2004 poster

BAD IDEA THEATER

Burning Man 2005 Movie Screenings

The 2005 Burning Man official theme was "Psyche", if you can call that a theme. I made some effort to gather up various bad esp and crawling-brain type movies, but in the end most of them didn't get shown... oops. That's ok, the playa was lousy with brains this year, you couldn't swing a dead cat without hitting some kind of brain motif doodad. Ironically, some nice folks did bring a dead cat into our camp. Several dead cats, actually. But that's another story.

I need to thank camp members Roy "Bolt" for introducing me to Wizard People, Dear Reader and Forbidden Zone, and to Maya of the Playa for slugging through the huge stack of video editing and transfers I dumped on her.

- Silent Larry



Title
The American Astronaut (2001)  What to say... This is one of those movies we consider really good, but the general public would consider to be really bad. Destined to become a cult sleeper.
Are You Popular? (1947) [Short]
Barn of the Blood Llama (1997)  Check out this bizzare true llma story from BIT 2004!
Blobermouth (1990)
Catholic High School Girls In Trouble trailer is a clip from The Kentucky Fried Movie (1977)
Cleopatra Schwartz trailer is another clip from The Kentucky Fried Movie (1977)
Dating: Do's and Don'ts (1949) [Short]
Dinner Party (1945)[Short] Watch this film on dinner etiquette and you'll never again dare to eat a meal in the presence of another human being.
Dr. Caligari (1989)
Duck and Cover (1951) [Short]
Forbidden Zone (1980)
Frankenhooker (1990)
G.I. Joe PSA parodies [Short]
The Giant Claw (1957)
Gravity (1976) [Short] One of two David Wechter parodies of early 50's educational films.
Kintaro Walks Japan (2005)< An exception to our usual bad movie program. Attended by Tyler "Kintaro" MacNiven and crew, this was (as far as I know) the world premiere of this film - Huzzah!
Hitler--Dead or Alive (1942)
Little Red Riding Hood and the Monsters (1962) (Caperucita y Pulgarcito contra los monstruos) A bizarre Mexican children's film, imported by K. Gordon Murray and given an equally bizarre English dubbing. This is one messed up movie.
The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra (2001)
MST3k episode 816: Prince of Space
MST3k short: Century 21 Calling (1962)
MST3k short: A Case of Spring Fever (1940)
My Milkman, Joe [Short]
The Mystery of the Leaping Fish (1916) [Silent] A parody of Sherlock Holmes, this is certainly the first film to integrate raging drug abuse into slapstick comedy.
Leave It to Roll-Oh (1940) [Short]
School, Girls and You (1983) [Short] From "Likely Stories, Vol. 2" Another fine David Wechter parody of early 50's educational films.
Scopitones [Musical shorts] "Scopitone films are the early 1960s precursers to today's music videos. Distributed on 16mm film with a magnetic mono soundtrack, they were made to be shown on a Scopitone jukebox at swanky cocktail lounges, first in France, then America."
Shake Hands With Danger (1975) [Short; industrial safety] Every industrial safety film should have a theme song. But they generally don't, so this one really stands out. We have adopted it as the Bad Idea Theater camp song. Also, you wouldn't think a safety film that depicts fingers ground off, and hands severed, would get such laughs. But it does; go figure...
Ship of Monsters (1960) (La Nave de los Monstruos) Hot chicks from outer space invade Mexico, with a spaceship full of some of the most embarrassingly goofy monsters ever filmed. Naturally one of the space ladies falls for a singing cowboy. Any movie that ends up with a tin robot and the jukebox he has fallen in love with, rocketing off into outer space while singing a love duet is my kind of movie. Oh but now I've gone and spoiled the ending.
Star Pilot (1965) (2+5: Missione Hydra)
Superman: Eleventh Hour (1942 animated) [Short] This one is just embarrassing. A nice lead in to "Hitler--Dead or Alive".
The Three Fantastic Supermen (1967)
Trailers of note: Black Belt Jones, Lightning Bolt, The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies, The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra, Superargo Versus Diabolicus, The Three Fantastic Supermen
TV Carnage "Casual Fridays" [Compilation]
What's Up, Hideous Sun Demon? (1983) aka  Revenge of the Sun Demon
Wild, Wild Planet (1965) (I Criminali della galassia)
Wizard People, Dear Readers [Harry Potter comic narration] We thank Brad Neely for this fine piece of work. Outstandingly funny.
You Cannot Fart Around With Love [Musical short] - a clip from Fredric Hobbs' elusive film Roseland (1970)
Zinc Oxide and You a clip from The Kentucky Fried Movie (1977)


Movie list for 2003
Movie list for 2004
Movie list for 2006
Bad Idea Theater Movie FAQ

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