Your lazy Saturday mornings are back. The Belcourt has announced the return of Midnight Movies after the longtime series was suspended due to the pandemic.
The theater reopened in April, but the midnight madness was nowhere in sight. Now the series is back, starting with a surprise 35 mm screening of a “Super Secret Mystery Midnight Movie Spectacular” on April 1.
The theater promises themed drinks and patented preshow fanfare, as well as carnival games, contests, fortune tellers, a freak show and music by Nashville’s spoooOOOkiest tunesmiths Boo Dudes. Belcourt staffer Cody Lee Hardin will also be on board to do Belcourt Midnights airbrushed T-shirts (bring your own white tee).
The whole shebang sounds like it’ll be of the horror variety, which would be heartening since the midnight screenings have always been a home for some of the theater’s more out-there programming. You won’t know until the lights go down exactly what the movie is, so prepare yourselves for something both eerie and audience-friendly for the first movie back.
After all, Belcourt Midnight Movies are an institution in the Nashville film community, with many of those previous screenings cherished by Belcourt regulars. Some of my personal favorites: the 2013 Space Jam, which I apparently inspired as a Scene intern (though some jabroni almost burned the place down by holding a lighter near one of the curtains during the “I Believe I Can Fly” needle drop); the 2015 re-release of the cursed 1981 family film Roar; the always-popular The Room (bring your spoons); The Matrix, Smokey and the Bandit, Speed, Heavyweights and Fight Club. There are just so many to recall.
The most special was probably seeing The Warriors right after a showing of Pulp Fiction on 35 mm for the Belcourt’s retrospective to honor the late, great Scene editor and film critic Jim Ridley, who really inspired me to jump into this world in the first place. In 2013, Jim asked me to write a story about the Belcourt bringing in double features, which introduced me in full to this amazing tradition. It’s hard not to think about him now that the series is coming back, as he was a frequenter while he was with us. You can count on seeing me there if you go. Let’s swap stories if you do.
Tickets are on sale now on the Belcourt’s website.
