turn out to be a disappointment.