"We're All Individuals!" - The Life Of Brian, under the stars with Purple Rain

Regular readers might remember that last year, my friend David & I went to see Close Encounters Of The Third Kind and An American Werewolf In London at Stanwick Lakes, in an open-air programme run by Luna Flix.  We had such a great time at both events that we decided to do it again this year.

Friday evening was the first chance we had to get along to any of the showings but we were determined to see Life Of Brian.  The British weather apparently had other ideas and, right up until the morning, it was touch-and-go whether the screening would be postponed (worse, there was a heavy downpour during the day) but Monty Python won out in the end.

We got to Stanwick Lakes at the same time, parked next to each other, loaded up our supplies (he’d brought the chairs, I had the Haribo) and made our way to the ‘outdoor theatre’.  Somebody had already claimed ‘our spot’ (a favourite from last year) but we quickly found a place, settled ourselves down, put on our waterproofs (it was spitting) and caught up on each others news.  As always, the Luna Flix team had thrown themselves into it - Lucy, on the gate, was wearing a beard, Simon the head honcho was rehearsing some quotes and the refreshments man was dressed up selling “larks' tongues, otters' noses, ocelot spleens” and convincing female members of the audiences they needed beards - brilliantly, most of them complied!

The set up was the same as last year - with a big inflatable screen, a tremendous sound system (you could hear it clear across the lake in the car park) - and this time we had a selection of Python songs blasting us until it was dark enough.  The only downside to this was that it made conversation difficult - we’d be talking away, one of us would hear a song we liked and we’d drift off, coming back to our chat after it finished.

The film began just before ten, as the last orange faded from the sky and the geese flew over the lake and it was great.  Billed as a ‘quote-along’, the team had sent out sheets of dialogue and lyrics and we’d been encouraged to take along our own wooden spoons, shoes and rocks, to be deployed at key moments.  The film looked great - it was the first time either of us had seen it on the big screen and, as David said, there were so many new things he noticed - and the humour was as pitch-perfect as I remembered it.  There was also a wonderful bit, where Simon The Holy Man breaks his 18-year vow of silence - the film paused and someone came racing out of the refreshments stand, shrieking and yelling about his poor foot, before running off as the film restarted - great fun.

The film finished at 11.50 - with the entire audience singing along to Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life - and we made our way back to the car park, agreed that it had been a great choice to see in the open air.


Alison didn’t get to any of the 2015 schedule and, based on me and David raving about it, was determined not to repeat that.  We were originally planning to see Ferris Bueller’s Day Off but, following the untimely death of Prince, it was rescheduled and Purple Rain was added to the programme.  Alison had already seen it, I hadn’t and so we decided to go.

Saturday was another changeable day, weather-wise - Dude & I spent the afternoon shopping in Leicester, under various hues of sky and a few showers - but apart from the odd spit of rain, it was a dry evening.  There was a big crowd in, a lot of Prince fans and a great atmosphere with plenty of the man’s songs playing until showtime, which was again at 10pm.  Alison was excited - she really liked the film but hadn’t seen it for ages - and I was very much looking forward to it.

So what did I think?  Very much of its time (it was released in 1984), it looked terrific (with a beautifully crisp image) but it was a bit uneven, with iffy acting (though Morris Day was fantastic), an occasionally foggy story and some unexpected violence - but the soundtrack made up for everything.  Once The Kid is on stage - and we’re essentially treated to a Prince concert film - everything else is forgiven and since the film was apparently designed to showcase his talents, it succeeds admirably.  Which is the thing really, it’s all about the music.  Whether you were a big fan of his or not, if you’re about my age - mid-to-late 40s - then it’s a fair bet he soundtracked at least part of your teenage life and who didn’t dance to 1999 at a disco (school or otherwise)?  In fact, to make you feel old, that song was released in 1982 (I didn’t really notice it until the 1985 re-release, to be honest) which means it was as far from 1999 as we are now!

