Odd Reels Night

One thing I've learned is if you're going to a film event in the SF Bay Area, buy a ticket in advance, because the most unlikely events can sell out. Odd Reels Night didn't quite sell out the small theater at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, but it actually came close.



The rules of the game, as explained by Film/Video Curator Joel Shepard:

• Film collectors often end up with "odd reels". An odd reel is when you have only a single reel from a film.
  
• Five odd reels are strung together to make a 90-minute random "film."
  
• The reels are placed in the order they would be shown in their true context, so the first reel is the beginning of a film, the last reel is the end of film, etc.
  
• From the program announcement: "I have no idea if this is going to work, so we’re reducing the admission price to an el cheapo $5 for all seats … so, wtf, take the plunge."
  
• If you get bored, it's like a new movie every 18 minutes
  

Now this could go horribly wrong if the reels weren't entertaining, but these reels were from:

• Insane kung-fu comedy with incredibly bad subtitles. I have never seen anything quite like the "banana monster" sequence.
  
• Sexy Proibitissimo, ridiculous Italian stripper-mondo film
  
• Love Camp 7, Nazi soft porn from the master, Lee Frost
  
• Devil's Nightmare, Seven Deadly Sins in a creepy ole mansion, with Erica Blanc
  
• Finale: the ultimate in tacked-on endings, the conclusion from Snuff

Needless to say, a good time was had by all experiencing this Frankenstein monster. Much more entertaining than sitting through the full-length version of any these masterpieces.