During this year’s B Movie Celebration being held in Franklin Indiana September 24th, 25th and 26th we turn a well deserved spotlight on the art of B Movie soundtrack.

Chuck Cirino, composer for the genre film Bone Eater will receive a richly deserved Golden Cob Award for excellence in B Movie Soundtracks.Chuck Cirino has unleashed one of his most ambitious scores, a wonderful homage to composers Ennio Morricone and Bernard Herrmann, tipping his hat to Morricone’s work on Spaghetti Westerns and Herrmann’s work on the great Ray Harryhausen fantasy films of the 60’s.

Cirino has recorded over 40 musical soundtracks for these movies through the mid-1990s. Today he has at least 7 films playing on Syfy.His first work as composer was for the 1980 cult film GYPSY ANGELS, which
starred Vanna White and Richard Roundtree.

Silver Age Soundtrack expert John Bender and soundtrack journalist will lecture on the art and form of the Silver Age soundtrack as well will curating a showing of some Chuck Cirino’s work. Micro Movie Music Guru Virgil Franklin will take film fans and filmmakers through the process of scoring a low budget film.

Once again, the curtain goes up in Franklin, IN as The 2010 B-Movie Celebration comes to town for three days of cinematic thrills and chills. The celebration takes place on September 24, 25 and 26. During that time, over 50 films will be shown spanning the whole history of the B-movie from the exploitation pioneers of the 1930s to the low-budget monster epics of the 50s, 60s and 70s on through to today’s kings of micro-cinema.

What exactly is a B-movie? A B-movie is a film produced aside from the big budget, more prestigious A-list offerings from Hollywood. Often confined to the horror and sci-fi genres, B-movies can also include westerns and film noirs as well. The B-Movie Celebration is designed to magnify the achievements of past B-movie filmmakers while heralding the breed of independent, low-budget B-mavericks. In short, the past, present and future are all present and accounted for here.

This year, we are pleased to honor three Midwestern pioneers of B-movie magic: presenter Kroger Babb, presenter/producer K. Gordon Murray and director/screenwriter William Girdler. Several of the works of these three mavericks will be shown and their memories will be honored with tributes.

But showing movies isn’t all we do. The B-Movie Celebration will also have informative seminars involving various aspects of filmmaking from screenwriting to producing and directing. A smattering of guests will be on hand to give their insight on the filmmaking process. This year, the guests will include legendary B-movie director Bert I. Gordon, Troma films president Lloyd Kaufman, prolific director Jim Wynorski, low-budget horror maverick Jim O’Rear and many others. Also, the Golden Cob Awards, which have already been announced, will be handed out and many of the recipients will be on hand to receive their trophies.

The B Movie Celebration is an opportunity for genre filmmakers to meet, share ideas and do business in a relaxed and casual environment.

VENDOR OPPORTUNITIES AVAILABLE

Grizzly (also known as ‘Killer Grizzly’) is a 1976 horror film directed by William Girdler. The film is about an 18 foot man-eating Grizzly bear that terrorizes a National Forest. The film stars Christopher George, Andrew Prine and Richard Jaeckel. Widely considered a Jaws rip-off, Grizzly  used many of the same plot devices as its shark predecessor, a huge box office success during the previous year 1975. Its tagline was “18 feet of gut-crunching, man-eating terror.”

Grizzly earned more than $39 million worldwide on a $750,000 budget.

In 1983, a sequel Grizzly II: The Predator was planned and shot, but never released and provided early roles for both Charlie Sheen and George Clooney.

The giant grizzly bear in the film is portrayed by the mother of Bart the Bear.

The film opens with a war veteran helicopter pilot and guide Don Stober (Andrew Prine) flying individuals above the trees of a vast National Park. He states that the woods are untouched and remain much as they did during the time when the Native American lived there.

Two female hikers are breaking camp when one of them is attacked and killed by a bear. The second woman finds apparent safety within a nearby cabin until the bear tears down a wall to reach her. The National Park’s Chief Ranger Michael Kelly (Christopher George) and photographer Allison Corwin (Joan McCall), daughter of the park’s restaurant owner, decide to follow a Ranger to the primitive campsite to find the two female hikers. They discover the woman’s mangled body inside the destroyed cabin. Allison stumbles across the remains of the first woman while photographing the search.