Ending with that freeze-fame (and a bit of a sing-along - what a great way for me to discover the film!), we had a wonderful time and Alison thoroughly enjoyed the experience, with the Luna Flix team again putting on another great presentation.  Roll on the next one!


If you’re local, check out the schedule here and pop along, it’s really good fun.

"Beware The Moon, Lads..." - An American Werewolf under the stars

Regular readers of this blog (there must be one or two of you) might remember that back in early May (and if you need reminding, I blogged about it here), my friend David & I went to see “Close Encounters Of The Third Kind”, the first film in an open-air programme run by Luna Flix at Stanwick Lakes.  It was great fun and we both thoroughly enjoyed the evening so when we saw that “An American Werewolf In London” was showing, we were dead set on it - even better, it was scheduled for July 31st, to be shown under a blue moon.  Oh yes!

"You made me miss!" - David & I get into the spirit of things...

David arrived at Stanwick Lakes first and secured us a couple of decent spots, middle row centre.  Luna Flix use a terraced area to the side of the Lake as their theatre and whilst for “Close Encounters” there were probably fifty or so people there, this time well over a hundred were expected - the show was sold out and the place was packed.

I got there for about 8.20 and as I walked around with other film-goers, I saw that the road sign had been ‘adapted’ for the evening, which made me smile.  Walking across the grass (and I couldn't help but hear Brian Glover advise me to “keep off the moors!"), I heard a steady stream of moon-related songs blasting out of the theatre.  At the ticket desk, the two ladies in charge were wearing make-up to simulate scratch wounds and looked great and there was a real sense of atmosphere with the people in the queue.  When I got into the theatre itself, I was genuinely surprised to see so many people there - the horror film, it appears, is as popular as ever.  I said hello to Simon Hopkins, the Luna Flix head honcho (we don’t know each other but have chatted on FB and he seemed to remember me from last time), found David and we caught up on things.  At one point, the music was switched off and everyone was encouraged to yell “you made me miss!” at whoever had just walked in.  That helped build the atmosphere, especially when the newcomers reacted - I went to the loo and when I came back, one lone bloke at the back shouted it at me.  I waved at him.

The film wasn’t scheduled to start until 9.40, when it was dark enough and as David & I chatted and made ourselves comfortable and wrapped up warm (we learned our lesson last time), people were still coming in (“you made me miss!”) and looking around in a panic, trying to find somewhere to sit.  After a brief introduction, we got a ‘surprise’ bonus film and it was a lovely touch that got people into the spirit nicely.  Then, in Blu-Ray splendour, we moved onto the main feature.

"An American Werewolf In London" is one of my all-time favourite films, for a whole load of reasons and it never fails to disappoint.  The camaraderie between David & Jack is spot on, Jenny Agutter is beautiful, it's very funny ("a naked American man stole my balloons..."), it's very gruesome (I still find the home invasion dream sequence - and subsequent stabbing - shocking), it has the whole 'Moondance' sequence, Rick Baker thoroughly deserved his Oscar and it's tightly written (with a wonderful English sensibility to it).

Like most people my age, my first exposure to the film was on a fairly dark and cloudy VHS (it wasn’t until I first saw it on DVD that I realised the naked bloke on the moor at the start was the original werewolf and not Griffin Dunne’s Jack) and seeing it, on the big screen and in HD, was a real treat.  The image was a little grainy and maybe some of the make-up edges showed but it was glorious and the sound was explosively loud (I hadn’t realised before how ‘jumpy’ the soundtrack was).  The film is 35 years old next year (I’m already planning my ‘retrospective’ article and wrote about Rick Baker earlier this year) and it held up superbly, easily keeping the large audiences attention completely.  Personally, I loved it (and yes, the ‘Moondance’ sequence looked particularly splendid) and spent the whole time with a big grin on my face.

Jenny Agutter, just prior to 'Moondance'.  She's lovely.

