Cinema Fiasco
Janet A McLeod, Doyenne of Melbourne Comedy, and her partner in schlock appreciation, Geoff Wallis were immaculately dressed and greeted filmgoers at the Astor like friends to a themed party in their home. They set forth the evening’s concept, we will all be watching a notoriously bad but hilarious film while Janet and Geoff comment or ‘riff’ on it. Tonight they were joined by friend and witty comedian Toby Sullivan who provided his own spontaneous take. It was like watching a film with a very derogatory but affectionate DVD commentary.
‘Food of the Gods’ was so unbelievably, jaw-droppingly bad in nearly every respect that I was crying with laughter. Surprisingly though, apart from its fabulous mind-boggling silliness, it actually had some redeeming features. Unlike many modern big monster films like King Kong, you got to see some giant creatures very early on and all the way through. These included some badly superimposed cellophane wasps, a man in a giant rooster outfit (look closely and you can see his legs in the bottom of the shot), some squirming rubber maggots and a lot of really cute rats. When humans were attacked they were doused in tomato sauce and no make-up went into trying to show broken skin so they didn’t look even vaguely gruesome. When the rats were shot, apparently it was achieved with red paint balls, but you still ended up feeling sorry for them and the whole audience was on the side of the giant rats by the end.
The other thing I loved about the film was the 1970’s feminist take on the feisty leading ladies. Our heroic lady bacteriologist (Pamela Franklin) is not afraid to handle a gun, despite never having shot one before and she knows what she wants. In the middle of the main final rat attack, suddenly and with no previous romantic signal, she shouted at our ugly and charmless, stupidly suicidal hero “I want you to make love to me!” It was easily the most hilarious moment in the film. Meanwhile before giving birth in the film (possibly the only actual gruesome scene) the supporting actress Belinda Belaski refused to marry the father of her child because she’s just too damned independent.
It can take a couple of viewings of a film and reading up about it’s background to get the most laughs out of something like this, but luckily our Cinema Fiasco team have already done the hard work for us, picking out continuity errors and signposting the dreadful script. Fortunately, there were lots of really boring scenes in the film of ferry trips and of driving through gorgeous Canada where the team could fill the void with their patter. The only problem was when they got too excited about commenting and forgot to let us hear some of the diabolically dire dialogue. My tummy was sore from laughing by the end of this and I thoroughly recommend it as a fun Friday night out.
Cinema Fiasco was one of those side shows of the Melbourne Comedy Festival that really enriches the event and added to the community feel. An experience that you may remember long after all those stand ups and crazy sketch shows have all blended together in your brain. I look forward to the killer bunnies attacking Janet Leigh in next week’s ‘Night of the Lepus’ and in the final week Ray Milland as ‘The thing with two heads’.
Visit the Astor Theatre Website for booking details.