At the hospital, a doctor tells Kelly that the women were killed by a bear. The Park Supervisor Charley Kittridge (Joe Dorsey) blames Kelly, saying the bears were supposed to have been moved from the park by he and Naturalist Arthur Scott (Richard Jaeckel) before the tourist season began. Kelly and Kittridge argue over closing the park, and decide to move all hikers off the park’s mountain while allowing campers to remain in the lowlands. Kelly calls Scott, who says all bears are accounted for and this specific bear must be unknown to the forest.

Stopping for a break near a waterfall while searching the mountain, a female Ranger complains to her male partner that her feet are sore and she is going to go soak them in the stream. Her male partner goes on to search R4 while she approaches the waterfall to soak. She does not see the bear waiting for her under the falls and she is attacked and killed. Kelly recruits the helicopter pilot Stober to assist in the search. Flying above the forest, they see what they believe to be an animal, only to discover the Naturalist Scott adorned in an animal skin while tracking the bear. He informs them the animal they are looking for is a prehistoric grizzly bear and at least 15 feet tall. Kelly and Stober scoff at the notion.

At the busy lowland campground, the grizzly tears down a tent and kills a woman. Kelly once again insists on closing the park, but Kittridge refuses. The attacks are becoming a national news story and to counteract this, Kittridge allows amateur hunters into the forest. Kelly, Stober and Scott, now a team, are disgusted by this development. Later, a lone hunter is chased by the bear but he evades the animal on foot, falling into a river and floating to safety. A Ranger at a fire lookout tower on the mountain is attacked by the grizzly, the animal tearing down the structure and killing the Ranger.

Kelly and Kittridge continue to argue over closing the park. Frustrated by the politics of the situation, Scott sneaks away to track the grizzly on his own. On the outskirts of the National Park, a mother and child living in a cabin are attacked by the grizzly. The mother is killed and the child survives, but is severely mutilated. Stunned by this development, Kittridge finally allows Kelly to close the park and ban all hunters.

Stober and Kelly now go after the elusive grizzly alone, setting up a trap by hanging a deer carcass from a tree. The grizzly goes for the bait and the men chase the animal through the woods. When they return, they discover the grizzly has tricked them and taken the deer carcass. Tracking on horseback, Scott finds the remains of the carcass and calls Stober and Kelly on the radio. He is going to drag the deer behind his horse and create a trap by leading the grizzly towards them. The grizzly surprises Scott, killing his horse and knocking him unconscious. Scott awakens to find himself alive, but half-buried in the ground. The grizzly immediately returns and kills him.

Kelly and Stober discover Scott’s body and in despair, decide to return to the helicopter to find the grizzly from the air. They immediately spot the bear in a clearing and quickly land. The grizzly attacks the helicopter, swiping the craft causing Stober to be thrown clear. The grizzly kills Stober and then turns on Kelly, who frantically pulls a bazooka from the helicopter. Before the bear can reach him, Kelly fires the bazooka at the grizzly, killing the animal instantly. For several seconds, Kelly sadly stares at the burning remains of the grizzly and then walks towards Stober’s body.
Jaws comparisons

Released in May 1976, less than one year after Jaws, Grizzly was criticized as being a thinly veiled rip-off of the now-classic shark thriller. Like Jaws, Grizzly has an unusually large animal preying upon unsuspecting tourists, one of whom is played by Susan Backlinie, who also played the shark’s first victim in the celebrated opening scene of Jaws.

Christopher George plays Chief Ranger Michael Kelly, skilled at his job but lacking experience when dealing with the dangers of bears, a role similar to Roy Scheider’s Police Chief Martin Brody in Jaws. Kelly must rely on the expertise of naturalist Arthur Scott (Richard Jaeckel), just as Brody recruits marine scientist Matt Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss).

Kelly is thwarted by Supervisor Charley Kittridge (Joe Dorsey), who refuses to close the National Park for political reasons. In Jaws, Brody is refused permission to close the summer beaches by Mayor Larry Vaughn (Murray Hamilton).

A bounty is put on the grizzly bear, just as an award is offered for the shark in Jaws. The bounty leads to chaos, as hundreds of hunters fill the woods in Grizzly, while huge numbers of boats filled with hunters leave the harbor in Jaws.

During the final hunt for the grizzly bear, Kelly is led by helicopter pilot, Vietnam War veteran and forest guide Don Stober (Andrew Prine), just as Brody’s shark expedition is led by boat captain, World War II veteran and sea guide Quint (Robert Shaw).

The bear in Grizzly is killed in similar fashion to the shark in Jaws in that both creatures’ destruction is dramatized by a large explosion.

