SURVIVANCE

This weekend marks the 38th anniversary of the cataclysmic eruption of Mount St. Helens on May 18, 1980. Director Jeff Lieberman and his crew were filming JUST BEFORE DAWN down in Silver Falls State Park this same weekend in 1980, although the story is that they had taken Sunday off and were out at the coast when the proverbial shit hit the fan. In any case, to celebrate this historical collision of natural and cinematic violence, we had no choice but to stomp around Oregon's “crown jewel” and make like a couple of homicidal inbred cretins. If it is at all possible, we strongly encourage you to do the same. Silver Falls is a majestic region of the world, and visiting will make our screening on July 27th even more enjoyable! The nightmare has begun. Er...the hiking season. Whatever, man.

Apparently word got out among the locals that actress Jamie Rose would be swimming topless for a scene and tons of “curious” pervs showed up to watch the shoot that day. So many, in fact, that Lieberman had to angle the shot so the onlookers couldn’t be seen in the final cut.

Ooops!

Have a drink on me.

If that ain't you touching my toes...

Take only photos, leave only corpses.

Man on the Silver Mountain.

This beauty is just one of the TEN waterfalls to be enjoyed on the 8.7 mile loop at Silver Falls!

WYRD WAR'S SUMMER BUMMER 2018

Wyrd War invites you on a DOUBLE FEATURE terror trip into the wild imagination of cult director Jeff Lieberman! Lieberman will be in attendance for this one-night-only full moon retrospective of his most unhinged creations at Portland's historic Hollywood Theatre! 

BLUE SUNSHINE (1977): The thin veneer of normality unravels for Los Angeles suburbanites when an inexplicable outbreak of murder and alopecia erupts across the city. Lieberman’s LSD freak out thriller bangs the final nail in the coffin of utopian California dreamin’ and ushers in a snarling era of punk nihilism. 

JUST BEFORE DAWN (1981): Filmed on location in Oregon’s beautiful Silver Falls State Park, this backwoods stalk and slash romp brings homicidal inbred violence to a campsite near you! Boasting sweeping cinematography by Joel King (Carrie) and one of the most bizarre plot twists since Sleepaway Camp, Lieberman’s contribution to the “don’t go in the woods” sub-genre is a fist in the throat of your summer doldrums! 

TICKETS ON SALE NOW!

PLEASE, HAMMER, DON'T HURT 'EM!

Photo by Jesse Lanier / Shot In The Dark

Photo by Jesse Lanier / Shot In The Dark

Photo by Jesse Lanier / Shot In The Dark

Photo by Jesse Lanier / Shot In The Dark

Photo by Jesse Lanier / Shot In The Dark

Photo by Jesse Lanier / Shot In The Dark

Photo by Jesse Lanier / Shot In The Dark

Williamson sharing memories of his work with Italian cinematic legends Lucio Fulci, Enzo Castellari, and Antonio Margheriti at Movie Madness. 

Hammer on Hammer: The Fred Williamson section at Movie Madness.

If you don't mind, we think we'll get some rest now.

Let's cross this weekend off our collective bucket list, eh, Portland? Black Caesar (1973) was absolutely mind-blowing on 35mm, especially with Hollywood Theatre's massive sound system blasting James Brown's electrifying score for maximum impact! Thank you, as always, to everyone at Hollywood Theatre for opening the gates to Wyrd War for another night of gritty guerrilla cinema at its finest. Eternal thanks to Fred "The Hammer" Williamson for spending the weekend with us, and regaling more than 300 fans with his hilarious wisdom and sordid tales from behind the camera. It was the best audience Q&A in recent memory, hands down. We kept trying to wrap it up, but the audience and "The Hammer" were not havin' it...so we kept going for nearly a full hour! Thanks also to everyone at Movie Madness for hosting us on Saturday for a wonderfully intimate screening of Take a Hard Ride (1975) with live commentary by the living legend himself. It was truly a weekend for the history books. All the photos here were captured by Meadow on her phone (which is exactly why she isn't in many of them), except those credited to Jesse Lanier, who came down with a proper camera and documented some very special moments against the odds. Until next time...don't let the smooth taste fool you!

ALL HAIL BLACK CAESAR!

I am deeply honored to welcome action hero maverick Fred “The Hammer” Williamson to Portland for a rare 35mm screening of his ass kicking pièce de résistance BLACK CAESAR (1973) on Friday May 11, 2018 at 7:30pm at Portland, Oregon's historic Hollywood Theatre!

Discerning genre enthusiasts have come to adore Fred Williamson’s bold screen persona as a thundering reverberation of Sidney Poitier’s iconic smack to the face of American racism…except “The Hammer” strikes with clenched fists! His gritty breakout hit Black Caesar, a remake of Little Caesar (1931), directed by exploitation auteur Larry Cohen, reimagines the pathologically ambitious hoodlum archetype as a swaggering uptown stud who hustles his way up the criminal food chain, wages war on the Mob, and builds a precarious empire of dirty money, bloody revenge, and very bad karma. Boasting an electrifying score by James Brown, Black Caesar is a high-water mark in the cannon of so-called Blaxploitation films that dominated grindhouses throughout the 70s. Spend the night with the Godfather of Harlem!

TICKETS ON SALE HERE!

Fred Williamson will be in attendance for a meet & greet at 6:30pm in the upstairs lobby, and an onstage Q&A in the big theater with yours truly immediately following the film. Film starts at 7:30pm.

Buy your ticket and maybe we will recreate the fateful day "The Hammer" stuck it to "The Man." Who will survive and what will be left of them?

HIDDEN HAND OVER THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST

Yours truly, Greg Meleney, and Chris Reifert...gorged on Lebanese food and feeling slightly whiskey worn at the close of an exceptionally amazing weekend.

Kerby Strom of Acid Wash delivered the goods for his first performances with Danava this weekend!

Painted Doll's first show in Portland!

Nasty Bits singing the praises of well whiskey and other dubious sundries.

We were too busy to get photos of everyone who made this lobotomizing Wyrd War weekend so magical, but we did the best we could. All photos by Meadow and Nancy Reifert. Special thanks to Danava, Painted Doll, Pushy, Nasty Bits (Seattle), Keith at Black Water, everyone at the Tonic Lounge and The Highline Bar for taking such good care of us. The iron fist of the underground salutes you!

TO POSSESS THE SECRETS OF BLACK MAGIC

We wish all the power and glory of the full Walpurgis moon to EVERYONE who joined us for our headless revelries last night! 388 horror fans can't be wrong. Special thanks to our beautiful witches Erin Aquarian and Verone Oracle for commencing the ritual, our merch dude Henry Loux for doin' it with a smile, Rhythm for drawing our commemorative barf bags, Megan Schulte at Stencilitis for printing our barf bags, Jamie, Nate, Jason, Dan and Doug and everyone else at the Hollywood Theatre. All the witches dance! See you May 11, 2018 for our special 35mm screening of BLACK CAESAR!