SPECIAL EVENTS & NOTEWORTHY ATTRACTIONS ALWAYS INCLUDE:   

* MOVIE, MOVIES and more MOVIES! We cram in as many classic Drive-In movies, independent films and shorts as we can pack into a weekend. You’ll find movies and shorts on real 16mm film in our 200 seat “Film Room” and all kinds of indy films, shorts, and guest related features in our smaller, 100+ seat “DVD projection Room” all weekend long.

* Q&A Sessions, Live Movie Commentaries, Guest Talks and Movie Introductions... Our guests are always willing to interact with attending fans, and we’ve come up with all kinds of fun stuff for them to do over the years. Let’s see what we come up with for the next show shall we?

* SURPRISES and MORE SURPRISES! With most of the shows we run, things fall together a few weeks before show time. Be sure to check back as the show draws closer to see if we may have a surprise guest addition, extra film screening, or special event added to the weekend schedule.

* EVERY CINEMA WASTELAND MOVIE AND MEMORABILIA EXPO offers attending fans over 60 Hours worth of Movies and Programming over the course of three days. And it’s all 100% Free with the price of admission. It can be a bit overwhelming, so be sure to check over the complete Weekend Schedule of Films and Events before you arrive so you can plot out your weekend early. The Weekend Schedule is usually posted 3 or 4 weeks before any given show.

AND WHAT ABOUT THE MOVIES YOU ASK?...
You can't have a "Movie Convention" without them, can you? ABSOLUTELY NOT! And we plan on showing plenty of films on both 16mm Film and Video at Cinema Wasteland - Many of which may be hosted by the Stars and Directors appearing as Guests at the show. Our evening film show is Free to all attendees and hotel guests.


Here are the movies we are showing on 16mm film: 
 




THE DAY THE WORLD ENDED (1955) In a post-apocalyptic world devastated by atomic war, seven desperate people, including an old prospector (Raymond Hatton) and his faithful burro, a geologist (Richard Denning), and a petty crook (Touch Connors) and his girlfriend (Adele Jergens), all find themselves in a protected valley holding up in the home of a survivalist and his daughter (Paul Birch and Lori Nelson). A guy contaminated by radiation (Jonathan Haze), turns into a Paul Blaisdell created mutant monster and our geologist and the crook find the time to fight over the rancher’s daughter while the girlfriend gets jealous and fumes in this shot in nine day wonder from director Roger Corman.

FIGHTING BACK (1982) Tom Skerritt is John D’Angelo, a Philadelphia deli owner that has enough of crime and violence in his neighborhood and decides to do something about it in this overlooked vigilante / crime film. He organizes a neighborhood patrol to keep an eye on crime and things start to go wrong when his team’s actions are taken as racial discrimination. Eventually things come to a head and John’s best buddy, Vince Morelli (Michael Sarrazin) is killed. The neighborhood fights back though, and we get my least favorite ending of any film ever… a happy ending! YUCK! Still, not a bad film along the way.

THE GODCHILD (1974) Three union POWs flee across the desert to escape both their Confederate pursuers and rampaging Apaches. They come across a dying woman and promise to take care of her infant child and get it to safety. Of course, none of them know whatsoever about taking are of a baby. With a top notch cast that includes Jack Palance, Jack Warden, Keith Carradine, Ed Lauter, and Jessie Vint. Originally broadcast on November 26, 1974, his made for TV western is our Sunday morning made for TV movie pick of the show this time around.


GOLDEN AGE COMEDY COLLECTION - Over the last couple of years, the film fans that sit through the weekend film screenings have ask us to dive a little deeper into the CW film library. We were always happy to oblige when we found ourselves with some extra film screening time in the weekend schedule. This time out, we put together a block of “classic comedy” shorts from the 1930s to the 1950s, that will include the following…

          OUR GANG (1932) “FREE WHEELING” - In this early “Little Rascals” short, we find Dickie Moore playing the little rich kid in a back brace. The doctor tells his parents that he needs to take the brace off and get some exorcise, but overprotective mom will hear nothing of it. One day, Dicky’s buddy Stymie decides to get him out of the house. They wind up in a runaway makeshift cab that the neighborhood kids built speeding down what seems to be an endlessly long hill with hilarious results.