Grizzly was the first of many films inspired by the huge 1975 box office success of Jaws. Almost a genre unto itself, the “Jaws rip-off” tag was applied to a number of films released over the next five years including Orca: The Killer Whale (1977), Tentacles (1977), The Pack (1977), The Deep (1977), The Car (1977), Piranha (1978), Alligator (1980) and Great White (1980).

Inspiration

The idea for Grizzly began when the film’s producer and writer Harvey Flaxman encountered a bear during a family camping trip. Co-producer and co-writer David Sheldon thought the idea would make a good film following the success of Jaws. William Girdler discovered the script on Sheldon’s desk and offered to find financing as long as he could direct the film. Within a week, Girdler was able to obtain $750,000 in financing from Edward L. Montoro’s Film Ventures International movie distribution company.
Production

Grizzly was filmed on-location in Clayton, Georgia, with many local residents cast in supporting roles. Catherine Rickman, who played one of the first victims, was actually the daughter of Clayton Mayor Frank Rickman. Though unintentional, the casting of Christopher George, Andrew Prine and Richard Jaeckel marked the second time this trio of actors starred together in the same film. They had previously played supporting roles in the 1970 western Chisum starring John Wayne. A Kodiak bear nicknamed “Teddy” performed as the killer grizzly. “Teddy” was 11 feet tall and was the largest bear in captivity at that time. The bear was rented from the Olympic Game Ranch in Sequim, Washington where it was kept behind an electric fence. The crew was protected from the bear by an a piece of green string running through the shooting locations, and a ticking kitchen timer. This resembled (to the bear) an electric fence. Actors and crew members were instructed to always stay on the camera side of the string. The bear did not actually roar, so it was tricked into making the motions of roaring by throwing several marshmallows into its mouth and then holding a final marshmallow in front of its face but not throwing it. The bear would stretch for it. The sound was artificially produced.

The original artwork for the Grizzly movie poster was created by the popular comic book artist Neal Adams.

The term midnight movie is rooted in the practice that emerged in the 1950s of local television stations around the United States airing low-budget genre films as late-night programming, often with a host delivering ironic asides. As a cinematic phenomenon, the midnight screening of offbeat movies began in the early 1970s in a few urban centers, particularly New York City, eventually spreading across the country. The screening of nonmainstream pictures at midnight was aimed at building a cult film audience, encouraging repeat viewing and social interaction in what was originally a countercultural setting. The national success of The Rocky Horror Picture Show and thechanging economics of the film exhibition industry altered the nature of the midnight movie phenomenon; as its association with broader trends of cultural and political opposition dwindled in the 1980s, the midnight movie became a more purely camp experience—in effect, bringing it closer to the television form that shares its name. The term midnight movie is now often used in two different, though related, ways: as a synonym for B movie, reflecting the relative cheapness characteristic of late-night movies both theatrically and on TV, and as a synonym for cult film.

We are pleased to offer Midnight Movies at our Drive in and Historic Artcraft Theatre location.

Partially shot at the First B Movie Celebration , Popatopolis returns to Franklin Indiana in grand style for this years B Movie Celebration.

The director, Jim Wynorksi, is a king of b-movie exploitation classics such as Chopping Mall, Return of the Swamp Thing, 976 Evil II, Dinosaur Island, and many more low budgeters too numerous to mention. One enthusiast interviewed for this film describes Jim’s output as having ‘naked women running from death: hot.’ And the feature he is undertaking here, ‘The Witches of Breastwick’, fits within this description. Jim himself reckons vital ingredients for a movie are “big chase and a big chest, add those two to a film and it’s gonna be a winner.”

One snag: He is making the film in three days and whilst there are chests a plenty in ‘Witches‘, there is a narrowed down crew of two. No wardrobe, no make up and a tin opener that doesn’t work. Normally during the course of filmmaking two to three scenes are approached in a day. Here no less than 13 are filmed and regardless of the fact that the movie has “nothing but hot chicks with huge tits all over the place”, the tensions and frustrations with this insanity are evident throughout.

No wonder, considering his notoriously unorthodox methods. One actress reminiscing about an audition with Jim remembers being told to run around a tennis court in a bikini, and the actor chosen for ‘Witches’ was told he was in the film on the basis of opening a door and saying ‘hi’. For Sorceress II his direction “run you fucking monks run,” was less than kind to a troop of extras having been there all day. But that is him. Unapologetic and often rude. B-movie industry professionals, however, like and respect Wynorski. Interplayed with the behind the scenes footage are interviews with legends Corman and Sidaris. Corman says of Jim ‘He has never lost his enthusiasm for film. He is a better director than he thinks he is and is capable of doing more than he’s done.” Jim’s mother, Teresa, just loves him. “He was a loner. No girlfriend – no nothing.”

