For my money, the best Midnight Madness screening happened in the Uptown 1 on September 16^th, 2000.  Note: Any date that I write in my blog posts will have been researched.  I?m not the rain man of Midnight Madness.  I didn?t know much about the film in advance.  I knew that it was a Japanese film by a first time director with a background in music videos.  I knew it featured a rock band called Guitar Wolf (this was post-Wolfman Jack but pre-Wolf Parade, AIDS Wolf, Wolf Eyes, Wolfmother, etc.) who wore sunglasses, leather jackets, and loved combing their hair.  And I knew it had zombies and UFOs in it.  Obviously I wanted to see it, and obviously the film was Wild Zero.

Before the film started, someone passed a box of maybe a dozen special pastries down the row in front of me.  An incredibly kind gesture, I thought.  A couple minutes later, once the tarts had all been eaten, an audience member stood up and asked the crowd if anyone had seen a box of pastries; that his box of special pastries had gone missing.  My faith in humanity was tarnished a bit by the fact that they weren?t the person who shared them?s to share, but I didn?t cry or anything.  I?m sure that soon after WILD ZERO started, the pastry maker realized that he didn?t need them anyway.  98 minutes of rock ?n roll, flaming microphones, zombies, guns, UFOs, and true love later, the entire Uptown was high.

Best poster ever?

The moment I got home, I rushed to my computer to find out if Wild Zero was available on video in Japan yet.  All I could find was a 3^rd or 4^th generation VHS copy with no subtitles.  My love for the film had no boundaries, so I ordered it anyway and for a year or two, that?s how my friends and I watched it.  In 2003, Synapse Films released the movie on DVD in North America, and the world became a better place for it.

Colin and Wild Zero director, Takeuchi Tetsuro visit the Matador for some after hours music (and probably a few beers purchased out of a hockey bag in the alley).

One last anecdote about the screening at the Uptown?  During the Q&A, director Takeuchi Tetsuro was asked when his next film was coming out and what it was going to be about.  Tetsuro explained that he?d spent nearly every cent that he had on Wild Zero and that he needed to make that back before thinking about another film.  The audience member who asked the question got up onstage and gave Tetsuro twenty dollars out of his wallet.  Eight years later and Tetsuro still hasn?t put that twenty dollars towards making his next film.  The way I figure it, he owes that guy a new movie already or twenty dollars plus interest.  My fingers are crossed for a new movie.

One of things is not like the other.  One of these things just doesn't belong.