          LAUREL AND HARDY (1932) “BUSY BODIES” - Stan and Ollie land jobs as carpenters at a sawmill. Surrounded by heavy and dangerous machinery, the guys wind up doing battle with inanimate objects, their co-workers, and the laws of physics during their routine day at the mill in one of their best shorts.

          W.C. FIELDS (1933) “THE BARBER SHOP” - W.C. Fields is small town barber, Cornelius O’Hare. He has a vegetarian wife that hen-pecks him 24-7, a pretty manicurist (Dagmar Oakland) at the shop, and a dog that constantly sits at the shop… “One day I was shaving a man and cut his ear off. The dog got it and has been back here ever since.” Seems like just another day for Cornelius…

          ROBERT BENCHLEY (1935) “HOW TO SLEEP” - Robert Benchley would describe himself as “not quite a writer and not quite an actor” but fortunately for us, he was pretty good at both. He made a short called How to Stay Awake, and followed it up with, How to Sleep, wherein he divides things up into four sections: the cause of sleep, how to induce sleep, methods of avoiding sleep, and how to wake up. How to Sleep won the Academy award for best short comedy in 1936.

          OUR GANG (1936) “PAY AS YOU EXIT” - As the Our Gang / Little Rascals went on, they went from two-reel comedies to one-reel comedies. "Free Wheeling” was an early two-reeler. “Pay As You Exit” is a one-reeler. In it we find the gang putting on their own production of Romeo and Juliet, with a few lines from Hamlet and a strong man act tossed in for good measure. When Darla walks off the set because Alfalfa’s Romeo won’t stop eating green onions, Buckwheat saves the day.

          THE ABBOTT AND COSTELLO SHOW (1953) “TELEVISION (QUIZ SHOW)” - After watching the quiz show, “Hold That Cuckoo”, Lou takes the host (Bob Hopkins) message to come on the show to heart and visits the office with Bud. Of course Lou gets the wrong end of each stunt, and wins nothing more than a package of bubble gum for his troubles… Which naturally leads to even more trouble!

Plus, as a bonus, we will include the following classic East Side Kids / Bowery Boys short feature…

SPOOKS RUN WILD (1941) Before they were the “Bowery Boys” they were the Dead End Kids” from 1937 to 1939 and made 7 films… then the “East Side Kids” from 1940 to 1945 in 21 films. In Spooks Run Wild, we find Muggs (Leo Gorcey), Glimpy (Huntz Hall), and the boys sent to a mountain camp. Stranded en route in a small town, they hear about a “monster killer” that roams the countryside, and naturally decide to sneak out at night to search for him… or it. Peewee (David Gorcey) is shot by a grave-digger and they seek shelter and help in an old mansion. The owner, Nardo, (Bela Lugosi) insists that they all spend the night. Later, they see Peewee sleepwalking around the old mansion and decide that Lugosi turned him into a zombie. The usual silliness found in all East Side Kid films ensue. Eventually the nurse (Dorthy Short) at the boys camp, along with Dr. Von Grosch (Dennis Moore) set out to find them. This is one of two films Bela Lugosi did with the East Side Kids for Monogram Pictures. The other was Ghosts On The Loose in 1943.

HARD TIMES (1975) During the great depression, a mysterious drifter, Chaney (Charles Bronson), befriends Spencer “Speed” Weed (James Coburn), the promoter of illegal street fights. The two head to New Orleans to make money fighting on the streets. It seems that Speed has a huge debt with dangerous loan shark, Doty (Bruce Glover), and borrows the money needed to promote a fight between Chaney and the local champion Jim Henry (Robert Tessier), who just so happens to be managed by the promoter. Casey wins the fight, the two make a nice chunk of change, and Speed promptly loses his share at the dice table. Of course Doty wants the money he loaned Speed, so he attempts to get Chaney to bet his own money to fight Gandil (Michael McGuire), a fighter brought in from Chicago in this crime drama with a little boxing tossed in for good measure. With Jill Ireland as Chaney’s love interest, and Strother Martin as Speeds former partner “Poe”.