The funniest aspects arise from the working relationships he has with the women in his movies and with the filming of the sex scenes. Actresses that Jim is working with on ‘Witches’ Monique Parent and Julie K. Smith provide insight as to the man the method and modern Hollywood. Julie in particular is a delight throughout and provides great commentary. Coming downstairs for the day’s shoot Jim comments, “love those boobs.” “That is Jim’s way of saying Good Morning” she informs us after telling Jim that her boobs love him too. She knows that there is going to be a fight with him over keeping a pair of glasses on, because in doing so she will appear ‘witchier.’ Monique reckons that “whoever wrote this script does not like women”. Jim also wrote the script. To Julie, “when a script is written over a couple of rum and cokes the anger comes out”. Fantastic.

The porn actress Stormy Daniels has been brought in for some of the ‘action’, that action involving the use of a sock (the film provides never revealed before insight into B-movie sex), and what Stormy describes as “the roughest not-sex I’ve ever had”. Julie, in another creative fight with Jim, wants to keep underwear on during a sex scene because “they are cute”. “I’m not making this for gays” argues Jim. Quite right too. Jim ironically refers to his films as “something the whole family will enjoy”.

Popatopolis is a riot of a movie and is loaded throughout with serious points made about the status of a B-movie in the modern Hollywood juxtaposed with massive doses of memorable hilarity. It is well put together, written and directed by Clay Westervelt, with excellent editing from Brooks Larson. A must see for any exploitation and soft porn enthusiast. The constant clips from movies from the eighties make it a nostalgia trip but with a sad glimpse at a disappearing cult genre. A work of quiet, thoughtful genius.

This year, the B-Movie Celebration, located in Franklin, Indiana, shines the spotlight on three B-movie mavericks from the Midwest: William Girdler, K. Gordon Murray and Kroger Babb. Several works from these pioneers will be shown and there will be tributes and other surprises.

William Girdler was the Kentucky-based director of 9 feature films including “Three on a Meathook,” “Grizzly,” “Day of the Animals” and “The Manitou.” His brief career, cut short by his death in 1978, saw him working with name actors such as Tony Curtis, Susan Strassberg, Leslie Nielsen, Pam Grier, Christopher George and Lynda Day George. Long considered a local legend, his films run the gamut from horror to blaxploitation to even political thrillers.

K. Gordon Murray was a film presenter, dubbing films from Mexico and presenting them to delighted audiences everywhere. His biggest success was with a 1959 film from Mexico called “Santa Claus.” Murray re-released this film every holiday season for nearly 20 years, calling it a children’s classic. He always made a bundle of money with it everytime. Although he was primarily known for children’s films, Murray was also a producer of sleaze films like 1967′s “Shanty Tramp” and action films like 1972′s “The Daredevil.”

Kroger Babb always presented himself as “America’s fearless showman,” taking exploitative B-pictures like “Mom and Dad” and making with vast promotions. His methods, including calling newspapers to protest the film before it appears, selling sex manuals and allowing only segregated showings, made him notorious among exhibitors, but always massively profitable. His motto: “You gotta tell ‘em to sell ‘em.”

It’s the spirit of these showmen that we honor at this year’s B-Movie Celebration. The B-Movie Celebration is designed to magnify the achievements of past B-movie filmmakers while heralding the breed of independent, low-budget B-mavericks. In short, the past, present and future are all present and accounted for here.In addition, over 50 films will be shown. Plus, there are special guests, seminars and the Golden Cob Awards. For more information contact us info@indyfilmco-op.org

Dave Windisch has created another amazing B Movie poster, thanks Dave

Here’s a riddle: when is a film festival not a film festival? The answer is when it is a celebration. One might say that is symantics, but if you ask Bill Dever, the man behind the annual gathering of B Movie fans and filmmakers in Franklin, Indiana called The B Movie Celebration, he’d say it isn’t just the choice of one word over another. “A film festival is an event where filmmakers try to sell their product. This [B Movie Celebration] is more than that. It’s a chance for people with a love of B movies and independent films to come together and share the joy these films bring to them.”

The B Movie Celebration is an event unlike any other. Part film festival, part educational symposium and part circus. Over sixty classic B feature film films will be shown, The Golden Cob Awards will be presented for the best in genre filmmaking . Join the director, actors, writer for a fun filled weekend…..

This is not a film festival. It is a film happening.