Viking Night
Bruce Hall
December 7, 2009
Viking Night was officially born. Each week, beginning with Erik the Viking, we watched what we considered to be "cult" films and afterward discussed why only unusual people like ourselves seemed to enjoy them. Because of the highly subjective nature of the genre, our basic criteria was simply that the film must have not made much of an immediate financial or popular impact upon its release but had since come to be well regarded among the culturally astute. I suppose it's also worth noting that the selection had to have some subjective merit as a film and could not be of the "so-bad-it's-good" variety. This precluded some genuinely entertaining contenders like Reefer Madness and Plan 9 From Outer Space. Musicals were disallowed, which saved me from sitting through The Rocky Horror Picture Show again, but backfired when I tried to nominate The Blues Brothers.
This may seem amusing but over time what began as a lark became an institution. What was originally an excuse for a half dozen conceited blowhards to listen to themselves talk became a forum for serious and illuminating discussion. There were the obvious choices such as Blade Runner and The Evil Dead. But there were revelations too; we'd all seen Raising Arizona of course but thanks to Viking Night I discovered Blood Simple. Richard never did learn to make good wine but he redeemed himself by introducing some of us to Bagdad Café and others in turn, convinced him to appreciate John Carpenter's Dark Star. And perhaps even more important, we all took the time to think about and discuss why we liked (or disliked) these films. It's easy to judge something on a visceral level but when you understand why you feel the way you do, the experience is that much more revealing.
Viking Night eventually came to an end as friends scattered to the four corners of the earth and lost track of one another. But the memories are fond ones, and the appreciation I developed for cinema is something that I'll always have. My goal now is to examine the same sub genre of film with (hopefully) a more mature eye. What is it about these films that appeals to such a limited number of people, and what – if anything - can mainstream moviegoers with discriminating tastes gain from them? And that's who this column really is for – the 95% of people who wouldn't watch one of these films in a million years. Personally, I still hope to learn new things as well as to entertain - because at the end of the day the purpose of film is to entertain you on some level, whether it's intellectual or visceral. A conversation about movies should, in my mind do the same.
And just for the record - though I have seen it many times since - the original Vikings never, ever watched A Clockwork Orange together again.
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