THE HUMAN DUPLICATORS (1964) Kolos (Richard Kiel) arrives to Earth in his Christmas tree ornament shaped space craft to establish a colony on our planet and take over by “duplicating” humans and replacing them with androids. To do this, he first heads to the home of the brilliant Dr. Dornhelmer, the beautiful, but blind, Lisa Dornhelmer (Deloris Faith), and the doctor’s two female lab assistants (Margaret Teele and Alean “Bambi” Hamilton). It isn’t long before Austin Welles (Hugh Beaumont) of the National Intelligence Agency is investigating. A wonderful slice of low budget sci-fi, complete with cheesy effects, beautiful girls, and a twenty five year old Richard Kiel in one of his earliest credited feature film roles.

KANSAS CITY BOMBER (1972) With the recent passing of Raquel Welch, we figured that it was a good time to pull out Kansas City Bomber, the story of reigning roller derby star K.C. Carr (Welch). She’s forced to leave town early in our tale, and signs up to play for leering team owner Burt Henry (Kevin McCarthy). Can she overcome the vindictiveness of fellow skater and previous big cheese of the team, Jackie Burdette (Helena Kallianiotes), fend off advances from horny male teammates, and juggle being a single mom to her two kids - one of which is Jodie Foster in one of her earliest roles - while continuing her dreams of roller derby stardom? Not as gritty as the roller derby film, The Unholy Rollers, with Claudia Jennings that was also released in 1972, Kansas City Bomber is still an enjoyable ride from beginning to end.

KING KONG (1933) We all know the story of the film crew that heads off to a tropical island to shoot a film, the film producer, Carl Denham (Robert Armstrong) that secretly takes the ship to the island in search of the legendary giant ape, Kong, that is rumored to live there, and how it falls for and makes off with blond leading lady, Ann Darrow (Fay Wray). Kong is then captured and brought back to New York for public exhibition, escapes, and goes on a rampage. King Kong turns 90 this year, and we’ve got a great print of it, so it’s a 90th birthday screening for Kong. And we’ll make it a double feature by screening Son of Kong along with it.

MUTINY IN OUTER SPACE (1964) Ice caves have been discovered on the moon so a team of scientists from the nearby space station are sent to gather samples. On the way back to the space station, a fungus breaks out on the rocket and begins to spread quickly. The Commander seems to have contracted some sort of space sickness and won’t listen to warnings about the growing fungus from his crew. He orders the ship to return to the space station and ends of spreading the fungus there as well. Soon enough, the fuzzy fungus monster is massive… and it kills! From the same people that brought you The Human Duplicators comes a cheesy sci-fi double feature that actually played together in theaters. Deloris Faith returns from Duplicators, and Francine York is “Captain Stevens.” It may have been made in 1965, but this one will remind you of a 50s sci-fi film from the get goPlease check back...



SATURDAY MORNING CARTOON HOUR -Resident horror host, Son of Ghoul, will once again put together an hour’s worth of original cartoons to kick off Saturday morning. We give him free reign to screen any cartoons he’d like, so you never know what he’ll dig up. To give fans somewhere to go while waiting for the Vendor and Guest Room to open, cartoons kick off at 9:30am on Saturday mornings in MOVIE ROOM 1. Grab yourself a cup of coffee and stop in and see what’s in store this time around.

SON OF KONG (1933) Carl Denham (Robert Armstrong) returns to Skull Island and discovers Kong’s son, a spunky 12 foot version of his father in the sequel to King Kong. Helen Mack is Hilda, our damsel in distress this time around. When they rescue Kong Jr. from quicksand, they get a devoted protector who defends them from prehistoric monsters and an earthquake that eventually sinks the entire island. A little lighter than the original, but enjoyable and short since they released it in 1933, the same year the original King Kong was released.

