Celluloid stinkers.Byline: By Gavin Allen South Wales Echo The South Wales Echo is a daily newspaper distributed in south Wales. It was founded in 1884 and is based in Thomson House, Cardiff city centre. It is published daily, in a tabloid form, by Media Wales Ltd (formerly Western Mail & Echo Ltd), part of the Trinity Mirror group. "shark Attack 3 is the best bad film out there," asserts Nicko Vaughan, the female half of Bad Film Club. That particular movie is on her mind because Bad Film Club, which she runs with her partner in cinematic crime Joe Timmins, 34, of Roath, Cardiff, has just secured the rights to screen it at London's Barbican theatre in September after many months of negotiations. If you're yet to discover the charms of Bad Film Club, which takes place at Chapter Arts Centre in Cardiff on the first Sunday of every month, then you should change that tomorrow. Nicko and Joe screen a bad film and provide a live DVD style comedy commentary while encouraging their audience to shout at to utter shouts at; to deride or revile with shouts. See also: Shout the screen, slow-clap boring bits of the film and generally crack jokes for everyone's amusement. "What people like about it is that you are told you have to be quiet in the cinema," said Nicko who, like Joe, worked in the film industry previous to her comedy career. "But if you've been dragged along to see some awful film, it's impossible not to want to shout at the screen. "You don't because you know someone somewhere will be enjoying it and you don't want to spoil it for them. "But we believe if you want to shout at a film you should be able to, so that's what this is - a show for shouting at films." Tomorrow night you can buckle up for the appalling 1972 disaster film Skyjack sky·jack tr.v. sky·jacked, sky·jack·ing, sky·jacks To subject (an aircraft) to air piracy. [sky + (hi)jack. and loudly bewail be·wail tr.v. be·wailed, be·wail·ing, be·wails 1. To cry over; lament: bewail the dead. 2. its failings. "It's one of our top 10 bad films of all time," said Nicko enthusiastically. "It starts with Charlton Heston flying a plane while smoking a pipe and then goes downhill from there." At last month's event, Highlander 2 was the celluloid stinker of choice and Nicko handed out plastic swords for the audience to wave as well as passing around the regulation tub of sweets. "I think people only come for the sweets," laughed Nicko, 33, of Swansea, understating the appeal of an idea conceived at the 2005 Edinburgh Festival. "It came out of boredom," she added. "We were doing our normal comedy show at Edinburgh and we spent our days sitting in our hotel rooms eating toast and watching bad films we found in charity shops. "We'd have to spend an hour before the shows putting flyers on the streets and we'd just whinge whinge intr.v. whinged, whing·ing, whing·es Chiefly British To complain or protest, especially in an annoying or persistent manner. about how we'd rather be watching bad films. "So we said, 'why not just do that, make a show where we just watch bad films?'" Bad Film Club debuted at Chapter in January 2006 with a screening of a film a called Firestorm that was attended by "30 or 40 people who had no idea what was happening". But it has since grown to more than 7,000 registered members around the country with three regular homes: Chapter in Cardiff and The Duke Of York
The title Duke of York is a title of nobility in the British peerage. Since the 15th century, it has, when granted, been usually given to the second son of the British monarch. and Barbican theatres in London. A contract offer from a top level comedy agent has already been declined but the club continues to attract major attention. It's latest boost has come in the form of a commission from BBC2 to make a spoof trailer for an upcoming season of British film, alongside contributions from the likes of Phil Jupitus and Punt and Dennis Punt and Dennis are a comedy double act consisting of Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis. Together they are the modern workhorses of British comedy; Punt in particular has a very long list of writing credits. . "We generally greet every offer with confusion and mistrust but it's not everyday the BBC phones you and asks you to do something like that," said Nicko, unable to mask her excitement. "But we aren't doing this to make it a career, we are doing it because we like doing it and that's what makes it successful. "It's when people contrive ideas that they fail because they are done without feeling. "We do this because we love these films. "We've got 3,000 of them at home between us and if we weren't doing this on stage we would be doing it in each other's lounges on a weekend," said Nicko earnestly. The pair could easily upgrade their shows to bigger venues, from Chapter to a Cardiff multiplex auditorium, but they choose not to. "Chapter is a very special place for us because they took a risk on us when we started this and if it wasn't for them we wouldn't be doing it. "We would do it as a one-off in somewhere like the Wales Millennium Centre The Wales Millennium Centre (Welsh: Canolfan Mileniwm Cymru) is a centre for the performing arts located on the Cardiff Bay waterfront. Opened in November 2004, it has hosted performances of opera, ballet, dance, comedy and musicals. if we were asked but Chapter is our home. "And the day we don't do this in Chapter is the day we don't do it at all." Bad Film Club is at Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff, tomorrow night at 8pm. Tickets cost pounds 5.10 from 029 2030 4400. Visit www.badfilmclub.com for more information. |
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