Wednesdays get weird when Late Shift at the Grindhouse hosts Ross Meyer, Joe Derderian, and Aaron Holmgren dig up low-budget b-movies, horror and gore-fests, and camp classics for your viewing pleasure. Buy your ticket and take a ride in our Time Machine! Punch in and earn a bonus! $3 Pabst Blue Ribbon tallboys and $3 small popcorn! PLUS -- special custom trash trailer reel curated by Ross with cheap swag and prize giveaways!
Phobe: The Xenophobic Experiments (1995)
Directed by Erica Benedikty (Kobblestone, the Journey Begins)
Featuring: John Rubick
A galactic prisoner escape on the planet Mondora has sent a dangerous military experiment called Phobe into the stars.
"This one winds up working not just as an example of low budget shot on video genre stuff, but as a great example of regional cinema. The DIY aesthetic on display gives the film a lot of charm." - Ian Jane, Rock! Shock! Pop!
"It may be tin-eared and amateurish and silly from end to end – but there’s nothing cynical about it. It was made, and vibrates, with its creators’ love of movies, and with something resembling disbelief that they’re making one, low-fi though it may be. And frankly, that lack of cynicism is in frightfully short supply in most movies today." - Jason Bailey, FlavorWire
"Perhaps the world's greatest made-for-cable sci-fi film designed or local consumption in Niagara, Ontario. Sort of an SOV alien film crossed with the attitude of an '80s student project, it gleefully pilfers elements from films like The Terminator, Predator, and The Hidden on a budget that wouldn't even feed a normal film crew, with some cut-rate computer animation, light sabers, and laser blasts thrown in to keep you on your toes. And there's mullets. So, so, so many mullets." - Nathaniel Thompson, Mondo Digital
Overflowing with the kind of creative spirit and indefatigable commitment to vision that’s only possible within the arena of outsider micro-budget filmmaking, Phobe is an inspiring and ambitious work awash with impressive Roman candle pyrotechnics, alien predators, lightsaber battles, and space cops with mullets. In 1994, aspiring Niagara, Ontario filmmaker Erica Benedikty worked part-time at a community cable channel. Over the course of a year -- and aided by a dedicated team of friends, volunteers and fellow film rebels -- she wrote, produced, directed and edited an ambitious, feature-length sci-fi action thriller for only $250. When she convinced her employers to broadcast the finished film, Phobe became a local sensation, was invited to screen at festivals and remains one of Canada’s most infamous cult hits.
Restoration courtesy of Severin Films and American Genre Film Archive.
Plus a Something Weird short film.