THE THREE STOOGES HOUR - It’s been a tradition since the very first Cinema Wasteland Show to screen Three Stooges shorts on Saturday morning. Resident horror host, Son of Ghoul, took over the job of sorting out which Stooge shorts to run when he mentioned that he owned every short on 16mm film. Stooge hour moved from early mornings to Noon on Saturday and the rest, as they say, is Wasteland history.



WASTELAND INTERMISSION REELS -Brand new intermission reels will once again screen between our Friday and Saturday night double features (and again on Sunday) between the 16mm film screenings at our next show. Chock full of assorted movie trailers, cartoons, old intermission and snack bar spots and public service announcements, these twenty minute reels will bring back memories of drive-in days gone by and are always a big hit with our attendees.




Here are the movies we are showing on DVD Projection:
  
  

AMITYVILLE CHRISTMAS VACATION (2022) He didn’t even remember entering the contest, but after good natured police officer, Wally Griswald wins a Christmas vacation to Sunny Amityville, he’s off for a couple of days away from the daily grind. When he arrives, he’s told there is another guest staying at the house with him. That other guest turns out to be Jessica Deangelo, an angry female ghost that kills those who stay in the house. Clueless Wally is unfazed by Jessica and doesn’t even believe that she’s a ghost at first. And although nobody but Wally can see her, he even gets her to leave the house to do a little Christmas shopping. Soon enough, Jessica realizes that she is falling for Wally. Disappointed that Jessica hasn’t killed Wally, the home owner calls on spirit hunter Creighton Spook to trap her. Wally finally realizes that Jessica is a ghost and sets off to find her after she is trapped in this light hearted horror-comedy.



BESET BY DEMONS: THE LOU PERRYMAN STORY - Texas born character actor, Lou Perryman, may best be known as radio engineer L.G. McPeters in THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE 2 (1986), and he certainly made an impression with fans when he did his very first ever appearance at a CW Show back in October 2006. Over the years, Lew worked as a cinematographer, sound man, and production manager in addition to acting. He was a fantastic storyteller and, for lack of a better term, a part-time “outlaw”. Lou was murdered on April 1st, 2009, just hours before he was set to board a flight to do his second CW Show appearance at our 35th anniversary Texas Chansaw Massacre reunion. Kim Henkel was at the CW Show in October 2006 filming stuff for a documentary on the larger-than-life Lou Perryman, and we’re certainly more than happy to screen Kim Henkel and Brian Huberman’s documentary at the show.

THE BLOB (1988) Cheerleader Meg Penny out on her first date with high school football player Paul Taylor when an old vagrant runs in front of Paul’s car screaming in terror. Teen rebel, Brian Flagg, comes out of the woods after the old man and Paul blames him for chasing the old man into the path of his car. After they take him to the hospital it becomes clear that the vagrant wasn’t screaming about Brian. He was screaming because a jelly-like acid substance on his hand is consuming and eating him. In rather quick fashion the growing red blob, which soon sprouts tentacles to help attack its victims, threatens the entire town. The military soon arrives and we learn that this whole mess is a government weapon gone very wrong, but can it be contained before it continues to grow and spread? Director Chuck Russell’s remake of the 50s sci-fi horror-thriller was actually quite a fun film. It speeds along with little down time. It was also one of the first films CW Guest, Nick Benson, worked on.

The Friday SHORT FILM BLOCK - We will actually have two short film blocks this time around. We received enough shorts to run the usual short film block on Friday, and our friends at Cheevies Films have been busy making shorts instead of features since COVID hit, so they have a nice block of shorts we will run on Saturday. As far as the Friday Night Shorts go, kick back and thrill to the following Short Films…

          BETTER SAFE THAN SORRY - After a date goes bad, a girl fights back. Fortunately, or unfortunately, she has an ally in her mother.

          THE MONSTER INSIDE (2022) A young woman is struggling with depression. She isn’t sleeping well, having nightmares, and is seeing visions. Is it her own inner demons she’s coping with or is it more than that?…

          PSYCHO SEASON TRAILER COLLECTION - Here’s a collection of long theatrical length trailers for three films you’ll never see (like they did with Grindhouse): THE IMPERSONATOR, THE TYKE, and THE TRANNIAC. Potty humor and bad jokes abound!

