All on Tape
Astute readers will already be aware that I have been a loyal devotee of Analog Sunday for many years now. For those who don’t know what that is, Analog Sunday is a monthly event hosted (currently) at the Rewind dive bar behind and beneath the Screenland Armour. It is the brainchild of Elijah LaFollette of Magnetic Magic Rentals, a local designer and tapehead who curates a movie each month from his personal collection that is the kind of thing you could only see at Analog Sunday and then projects it off VHS tape.
These are invariably films of debatable artistic merit but absolutely unquestionable entertainment value. Past favorites include Dial: Help, Winterbeast, The Convent, Get Even, Terror Eyes, Carnosaur, Psyclops, Dead Mate, and many more.
To some extent, this is all born out of an affection for the DIY aesthetic of analog media, but that’s not the draw that brings me out every time. I’m not a tape collector, and I try, in general, to temper my nostalgia.
No, what makes Analog Sunday my most anticipated event of each and every month is Eli’s curation. Attending Analog Sunday is getting a peek into his brain, and that’s worth the trip, every time. Since I first started attending years ago (my first Analog Sunday was Little Devils: The Birth, the only George Pavlou movie not adapted from Clive Barker) Eli and I have become fast friends, and we often go thrifting together or have movie nights at one another’s houses.
Most months, I have to settle for only a single Analog Sunday on the calendar, but March is something special. While there’s still only one Analog Sunday (Eli’s annual “Evil Analog Easter,” this time showing the Hellraiser-with-the-serial-numbers-filed-off Hellinger), there are two other Analog-adjacent events taking place in March, one of them under my own aegis.
For starters, this very night, Eli will be hosting a screening of the newest film by shot-on-video indie legend J.R. Bookwalter. The only flick I’ve ever seen of Bookwalter’s is Dead Next Door, but it was quite good. Side Effects May Vary is his first film in twenty years, and while it isn’t shot-on-video, that’s still a legacy that is very Analog-adjacent. What’s more, the director himself will be in attendance for a Q&A after the show.
That’s tonight, March 13 starting at 7pm, for those of you who might be local to the Kansas City area, and it’s at the Screenland Armour. You can also buy tickets at that link.
But that’s not all! On Thursday, March 28 (also at 7pm) our monthly Horror Pod Class event will be taking place at the Stray Cat Film Center. As always, we’ll be showing a horror movie and then hosting a live podcast afterward to discuss some vaguely academic topics surrounding the film, and how it might be used in a classroom setting.
This month, though, we have a very special guest – the aforementioned Eli! He’ll be joining us to host a screening of one of his favorite movies, Puppet Master, projected off a VHS tape in Analog style, and then joining in our discussion afterward, where we’ll talk about Full Moon movies, nostalgia, VHS culture, and why my co-host has a thing for the Leech Woman, among other topics. And, as always, it’s absolutely FREE – though if you want to guarantee yourself a spot, you can get tickets here.
And then, finally, it’s our annual Evil Analog Easter at Analog Sunday on – when else – Easter Sunday itself, March 31 at the Rewind dive bar. Eli goes all out for both Halloween and Easter, so you’re gonna be in for a treat if you can make it out. Like our Stray Cat event, Analog Sunday is free, so just drop by Rewind on March 31 if you can. The show starts at 7pm, though there’s tape trading and hanging out both beforehand and after.
