- - FANT BILBAO

Bilbao GRINDHOUSE.

A couple of years ago, American filmmakers Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodríguez popularized among viewers from all over the world the word grindhouse, which designated, in the pre-VHS era, poor-quality movie theaters that showed B, C or Z genre films in big cities. It is not that we want to be cool, but we also had our own Times Square, our Market Street, our Hollywood Boulevard. It’s just that we called them neighborhood theaters.

During the years when audiovisual leisure was an exclusive synonym for movie theater, many generations of viewers from Bilbao spent fun hours in front of the most torn up screens in theaters such as the Abando, Artagan, Banderas, Colón, Cinema Deusto, Filarmónica, Gayarre, Ideal, Matico, Ocharcoaga, Olimpia, Recaldo or Santuchu.

Or the Biscay Hall. Located in the numbers 40 and 42 of San Francisco street, built in 1909, closed in 1981 and demolished in 1991, the history of this place would make the toughest grindhouses of New York’s 42 street die if they would have compared them to the Trueba Theater during the premier, at Christmas 1965, of Mary Poppins (those interested can check the great book by Alberto López Echevarrieta Los cines de Bilbao).

FANT pays tribute at this year’s edition, thanks to the kindness of Manga Films, to an already lost way of living cinema, showing amazing, unusual or crazy films in a non-stop session and a double program. Enjoy them away from your own home-theaters.


	Bubba Ho-Tep				Cronos



	Don Coscarelli 2002. USA, 92 m, color				Guillermo del Toro 1993, Mexico, 94m, color
	In an old people’s home in Texas, Elvis Presley and a black old man who thinks he is President Kennedy fight against an evil old creature from ancient Egypt. After the disappearance of downtown movie theaters, B movies that are not supported by great studios, find their distribution channel in dvd. This recent cult movie in the U.S would have found its place, years ago, in Austin’s drive-in or in Biscay Hall. But, you can always discover it now at FANT.				An antique dealer finds by chance a medieval invention that can give the eternal life. Memorable first feature film of Guillermo del Toro, a great black pearl that would launch his international career.



	Day of the Dead				Night of the Living Dead



	George A. Romero 1985, USA, 102 m, color				George A. Romero 1968, USA, 96m, b&w
	In a world already dominated by zombies, a small group of soldiers and scientists hide in a bunker and tries to find a way to defeat the living dead. After the terrifying Dawn of the dead, Romero (I never get tired of zombies, just of producers, he once said) continues his saga, mixing gore and social criticism. A film to rediscover.				Several characters face the attack of a group of zombies. Modern horror film’s mother: a prodigious nightmare that continues to amaze and terrify.



	The Land that Time forgot				Phenomena



	Kevin Connor 1975, UK, 90m, color				Dario Argento 1985, Italy, 115m, color
	From 1975 till 1977, producer John Dark, director Kevin Connor and TV star Doug McClure filmed three fantasy adventure films based on Edgar Rice Burroughs’ materials. In this delicious first part, an English submarine arrives, right in the middle of World War I, to an island still inhabited by dinosaurs and prehistoric humans. The final title, Journey to the lost world (1977), would end the tumultuous life of the Biscay Hall in July 31st 1981.				A series of murders take place in a Swiss boarding school. A young student with telekinetic powers tries to solve the mystery. After Once upon a time in America, Jennifer Connelly plays her first leading role in this classic film by Dario Argento, one of his most foolish and original films. Premiered in Bilbao, just like most of the horror films at that time, in the Ideales.



	Santo y Blue Demon contra Drácula y el Hombre Lobo



	Miguel M. Delgado 1973, Mexico, 90 m, color
	One of the eight frantic adventures that the intrepid Mexican wrestler Santo did in 1973, this time with his fierce opponent in the ring, Alejandro Muñoz, best known as Blue Demon. After fighting zombies, vampire women, aliens, witches and mummies from Guanajuato, Santo only need one and a half hours to defeat two legendary monsters in this delirium full of secret passages, haunted daggers and rough fights.