Movie club likes movies you’ve never heard of

‘ ‘ ‘ ‘OMG!’ ‘Gross!’ ‘Sweet!’ ‘ ‘ ‘ Echoes of awe, disapproval and praise resonated… ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘OMG!’ ‘Gross!’ ‘Sweet!’ ‘ ‘ ‘ Echoes of awe, disapproval and praise resonated throughout Posvar Hall Friday night at Pitt’s Obscure Movie Group’s showing of ‘Throne of Blood,’ directed by Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘Throne of Blood,’ a rendition of Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth,’ takes place in ‘mdash; where else? ‘shy;’mdash; feudal Japan. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘They actually shot real arrows at the actors so that they could show REAL fear. If you think that this is your run-of-the-mill regicide, you are mistaken,’ said group president Dan Wolf in a newsletter. ‘ ‘ ‘ The group offers a new movie every week on a large projection screen, stadium seating and snacks without any cover charge.’ Meetings take place every Friday night in Posvar Hall beginning at 8 p.m., although the movie normally starts shortly after, as everyone gets situated. The movie brings in between 20 and 40 members each week. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘Joining the club is as easy as showing up for a meeting and getting on our e-mailing list,’ said Wolf, who majors in biology and business. ‘ ‘ ‘ Wolf said his father owned a movie store, so he was exposed to different kinds of films, directors and actors while growing up. ‘ ‘ ‘ The group alternates between genres, attempting to avoid showing two action movies or two horror movies consecutively and makes an effort to balance watchability with obscurity, said Wolf. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘I guess we are talking about relative obscurity. We aren’t trying to get anything too radical like ‘The Wedding Trough,’ but we don’t have a problem showing an extreme movie either,’ said sophomore Eoin Koepfinger, vice president of the group. ‘ ‘ ‘ Wolf admits that Koepfinger, a film studies major, has a better knowledge of obscurity. If a film possesses questionable content, e-mails are forwarded to all group members before the showing. ‘ ‘ ‘ Past movies include ‘The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra,’ ‘Battle Royale,’ ‘American Splendor’ and ‘Dance of the Dead,’ among others.’ Suggestions from group members make up the majority of films viewed. ‘ ‘ ‘ The Obscure Movie Group members use Netflix to rent the movies that they don’t already own, said Wolf. ‘ ‘ ‘ The club began in the fall of 2006 after seniors Shanna Murphy and Matt Carrick, the club’s co-founders, got the idea while riding a bus home after swing dancing one night. ‘ ‘ ‘ The name came soon after, but the abbreviation, OMG, was no mere accident. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘We tossed around names like the Offbeat Movie Group, the Offbeat Film Society [and] the Obscure Movie Club, and then we realized if we use the Obscure Movie Group it could be ‘OMG!” said Carrick. ‘ ‘ ‘ In the past, OMG has held a Zombie Walk and made T-shirts for its members. It picks a group member to dress up as a robot at the Activities Fair each fall. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘To be honest, I think this is just something that people want. People like having that one movie to talk about that nobody else knows about,’ said Carrick. ‘We always get members suggesting movies, and it’s great because they find these awesome, weird, obscure movies to share with other people.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ Group member Aaron Crandall, a graduate student, said he agrees with Carrick. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘An interesting point about the value of this group: Have you ever heard of ‘UHF?” asked Crandall. ‘It’s a movie written by Weird Al Yankovic. When Orion Pictures placed it in front of test audiences it rated better than [almost] anything that they had ever made.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ Crandall continued, ‘The reason you have never heard of it is because among the things that opened that weekend were ‘Lethal Weapon 2,’ ‘Batman’ and ‘Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.’ It just got completely buried, and no one has really heard of it because of that timing.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ Both Wolf and Koepfinger are new to their roles. They took the positions after Carrick and Murphy, who will graduate in the spring, both resigned last semester. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘I’d like to see the group flourish and prosper. The best way to do that is to take matters into your own hands,’ said Wolf. ‘ ‘ ‘ Wolf plans to collaborate with other groups on campus. ‘ ‘ ‘ Because the group shows a wide range of movies, they can invite various special-interest groups to showings that they might enjoy. ‘ ‘ ‘