          SOMETHING IN THE WOODS - Another short that plays like a long trailer for a film you never saw.

          GOOD MOURNING - And yet one more short that plays like a trailer, so don’t want to say much about it. It’s short… just grab a seat and check it out!

Gunja Jim Presents: RETURN OF THE EVIL DEAD (1973) 500 years after they were blinded and executed, a band of Templar knights return from their grave to terrorize a small village during its centennial celebration. A small group of people are able to take refuge in a deserted cathedral, but will they be able to escape the blind undead knights that hunt their victims by sound? This time around, horror host, Gunja Jim will host the second film in director Amando de Ossorio’s Blind Dead film series in his usual Friday evening time slot.

GUTS ON THE CHAINSAW (2023) After being found wandering down a trail in the wooded mountains of Pennsylvania, Nova Thompson is plagued by nightmares and spends time in an asylum. To her family, it was just her alcohol and drug problems causing the nightmares, but Nova knows it’s something more. She decides to take one last hike through the backwoods to face her fears and purge herself of the nightmares, but it isn’t long before the source of her nightmares finds her!

MAGNUM OPUS: THE MOVIE (2023) Indie filmmaker Addison Binek combed through all of the silly stuff he shot with friends from 2002 through 2017 and found a trove of silly stunts and challenges inspired by shows like the original Tom Green Show and Jackass and compiled them into a tight hour long collection. If you grew up on the same shows Addison and his friends did, then this just may be right up your alley.

MAN’S BEST FRIEND (1993) After clumsy reporter Lori Tanner (Ally Sheedy) breaks into an animal research lab, she frees Tibetan mastiff, Max, who turns out to be a very special canine. Max can open doors, flush toilets, headbutt windshields, outrun and jump over speeding cars, swallow cats whole, urinate acid, and disappear into the background like a chameleon. Yep, Max has been genetically engineered. And Dr. Jarret (Lance Henriksen) knows just how dangerous Max can be… And he wants him back before its too late! This light hearted killer-canine horror film was a fun ride. You could certainly do worse. Look for CW guest Olivia Brown as a lab assistant.

The Mummy and The Monkey Present: BRIDES OF SATAN (2020) A young couple hit up a rather rough looking bar. Even the waitress tells them that they are out of place here, but they choose to stay. Big mistake on their part, because a gang of armed Satanic strippers burst in, cause some shit, and take our young couple hostage. The guy gets sacrificed and his girl manages to escape and get her revenge! The Mummy and Monkey delve into the land of low budget horror and sexploitation when they present Brides of Satan this time around.

PRINCE OF THE CRIMSON VOID (2022) Our experimental film auteur, Dakota Ray, is back with the tale of alcohol and drug addled serial killer, Fabian. Fabian and his former accomplice, Kimball, spent many a night burying their victims in their usual burial grounds, but when Kimball returns their reunion isn’t all fun and games. Fabian believes that if he kills Kimball he can add his life force to his own, but after the deed is done, he is haunted by Kimball’s spirit.

The Saturday SHORT FILM BLOCK - Our friends at Cheevies Films were still making short films when COVID hit, so we’ve gathered them up and have given them their own Short Film Block on Saturday. Grab yourself a seat, kick back, and enjoy…

          DEATH IS THE ONLY OPTION (2022) After what appears to be a botched hit attempt, would be killer Jimmy is on the run before retribution claims everyone he loves.

          A BROKEN PROMISE (2022) Thanks to a mysterious virus, the end of the World as we know it is upon us. Rick and his dog, Lucy, are out every day scrounging and trying to survive, but the loneliness and memories of what used to be begin to wear him down.

          SLAY RIDE (2021) Christmas is a special time for the Claus family, but after Chris catches Mrs. Claus with Tony Twinkles, he snaps and breaks out the “naughty list!”

          T IS FOR TENTACLES (2023) Never read from the book of Eibon! You have been warned.