It was a fantastic experience (Rick Baker's transformation is still, all this time later, simply staggering and John Landis' direction moves at a hell of a pace) and the film got a round of applause as the credits rolled.  As David & I walked back to the car park (“keep off the moors lads!”), he admitted he wasn’t sure if he’d seen the whole film before but had loved it and we reminisced about how nostalgic it was, looking at an England from 1980/81 that we both clearly remembered - the cars, the clothes, three TV channels, the nurses uniforms, the shops that don’t exist any more and a Picadilly Circus that was a lot seedier than it is now (but, perhaps, just that little bit better).

“An American Werewolf In London”, under the stars and a full moon, was a real treat and I really enjoyed myself.  I’m not sure what we’re going watch in the programme next, but I can’t wait to go!

If you’re local, check out the schedule here and pop along, it’s great fun.


and here, for your viewing pleasure, is the masterful transformation sequence in all its glory...

Click here for the Luna Flix site or their Facebook page

Simon Hopkins (Luna Flix head honcho) and his "werewolf victim" crew...
(thanks to Simon for the picture)

Close Encounters under the stars

Growing up through the 70s and into the 80s, I absorbed a lot of American culture through TV, books and films.  Some of it left me cold (what the hell is a Twinkie and why would you eat something like that?), some of it made me gape (American teenagers had phones in their rooms?) and some of it made me wish we had the same thing in England (local TV stations, horror hosts and drive-ins).

Me & David, waiting for the sun to go down...

The drive-in.  Just the phrase sounded impossibly cool to me - you drive to the cinema, stay in your car and watch the movie! - and the whole thing got better when I realised they often showed the kind of trash film I certainly didn’t get to see at my local flicks.

But here in Britain (I imagine the weather played a huge part in the decision), drive-in’s just didn’t exist.  There were occasional outdoor shows (at Somerset House in London, for instance) but none that I ever got to and then, last year, I discovered a company called Luna Flix.  They were putting on a few outdoor films at Stanwick Lakes, one of which was to be “Raiders Of The Lost Ark” (a film I love) and had it not been for my heart attack at the time, I’d have gone.

Well, Luna Flix are running another programme this summer, up until early September and when my friend David & I went through the list, we realised we’d like to go and see most of the films - especially the first, “Close Encounters Of The Third Kind” which, we both realised, we hadn’t seen for at least ten years and couldn’t remember big chunks of it.

David sets up camp

I hadn't eaten Space Raiders in years.  They were very nice...

Launch night was Friday 1st May.  David got to the park first and set up camp at the ‘outdoor theatre’, a terraced area of grass next to the lake across from the visitors centre.  As I walked around, I could hear a steady stream of space-related music, showed my ticket and in I went.  It was great - a big inflatable screen (that didn’t wobble), great sound-system, a hot drink tent and plenty of friendly fellow film-lovers.  Although we had to wait until it was dark, the time went quickly and a charming alien (we suspected the lady from the ticket office dressed up…) came amongst us, giving out packets of Space Raiders.  After a brief introduction, the film show (digitally projected Blu-Ray) opened with Daffy Duck in the classic “Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century” and then we moved onto the main feature.

With the night fully dark and the geese flying on the lake, the film began and we were all immediately wrapped up in it.  For me, it held up really well (though some of the effects shots suffered in HD), I loved the atmosphere and I loved looking up from Doug Trumbull’s starfield on the screen to the stars above us.  All in all, it was a fantastic experience.


By the time the film ended (around 11.15pm) it was cold (losing weight and taking blood thinning tablets isn’t a good combination for keeping warm) but we headed back to the car, chatting away and both of us agreed it was a great evening.  There are plenty of upcoming films in the programme we want to see - some just the two of us, some with our families - and if this is what the outdoor cinema experience is like, I want more of it!

And I am really, really looking forward to watching “An American Werewolf In London” at the end of July.  Can you imagine it…?

If you’re local, check out the schedule here and pop along, it’s great fun.