Watching Hour Preview: Hausu!

If you missed Teen Witch at the Watching Hour last week, boy-oh-boy did you miss out. My vote for the best Watching Hour screening I've been to yet, narrowly beating out Troll 2 and Suspiria. There must have been something in the air, because everyone just seemed giddy. Teen Witch will do that to you I guess. But I'm getting ahead of myself...

First off, a belated congratulations to Watching Hour programmer Keith Garcia for winning Westword Best of Denver “Best Film Program” for the Watching Hour. As I've said before, the Watching Hour is the best moviegoing treasure in Denver, and it's great to see Westword recognize that as well. Congratulations, Keith, and many happy returns to the Watching Hour!

And I guess that's why we were accosted in the Starz Film Center lobby before the Teen Witch screen by some half-crazed Long Island lady (the Starz advertising director or something like that?) who informed us that she was going to throw a surprise celebration for Keith before the movie. She gave us light-up pens to wave around and stuff. In his pre-screening intro, Keith gave a very nice shout out to the Movie Advocate, and specifically to last week's guest columnist Miranda Harp for her totally heartwarming Teen Witch preview. He gave Miranda the floor for an impromptu introduction to the movie, which made her day. After some valiant attempts by audience members to successfully recite the lyrics to 'Top That,' our favorite Long Island mad person took center stage to congratulate Keith with a plaque-board-thingy, an award, and cupcakes for the whole audience! As the previews started, this lady came by every row, asking, “Psst? Does anybody need a napkin?”

By the way, did I mention that the Watching Hour is fucking awesome?

Teen Witch itself is definitely more fun with a riled up audience like that than it ever could be at home. The whole general atmosphere of craziness leading up to the screening brought the audience together a little bit, I think. I felt a great sense of comradery with my fellow audience members, making this certainly my favorite viewing of Teen Witch, but also just one of the more fun moviegoing experiences I've had in a while. Often, watching movies, even going to the movies, seems like a kind of solitary hobby, especially compared to the socialization-heavy music scene around Denver. Kudos (again) to the Watching Hour for fostering a movie community that's a little bit more communal, a little more social.

All this, roundabout-ly, brings us to this week's screening of Hausu. Nothing I can say about Hausu can compare with seeing this shit with your own eyes, so WATCH THIS RIGHT NOW:

Did you just see that!? I don't think you did. Here it is again:

This actually played the Watching Hour back in December. I was so bummed when I found out that it was only going to play in Denver at the exact time I was going to Austin for Butt-Numb-A-Thon. As Hausu is unavailable on DVD, there was never going to be another chance for me to see it. But Kieth and the Watching Hour saved the day again! and brought Hausu back to Denver! Nothing can keep me away from this screening Friday night. I am beyond excited.

You should watch the preview again:

-Ben

The Watching Hour is a weekly film series at the Starz Film Center, highlighting new and old cult, genre, or otherwise bizarro movies. Quite simply, The Watching Hour is usually the best thing to do in Denver on a Friday or Saturday night. From Giallo to schlock, Blaxploitation to Aussiesploitation, zombies to martial arts to who-knows-what, and everywhere in between. This is good ol’ rock and roll cinema spectacle. Not to be missed. (See the schedule, buy tickets, get directions, etc. here.)