          TORTURE THE FLESH - We’ll even add in the trailer for Cheevies next feature film to end their block.

THE SCARLET AGENCY (2021) The Scarlet Agency is a secret organization created to protect humanity from the supernatural. Anton Rook is one of their top agents, and if you’ve paid attention, we’ve screened a couple of his adventures at the show over the years. When Rook’s nemesis, Malachi Topper, threatens to create an army of obedient invisible soldiers, they turn to Anton Rook to take on his older foe and once again put an end to his evil plans of World domination. You don’t need to have seen the other chapters in this series to know what’s going on in this short feature, so give it a view (and grab the rest of the films in the series from Witch Doctor Films while you’re at the show.)

SOCIETY (1989) Billy is your average every day teenager. He’s worried that he’s “different” than his sister and parents, but can’t quite put his finger on what is different about them. They all mix with other “upper class” folks from town while, even though he’s from a wealthy family, he is more down to earth than they are. Even his cheerleader girlfriend seems a bit odd to him. Billy’s sister’s ex-boyfriend convinces him that there’s something strange about his family, and all is revealed when Billy returns home to find a party in full swing… This 80s “slime-fest” from director Brian Yuzna is a weird mix of comedy and horror that is sure to please. It’s also another early film in the resume of CW guest, Nick Benson, so we’ll screen this and The Blob as a double feature and have Nick out between films to meet with fans.

SPIRIT ANIMAL (2020) A “long lost” shot-on-video slasher film finds your typical group of young people ready to party New Year’s weekend away in a rented cabin (on the grounds of old Camp Wannawilla, where a murder took place ten years earlier, naturally.) Lisa’s abusive boyfriend, Adam, crashes the party and Lisa winds up taken captive by our mysterious masked killer. She survives her encounter, but life may never be the same for her.

STREET WALKER (2022) Ruby is a bit of a pampered girl-of-the-night. A little jaded and a little bored, she stumbles upon Father Isiah Russ of the Church of the Enchanted Saints while channel surfing one day. Soon, it seems like she is seeing visions and strangers seem to be following her. One night, after spending time with one of her regulars, she’s attacked, beaten, and wakes up in the hospital with Father Isiah praying over her. He spews a bunch of cryptic mumbo-jumbo and a freaked out Ruby walks out of the hospital and finds herself back home… two days later than when she left… with a cat in tow… and her wounds have all healed! Meanwhile, the visions continue, critically telling her that it is her destiny to be a part of their greater plan. Is Ruby destined to succumb to the will of these mysterious beings from another dimension or will she escape their grasp with life… and sanity intact?

STREETS OF FIRE (1984) “Once upon a time…” In another time and another place, The Bombers, a motorcycle gang led by Raven (Willem Dafoe) kidnap rock star Ellen Aim (Diane Lane) while performing in her home neighborhood because Raven is obsessed with her. Waitress Reva Cody (Deborah Van Valkenburgh) convinces her reluctant-former-soldier-brother Tom (Michael Pare) to rescue his former girlfriend Ellen. Tom truly still loves Ellen, who is now in a relationship with her manager, Billy Fish (Rick Moranis), and heads off to Raven’s tough-as-nails neighborhood to locate and rescue Ellen. Of course, Raven isn’t giving her up without a fight… Streets of Fire was a flop at the box-office, but has since become somewhat of a cult film thanks to its 1950s meets 1980s vibe and the 80s soundtrack. With Amy Madigan, Bill Paxton, Lee Ving, Elizabeth Daily, Ed Begley, Jr., and CW guest Olivia Brown as “Addie”.

THE TRUTH ABOUT HORROR HOSTING WITH COUNT GORE DE VOL - Count Gore del Vol is celebrating 50 years of horror hosting, so you know he’s got more than a few stories to tell. In The Truth About Horror Hosting, he will narrate a series of clips from his long running show and then explain the “truth” behind what the audience just saw. Make plans now to pop in for an hours worth of he describes as “dirty little secrets” everyone loves to know and hear about.