Dan Deacon screens John Carpenter's "The Thing," Ridley Scott's "Alien" at the Charles
In May, the Maryland Film Festival invited Dan Deacon to screen a movie of his choice at the Charles Theatre.
It was a regular feature for them: Jonathan Richman once screened "Cyrano de Bergerac," and Harvey Pekar showed "The Bicycle Thief" some years before.
But instead of picking the Oscar bait typical of most film festivals, Deacon went down market. He opted for an Arnold Schwarzenegger movie.
He could have chosen "Kindergarten Cop," or even "Conan the Barbarian," but he settled on Paul Verhoeven's "Total Recall."
If you don't recall "Total Recall," that's the movie set on a Mars-type planet where Ah-nuld tries to save humanity from an evil corporation, and Sharon Stone, halfway through, tries to kill him. Near the end, a man opens his trench coat to reveal a parasitical talking baby latched on to his stomach.
So much for good taste.
But the screening was a success. Counting on that support, Deacon and video artist Jimmy Joe Roche return to the Charles on Thursday with John Carpenter's "The Thing," the first in a series of pulpy movie screenings they're calling Gunky's Basement.
Tickets are $5. The rest of this story is here.
Deacon and Roche also have plans to screen "Repo Man," "Bad Boys 2" and the gloriously bloody "Scanners" by David Cronenberg. What else should they screen?
Erik Maza is a features reporter at the Baltimore Sun. He writes for several sections of the Sun paper and contributes weekly columns on music and nightlife. He also writes and edits the Midnight Sun blog. He often covers entertainment, business, and the business of entertainment. Occasionally, he writes about Four Loko, The Block, the liquor board, and those who practice "
Comments
enough about dan deacon
Posted by: ugh | October 18, 2010 4:33 PM
Not going unless he screens the pilot for Sheilly Dan
Posted by: Evan | October 18, 2010 4:39 PM
Can we just continue with Carpenter and have Big Trouble in Little China?
So far he's 2/2 on awesome movies (in my book).
Posted by: Jed | October 18, 2010 5:10 PM
The Thing is without a doubt the best sci-fi horror film ever. I think it's a more complete film than Alien(s), its next closest competitor. And speaking of exhibiting John Carpenter flicks, They Live should definitely make an appearance.
Posted by: Rich B | October 18, 2010 6:07 PM
Maza: If you think Deacon is the sound of Baltimore please listen to: Sick Weapons, Double Dagger, and Dead Mechanical.
Posted by: Dale Dobeck | October 19, 2010 9:04 AM
this is better suited to the movie blog.
Posted by: Anonymous | October 19, 2010 9:25 AM
I'll probably check this out - The Thing is one of my favorite movies of all time. I'm not sure I really care about Dan and Jimmy have to say about it, but whatever, it'll be fun. I think they should screen Krull.
Posted by: Geoff | October 19, 2010 11:40 AM
Dale Dobeck has excellent taste in music. That is all.
Posted by: The Baltimore Chop | October 19, 2010 3:06 PM