Yes, here in Chalmette, a suburb of New Orleans. It was utterly surreal seeing it on the big screen for the first time.
Has anybody else been fortunate enough to see it too?
"A little consideration, a little thought for others, makes all the difference." Eeyore
Any more major metro area is going to have had a revival house that's shown this film. In LA, before Quentin Tarantino bought out the New Bev, there was a showing of CH that was kind of weird, kind of interesting. I'd seen the film many times at this point, first on VHS and then DVD, but there were a lot of people who hadn't.
The bleep-bloop electronic music would make them laugh, but since that music is generally reserved for the more hardcore aspects of the film, it would get weird fast. Since I can't watch things like the turtle killing anyhow, I took that as my cue to look at the audience instead. Some people had their hands over their eyes, some were still laughing (I think out of anxiety or nervousness, they didn't look happy) but the couple I remember most was this guy and (I assume) his girlfriend. Every time an animal got killed, he was completely white and horrified. During the turtle, he was visibly shaking. Meanwhile, his girlfriend just had this look of absolute glee on her face, and when I say glee, I mean she was really into it in a way I've never seen before. She was also giggling during the rape scenes. She creeped me out, needless to say.
What I'd really love is to have seen this film when it was first released in the US on 42nd street, in NYC. This, and Cannibal Ferox or as we knew it then, Make Them Die Slowly. The theater on the Deuce that screened Make Them Die Slowly had tv's out front advertising all the most gruesome parts of the movie. All day and all night long. How crazy/awesome is that?
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"It's better not to know so much about what things mean." David Lynch
I saw this MANY years ago, probably 15 or so, I think at Landmark Sunshine theater in NYC. I also just saw it at Alamo Drafthouse in Yonkers with Robert Kerman, the lead actor in the movie doing a Q&A after the film. We chatted a bit before the movie about his porn career, and other movies he's done. He was fun to chat with!
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